Disaster Preparedness

Disaster Preparedness
How Prepared is Your Farming Operation?

Maui Extension Office
Monday, November 26, 2007
11 am ? 1:30 pm

Natural disasters, such as droughts, floods, wild fires, hurricanes, pests, and diseases, can cause excessive economic damage to agricultural production. In addition to crop damage, disasters can also affect farm buildings, machinery, animals, irrigation, family members and employees. Disasters along with marketing difficulties can lead to serious downturns in your farm income.

How prepared are you? This workshop is designed to provide you with information on:
1) preparing your operation for a natural disaster and
2) available and affordable crop insurance programs that minimize risk associated with economic losses.
Note: Now that the “Adjusted Gross Revenue” (AGR) insurance is available for 2008, in effect all Hawaii crops can be insured to some degree ? not just bananas, coffee, papayas, macnuts & nursery.

Speakers:
? USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) administers and oversees farm commodity, credit, conservation, disaster and loan programs. These programs are designed to improve the economic stability of the agricultural industry and to help farmers adjust production to meet demand.

? USDA Risk Management Agency Western Regional Office, Davis. USDA RMA helps producers manage their business risks through effective, market-based risk management solutions.

? John Nelson from the Western Center for Risk Management Education (Washington State University) on the new Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) Insurance.

? Dr. Mike Fanning, Executive Vice President, AgriLogic, is a specialist in Agri-Terroism, crop insurance, farm policy analysis, and individual farm risk management.

? Dr. Kent Fleming, an agricultural economist with the University of Hawaii’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR), is an Extension Farm Management Specialist with a focus on risk management education.

The workshop is FREE and lunch (sandwiches or bentos and drinks) will be provided. For more information, visit the website http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/agrisk/ You may also contact Kent Fleming @ 989-3416 or fleming@hawaii.edu or Jan McEwen @ 244-3242 or jmcewen@hawaii.edu

Please call the Maui Extension Office at 244-3242 by November 21, 2007 to register for this seminar.

Hawaii Weekly Crop Weather Report

Here is the PDF file for the *Hawaii Crop Weather* (crop progress and condition) Report for the week ending *September 23, 2007*.

current_hi092307.pdf

Please visit the website for more information: http://www.nass.usda.gov/hi/

USDA NASS Hawaii Field Office
1421 South King Street
Honolulu, HI 96814-2512
1-800- 804-9514

Agricultural Highlights

Fruits

Bananas
Orchards in eastern sections of the Big Island were in generally good condition. Favorable showers provided good moisture. Spraying and leaf trimming helped to minimize Black Leaf Streak disease incidences. Bunchy Top incidences remained localized in the Puna and Kona districts. Oahu orchards were in fair to good condition. Leeward and central Oahu fields were in good condition with heavy to moderate supplies for the market. Heavy irrigation continued as the fields remained dry. Windward fields were in fair to good condition with light to moderate supplies. Overall harvesting on Oahu was expected to be at moderate to heavy levels as the shorter day length and slightly cooler temperatures have slowed ripening. Kauai?s orchards were in fair to good condition. Spraying for insect infestation was on a regular schedule.

Papayas
Orchards in the lower Puna area of Hawaii County were in good to fair condition. Ample soil moisture and sunny periods helped to boost flowering and fruit development. Field activities such as spraying for disease control and fertilizing were active. Young and new orchards made steady progress. On Oahu, some orchards were re-worked for future harvest after being damaged by a wildfire. In other areas, fruit development and ripening were fair to good with the high temperatures slowing crop progress. Ring spot virus and wild pig damage in some fields lowered yields. Orchards on Kauai continued to make good to fair progress during the week. Pickings were at moderate levels from several fields in harvest with some new fields in active harvest boosting available supplies.

Vegetables

Head Cabbage
The Big Island?s Waimea crop made good progress with heavy irrigation. Young plantings made steady growth. Light production was expected from Volcano fields. Supplies were mainly for the local markets. On Maui, insect pressure in most of the major growing areas has decreased and damage also declined. Weather conditions have cooled and producers noted that this was beneficial for the crop. Relief from the hot daytime temperatures and the cool evening temperatures allowed some improvement in the quality of the crop. Growth and development was steady, but may soon begin to show signs of slowing down as day length begins to shorten. Planting has been steady and production was expected to stay at current levels. The head cabbage crop was in fair to good condition.

Sweet corn
Windward and central Oahu fields continued to make good progress with the sunny, dry weather and heavy irrigation. Areas affected by water use restrictions have cut back on planting activities and have experienced decreased yields. The Big Island?s young corn crop continued to make good progress. Harvesting was active and supplies were for local sales.

Other Crops

Coffee
On Kauai, orchards were in good condition with active harvesting anticipated to continue. Sunny days and moderate trade winds kept fields in good condition for harvesting. Rainfall has been light and reservoir levels continued to decrease causing some concern.

Ginger root
The Big Island?s crop made good growth during the week. Very damp conditions, however, slowed fieldwork.

Persimmon
Maui?s persimmon crop was in good condition. There were some reports of deer entering the field, but so far damage has been minimal. Insect pressure has also been minimal. At the current rate of development, the crop is expected to reach maturity in October with harvesting to begin shortly there after.