Category: Organic Ag

May 10, 2011 Organic Ag, Vegtables Post a Comment

Local Lettuce with Certified Food Safety labeling?

Contributed by Alan Rudo

I’ve lost my confidence in buying local lettuce after purchasing a head of Romaine with a slug inside from a vendor at Pahoa’s Farmer’s Market this past Sunday. What really makes me angry was the labeling, which read, “Hamakua Springs:Certified Food Safety.” It wasn’t until, I went to wash the lettuce, that I discovered the slug inside the plastic wrapping. I am disgusted to think that I stored this deadly slug inside my refrigerator for even a few hours. Thankfully, I discovered the slug before anyone consumed the lettuce. I contacted the grower Hamakua Springs and told them how upset and disappointed I naturally am because rat-lung disease kills people. Their reply was more pathetic than I imagined, “We go to a lot of trouble trying to address the rat lungworm issue. I went to the community meeting at Kalapana Sea View Estate, about rat lungworm disease, in early 2009. We take this issue very seriously.” This was followed with an explanation on the rat-lung cycle and oh, yeah, “we’re sorry.” Here I’m trying to buy local, support the farmers and I get lettuce labeled, “Certified Food Safety,” which might have killed someone. Where is the oversight? Where are the inspectors? Why are they able to call their product “Certified Food Safety?

March 23, 2011 General Ag News and Notes, Organic Ag Post a Comment

Genetically modified crops get boost over organics with recent USDA rulings

At the supermarket, most shoppers are oblivious to a battle raging within U.S. agriculture and the Obama administration’s role in it. Two thriving but opposing sectors — organics and genetically engineered crops — have been warring on the farm, in the courts and in Washington.

Organic growers say that, without safeguards, their foods will be contaminated by genetically modified crops growing nearby. The genetic engineering industry argues that its way of farming is safe and should not be restricted in order to protect organic competitors.

Into that conflict comes Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who for two years has been promising something revolutionary: finding a way for organic farms to coexist alongside the modified plants.

But in recent weeks, the administration has announced a trio of decisions that have clouded the future of organics and boosted the position of genetically engineered (GE) crops. Vilsack approved genetically modified alfalfa and a modified corn to be made into ethanol, and he gave limited approval to GE sugar beets.

The announcements were applauded by GE industry executives, who describe their crops as the farming of the future. But organics supporters were furious, saying their hopes that the Obama administration would protect their interests were dashed.

“It was boom, boom boom,” said Walter Robb, co-chief executive officer of Whole Foods Markets, a major player in organics. “These were deeply disappointing. They were such one-sided decisions.”

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December 11, 2010 General Ag News and Notes, Organic Ag Post a Comment

The Dark Side of “the Mainland”: what’s under the courgette’s petticoat « Hawai’i Is My Mainland

by Kaui

The most useful blog in my world is Hawaii Agriculture. They keep up to date, and really cover the field (and sometimes stray into the ocean and forest.) A recent post alerted me to potential perils in the produce section: https://hawaii-agriculture.com/newblog/west-hawaii-today-features-food-sustainability-a-kona-vores-dilemma/ right here in Kona. The issue is produce that isn’t local, being sold as such, sometimes mixed into the same bin with local produce. Talk about a hot topic for local farmers!

But I was just thinking about what to cook for dinner the next day while shopping at my favorite local natural food store, Island Naturals. I like them so much I kind of felt bad about writing this post, but hey, guys, it’s up to you now. I found some gorgeous organic courgettes. No price, no problem, friendly Produce Man was 6 feet away. He dug around and got the tag. $2.99 a lb, the price for not going to the Farmer’s market, but they are deep green and gorgeous, and . . . they’re from MEXICO???

Trying to stay off my soap-box, I said to Produce Man as innocently as I could,”the tag says ‘Mainland,’ but the labels say they’re from Mexico (organic at least).” He stuttered a bit and said something about only having “local” and “mainland” tags, and admitted there was a problem with about four of their products. I couldn’t help saying, “Hawaii’ is my mainland, by the way, but the point is Mexico is a foreign country with different standards for organic.”

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December 5, 2010 General Ag News and Notes, Organic Ag Post a Comment

Organic inspection classes set for Hilo

Unique opportunity for those interested, or already involved, in a related career

A unique opportunity is available for organic inspectors or those interested in working in the organic field — including county extension agents, regulatory agency staff, organic processors and industry activists — in order to better understand the organic inspection and certification process.

The county Department of Research and Development has provided a grant to enable the International Organic Inspectors Association (IOIA) and Hawaii Organic Farmers Association (HOFA) to offer “Basic Organic Farm (Crop) Inspector Training,” to be held Jan. 25-29, and “Process and Handling Inspector Training,” to be held Feb. 1-5, in Hilo.

The registration deadline is Sunday, Dec. 12.

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November 19, 2010 General Ag News and Notes, Organic Ag Post a Comment

Prince Charles Dishes Organic Dirt in ‘Harmony’ on NBC

The heir to the British throne prunes brambles with a hand sickle and empties buckets of compost in “Harmony,” a documentary on NBC that showcases Prince Charles’s pet environmental causes.
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The film, made by the independent filmmakers Julie Bergman Sender and Stuart Sender, is part of a royal twofer being broadcast on Friday evening at 10 p.m. right after an hourlong interview with the NBC anchor Brian Williams, which Prince Charles gave in August and which focuses more intently on his marriages — and on his son William’s imminent one — than on biodiversity. In what looks like a quid pro prince, NBC agreed to broadcast “Harmony” as part of NBC Universal’s annual Green Week.

As it turned out, the timing of the interview and of the documentary, coming on the heels of the splashy engagement announcement of Prince William and Kate Middleton this week, was lucky for NBC.

It also seemed like a fortuitous case of sustainable royal marketing — the prince indulges the kind of media curiosity he despises in exchange for the chance to expound, uninterrupted, for an hour on primetime television. (Royalty has many privileges, but one curse is that interviewers rarely ask about the topics royals most want to discuss; Hollywood celebrities like Brad Pitt have less breeding but a lot more clout.)

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November 7, 2010 General Ag News and Notes, Organic Ag Post a Comment

Create healthy soil in your own backyard

by Diana Duff

If you are thinking you can’t grow food in your garden, think again. Many Kona residents don’t plant edible gardens believing they haven’t got good soil. Yes, we are soil-challenged here, but help is just a few months of easy recycling away.

We all have rocky soil. At lower elevations, soils are not only rocky but can also be dry and alkaline. At upper elevations, rocky soil is often wet, sometimes boggy, and acidic. No can grow? Wrong. If you think “no can,” try again. Since we are all on the sustainable path, composting presents a solution to two issues we face: recycling waste and building soil.

You can get started toward your gardening goal by getting some beds defined and laying in a passive compost pile that will give you a good soil base, alive with microorganisms. Use those pesky rocks to create borders for your beds, and then start piling garden waste into them. Cut material into small pieces for fast breakdown. For a base of decomposed waste in several months, mix dried leaves, leafy prunings, grass clippings, weeds (without seeds), broken up twigs and branches less than 1/2 inch diameter. If you live in a dry area, dampen the pile and cover it with a tarp or black plastic to maintain a dampness level comparable to a wrung out sponge. In wet areas, covering can help keep the pile from getting waterlogged, which can lead to smelly anaerobic decay. In any case, a balanced mix of organic inputs including green matter for nitrogen, brown (dry) matter for carbon, air and moisture speeds the process. After sitting for several months, you’ll have a base of decomposed organic matter. Mix in some of your rocky soil to improve aeration and you are ready to plant.

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November 1, 2010 General Ag News and Notes, Organic Ag Post a Comment

Young Chinese farmers sowing seeds for organic revolution

By William Wan Washington Post Foreign Service

IN CHONGMING ISLAND, CHINA The small-scale farmer is a dying breed in China, made up mostly of the elderly left behind in the mass exodus of migrant workers to much higher-paying jobs in industrial cities.

But on an island called Chongming, a two-hour drive east of Shanghai, a group of young urban professionals has begun to buck the trend. They are giving up high-paying salaries in the city and applying their business and Internet savvy to once-abandoned properties. They are trying to teach customers concepts such as eating local and sustainability. And they are spearheading a fledgling movement that has long existed in the Western world but is only beginning to emerge in modern China: green living.

“What we are trying to create is like a dream for us,” said Chen Shuaijun, a young banker who, with his wife, has rented eight acres on Chongming.

“But it is simply bizarre to everyone else,” he added, with a sigh.

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September 15, 2010 General Ag News and Notes, Organic Ag Post a Comment

Organic Program Chopped

The state’s only organic-certifying body, the Hawaii Organic Farmers Association (HOFA), will suspend its program this month, forcing organic farmers in Hawaii to look to the mainland for certification.

Rising costs and a limited client pool prompted the Hilo-based group to end certification, which it began in 1993. HOFA certifies a bounty of products – from coffee to herbs to beer.

“Part of the reason HOFA is not surviving is that we didn’t charge enough,” said Sarah Townsend, HOFA’s certification coordinator. “We’re not big enough to sustain ourselves.”

Some organic farmers on Molokai worry certification from the mainland will come at a higher cost.

“It’s hard enough trying to make a living farming and now we have to go to the mainland?” said Rick Tamanaha of Kaleikoa Farms, an organic papaya farm in Ho`olehua.

Tamanaha’s farm was certified organic by HOFA in October 2007, and he has renewed his certification through the organization every year since. The organic label, he said, allows his farm to compete with non-organic farms that sell at lower costs.

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January 30, 2010 Agricultural Equipment, General Ag News and Notes, Organic Ag, Vegtables Post a Comment

ML&P stock investor taking over Kapalua Farms

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By HARRY EAGAR, Staff Writer

Pierre Omidyar, who invested in Maui Land & Pineapple Co. stock when the company was being pushed in a greener direction, is now supporting a for-profit/charitable combination that is taking over ML&P’s Kapalua Farms, one of the largest organic farms in the state.

Since ML&P also closed its Maui Pineapple Co. subsidiary, then leased much of its land and equipment to the upstart Haliimaile Pineapple Co. this month, the handover takes ML&P completely out of agriculture.

On Friday, Ulupono Sustainable Agriculture Development LLC, a subsidiary of the Ulupono Initiative, announced it would be assuming operations of Kapalua Farms, which not only supplies vegetables and eggs to ML&P’s Kapalua Resort but also conducts research into new methods of producing food on Maui. Ulupono Initiative is a Hawaii-focused social investment organization founded in June with backing from Omidyar and his wife, Pam. He was a founder of eBay, and they now live in Hawaii.

Warren Haruki, chairman and interim chief executive officer of ML&P, said, "We are pleased to partner with Ulupono Sustainable Agriculture Development as they assume operations of Kapalua Farms. Our desire was to find an operational partner that would be able to continue organic farming operations and to maintain Kapalua Farms as a community resource, employer and provider."

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