Month: April 2011

April 2, 2011 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Tiger Woods’s Golf Course Design Business Is in the Rough

IN late June 2008, a week after he astonished the golf world by winning the United States Open while grimacing in pain on a torn left knee, Tiger Woods traveled to a craggy chunk of land on the Baja Peninsula in Mexico. It was a lunarlike landscape of dirt and rock, with an inactive volcano in the background. For several hours, he hobbled over the terrain, discussing with developers his vision for the golf course he would build there, while waves from the Pacific crashed onto the shoreline below. His knee, said one companion, rattled like tools in a tool box.

Mr. Woods would soon undergo surgery that would shut down his season, but no matter: the Tiger legend was steaming ahead, and the fall from grace that would follow was unthinkable then. His heroic performance in the Open had enhanced his stature as perhaps the greatest player ever. It was his 14th major championship, putting him only four behind Jack Nicklaus’s 18, the singular goal that Mr. Woods had been pursuing since he turned pro in 1996. His earnings from golf and endorsements had made him wealthy beyond imagination.

Now he was turning his attention to a new challenge, his course design business, one that would extend his brand, bring him untold more millions and leave his permanent imprint on the game he seemed to have mastered so easily.

The Baja course, called Punta Brava, was Mr. Woods’s third design. With its breathtaking landscape, it was easy to envision it rivaling Pebble Beach and establishing his legacy as an architect at age 32. At the news conference to unveil the course, in October 2008 at the Hotel Bel Air in Beverly Hills, he looked at ease sitting next to Red McCombs, the billionaire co-founder of Clear Channel Communications, who was one of the investors.

“I can’t wait until we actually start construction, and we get to move some dirt because that’s when I can really get my hands on it and really be out there even more than I am now,” Mr. Woods said at the time.

Now, two and a half years later, no dirt has been moved at Punta Brava and Mr. Woods has not visited in some time. His two other designs, in Dubai and near Asheville, N.C., are also troubled;

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April 2, 2011 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Vine Ripened

Sebastian Errazuriz, the Chilean-born designer and artist, became famous for his Bilbao shelf, in which a real tree branch was attached to a wall to create an organic display unit. In his latest design, the Metamorphosis shelf, Errazuriz really goes out on a limb. The inspiration for the limited-edition Baltic birch plywood shelf (which is hand-carved by the Italian company Horm) came from his grandmother’s ivy-covered garden. “The dark branches that crawled along the walls were so thick that I would use them as natural shelves for my garden toys,” Errazuriz said. Given the $75,000 price tag, however, your spade and trowel had better be by Fabergé.

Vine Ripened – NYTimes.com

April 2, 2011 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Beetle threatening Kona coffee crops

KAILUA-KONA – A beetle smaller than a sesame seed is boring its way into Kona coffee beans and threatening the nation’s only coffee-growing region’s premier crop.

More than 600 farmers in North Kona and South Kona, on the west side of the Big Island, are preparing to coat their fields with a suffocating fungus and are taking other measures to save their livelihoods and protect the world famous Kona coffee brand. While they’re confident they can limit the damage, they acknowledge they face a long fight against a beetle that will almost certainly reduce harvests and force costly chemical treatments and other work.

”It definitely has made growing Kona coffee more challenging,” said Tommy Greenwell, owner of Greenwell Farms. ”Once the beetle bores into the coffee cherry, it digs out a home and lays its eggs. That bean is no longer useable in coffee products. ”

The beetle, a bug known as Hypothenemus hampei that is native to Africa, was formally identified in Hawaii in September, but farmers have reported spotting it for two years. No one knows how it arrived in Hawaii, but growers said they’re not surprised because it’s seen in other coffee-growing regions throughout the world.

”There are 101 theories about how it got here. All we know is it got here from another country and it’s a very, very good hitchhiker

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April 1, 2011 General Ag News and Notes, Globel Warming Post a Comment

The Green Leaf» Grow aquaponics, Grow Hawaiian

The Green House is offering three workshops on Saturday, April 2.

How Does Your Garden Grow…Backyard Aquaponics
Environmental Engineer Jeremai Cann, aka Dr. Sustainability, will lead this workshop covering everything you need to know to start your own aquaponics system (organic gardening with fish and plants). Grow your own dinner and lessen your reliance on imported food!
The Green House
Saturday, April 2nd
10:00 – 11:30pm
Fee $20

“Turn used water into real savings” — Greywater Harvesting
Jeremai Cann will lead this workshop on how to create your own “greywater” catchment system. Greywater refers to the reuse of water drained from baths, showers, washing machines, and sinks for irrigation and other water conservation applications. Reduce your use of tap water while helping the environment and lower your monthly water bill.
The Green House
Saturday, April 2nd
2:00-3:30pm
Fee: $20

It’s Easy Being Clean…Natural Green Cleaning Recipes
Learn how to whip up a batch of handmade soap and explore simple cleaning recipes that are safe, effective, inexpensive. You may already have many of the ingredients in your kitchen cupboards. A booklet of natural cleaning recipes will also be shared.
The Green House
Saturday, April 2nd
2:00-3:30pm
Fee: $20

Advanced registration required for all workshops.

Go to www.thegreenhousehawaii.com to register online, or call (808) 524-8427.

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April 1, 2011 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Alexander & Baldwin stock jumps 19% after talk of break up

Shares of Alexander & Baldwin stock soared 19 percent today to close up $8.82 at $54.47 following yesterday’s announcement that a New York hedge fund manager and a partner bought up shares to become A&B’s largest owner.

The closing price was the highest since Sept. 9, 2007, when A&B’s stock closed at $57.73 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Bloomberg News reported that Wells Fargo Securities, which downgraded A&B’s stock last week, raised its expectations for the stock and estimated A&B’s “break up” value — that is splitting apart core divisions of ocean cargo transportation, commercial real estate and agribusiness potentially to be sold — at about $54 a share.

Stock analysts and some company insiders anticipate that the hedge fund manager, Bill Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management LP, will seek to break up A&B.

Ackman’s firm, along with former Pershing Square partner Richard McGuire of San Francisco-based Marcato Capital Management LLC, disclosed yesterday after the stock market closed that they recently bought $168 million of A&B’s stock to give them a 9.9 percent stake.

Ackman and McGuire paid an average of $41.04 for their shares, making their stake worth about $224 million at today’s closing price, or $56 million more than the average paid.

Alexander & Baldwin stock jumps 19% after talk of break up – Hawaii News – Staradvertiser.com

April 1, 2011 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

$44M for water plan proposed

Arakawa budget targets infrastructure projects
By ILIMA LOOMIS – Staff Writer (iloomis@mauinews.com)
WAILUKU – The county would budget nearly $44 million on water infrastructure projects, an increase of more than $20 million from current spending, under Mayor Alan Arakawa’s proposal for 2012.

Department of Water Supply Director Dave Taylor told council Budget and Finance Committee members Thursday that he knew the plan was ambitious, but the projects being proposed were considered his department’s highest priorities. He pledged to bring to the water department the same system for planning and managing capital improvement projects that he used as wastewater chief to get that division’s infrastructure work on track.

He said his department could be turned into a “machine” to churn out capital improvement projects.

“I don’t know if I’m going to catch up this year, but I have no doubt if we have this conversation two years from now, you’re going to say, ‘Wow. You’re a CIP machine.’ “

Council members expressed some confidence in Taylor based on his record of handling sewer projects for the county. But they remained daunted by the sheer amount of money being requested for water infrastructure and doubted the department’s ability to complete all the projects.

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April 1, 2011 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Stock buy foments talk of local firm’s breakup

One of Hawaii’s last venerable Big Five companies, Alexander & Baldwin Inc., could be under pressure to break itself up.

A New York hedge fund manager known to agitate for change in his investment targets bought nearly 10 percent of A&B along with a partner, it was announced yesterday. The purchase triggered expectations the 141-year-old kamaaina company will be split into pieces to elevate stock value.

Neither A&B nor the hedge funds would disclose what the intent of the A&B stock purchase — a $168 million deal — might be yesterday.

“We expect to have a constructive dialogue with them as we do with all of our shareholders,” said Suzy Hollinger, A&B’s director of investor relations.

But stock analysts with insights to A&B and people with ties to the 2,300-employee company say the play almost certainly is a breakup of the conglomerate’s three core businesses — ocean cargo transportation, commercial real estate and agriculture.

“Are the parts worth more than the whole? That’s what this comes down to,” said local stock analyst Randy Havre, echoing views of two other analysts who closely follow A&B.

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