Public Auction: Pineapple Plant of excess equipment no longer needed for current operations
Auction Date: Tuesday, March 23 at 10am – at Maui Beach Hotel in Kahului Maui
Previews/inspection on Monday, March 22, 9am – 4pm (at 3 locations or by appointment)
- 120 Kane Street, Kahului, 870 Haliimaile Rd. Makawao, 4900 L. Honoapiilani Hwy, Honolua Baseyard
Items for auction: Pineapple Processing & Cannery, Agriculture Equipment, Power Plant Generators, Trucks & Trailers, Facility Equipment, Machine Shop, Lab & R&D Equipment, Distribution Warehouse.
Auction information at www.greatamerican.com or 818-884-3747 ext. 1330
Archive for the 'General Ag News and Notes' Category
The annual charts have bee updated. CLICK HERE to view.
The 360 day comparative price, line and histogram charts, page has been updated also. CLICK HERE to view.
Maui Land and Pineapple (MLP) 03-12-2010
Whole Food Markets (WFMI) 03-12-2010
Calavo Growers (CVGW) 03-12-2010
Alexander and Baldwin (ALEX) 03-12-2010
Monsanto (MON) 03-12-2010
Syngenta (SYT) 03-12-2010
DUPONT E I DE NEM (DD) 03-12-2010
Continue reading ‘Hawaii and Related Agriculture Daily Charts for the week ending 03-12-2010′
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists issued an emergency action notification after discovering noxious weed seeds and a plant pathogen in a shipment of thatched grass for roofing material at the port in Honolulu.Agriculture specialists, while inspecting a shipment in early February, detected a large number of Imperata cylindrica, a species of a federal noxious weed.
They also found black spots on the stems of the grass, identified as a plant pathogen, Massariothea botulispora (Teng).
The agriculture specialists issued an emergency notification requiring the items be immediately exported from the United States.
"Some products can be a vehicle for harmful invasive species that can have a devastating impact on our nation’s agriculture industry, natural resources, as well as the economy," Bruce Murley, area port director for Honolulu.
Newswatch – Hawaii News – Starbulletin.com
A developer who hopes to build 3,500 homes makai of the H-2 freeway says farmers working on the land have found another place to plant.
Bruce Barrett, executive vice president of residential operations for Castle & Cooke Hawaii, said the farmers will have an equivalent piece of land and could seek more with the landowner, Dole.
Castle & Cooke is trying to address several impacts arising from its planned community, called Koa Ridge, including the displacement of farmers.
The developer will appear before the Land Use Commission on Thursday as part of the ongoing process to receive a permit converting agricultural land to urban land.
The developer addressed some concerns about its project at a community forum on Wednesday sponsored by the Mililani Neighborhood Board and the Sierra Club.
Those two groups are intervenors against the petition, which would allow the developer to build the homes and 500,000 square feet of commercial development.
The neighborhood board plans to support the development if the Land Use Commission imposes conditions on the developer that address traffic, education, affordable housing and other impacts on the community.
The Sierra Club, however, opposes the project because it displaces farming businesses and destroys agricultural land for more homes.
Continue reading ‘Developer finds land for displaced farmers – Hawaii News – Starbulletin.com’
During the depths of the economic crisis last year, the prices for many goods held steady or even dropped. But on American farms, the picture was far different, as farmers watched the price they paid for seeds skyrocket. Corn seed prices rose 32 percent; soybean seeds were up 24 percent.
Such price increases for seeds — the most important purchase a farmer makes each year — are part of an unprecedented climb that began more than a decade ago, stemming from the advent of genetically engineered crops and the rapid concentration in the seed industry that accompanied it.
The price increases have not only irritated many farmers, they have caught the attention of the Obama administration. The Justice Department began an antitrust investigation of the seed industry last year, with an apparent focus on Monsanto, which controls much of the market for the expensive bioengineered traits that make crops resistant to insect pests and herbicides.
Continue reading ‘Rapid Rise in Seed Prices Draws U.S. Scrutiny – NY Times’
Carambola is the pinup girl of tropical fruit, valued more for its comely shape (an unusual winged oval that yields starfish-like slices) and lovely skin (translucent and glossy, ripening to golden hues) than its substance.
Yet star fruit is more than a whimsical garnish for a cocktail. It can be a versatile cooking ingredient, and it is perfect for drying — an excellent option for home gardeners with a bumper crop.
I confess I had never been impressed with carambola’s flavor, finding the standard commercial variety, Arkin, blandly sweet. But then Mike Winterstein, a research technician at the USDA Agricultural Research Service’s station at Chapman Field, gave me a taste of his favorite cultivar, the Fwang Tung.
I was blown away by its intense flavor, delicious sweet-tart balance and abundant juiciness. I could imagine adding slices of it to a shrimp dish flavored with vanilla and hot peppers or grilling it with fish or pork until just golden brown, basted with a bit of olive oil.
The Fwang Tung, a Thai native, is one of 22 cultivars at Chapman Field in Coral Gables. Its deep, unwieldy wings mean it probably will never have the commercial viability of the compact and packable Arkin, but the University of Florida’s Dr. Jonathan Crane foresees a boutique niche for such superlative fruits. Continue reading ‘There’s more to carambola than pretty garnishes – Cocina – Miami Herald’
The story of carambola in Florida is intertwined with that of Miami-Dade’s distinguished Campbell family, beginning with the late Dr. Carl W. Campbell, a pioneering horticulturist. It was he, according to the University of Florida’s Dr. Jonathan Crane, who in 1965 “formally described, named and released Golden Star carambola,” the state’s first important commercial variety.
Campbell selected it from a group of trees grown from seed that had been introduced from Hawaii in 1935 at what is now the Subtropical Horticultural Research Station of the USDA Agricultural Research Service at Chapman Field. In his own backyard, Campbell planted the second grafted Golden Star in existence.
His son Richard, senior curator at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden and a plant pioneer in his own right, has fond memories of that tree. As a teenager in the late 1970s, he would pick and pack its fruit and carry the cartons by bicycle to Brooks Tropicals trucks, which then carried them to markets in New York.
– MARICEL E. PRESILLA
Carambola and the Campbell family – Food – MiamiHerald.com
BY DAVID OVALLE dovalle@MiamiHerald.com
Authorities are investigating a Hialeah man who allegedly smuggled illegal Giant African Snails into Florida and convinced his followers to drink their juices as part of a religious healing ritual.
State and federal authorities in January raided the home of Charles L. Stewart after learning he had a large box full of the snails — which grow to be up to 10 inches long — according to a search warrant filed recently in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.
The investigation is ongoing. No charges have been filed.
Haliimaile Pineapple Company is selling it’s Maui Gold® Pineapple online. This is the best tasting Pineapple in the world and is grown on Maui Hawaii. PLEASE purchase this product!!!
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CLICK HERE to ORDER online!!!
Maui Gold® Pineapple
We are happy to offer Maui Gold®, our sweet, 100% Maui-grown, fresh pineapple for shipment to the US mainland. Order some today for a little taste of Maui at home!
Maui Gold® Pineapple : Maui Gold® Pineapple, Haliimaile Pineapple Company Ltd
Maui Land & Pineapple Co., which ceased its pineapple operations late last year, reported a narrower loss in 2009’s final quarter than the same period in 2008.
The company posted a loss of $30.4 million, or $3.76 a share, compared with $70.6 million, or $8.86 a share, a year earlier.
For the full year the company lost $123.3 million, or $15.33 a share, versus a loss of $79.4 million, or $9.98 a share, in 2008.
The annual figure includes a $22.8 million loss due to the sale of the agricultural segment’s assets, employee severance and cancellation of contracts.
In November the company discontinued its 97-year-old pineapple operations, resulting in a 45 percent reduction in work force. Since then, Haliimaile Pineapple Co. started pineapple operations and bought some of its operating equipment and supplies for about $680,000.
Continue reading ‘Maui Land & Pineapple loses $30.4M amid restructuring – Starbulletin’
Kapalua resort bulk of company business in the fourth quarterA much-shrunken Maui Land & Pineapple Co. finished 2009 losing $123.3 million, equivalent to $15.33 a share.
The year before, it had lost $79.4 million, or $9.98 a share.
With Maui Pineapple Co. gone and the Community Development segment almost at a standstill, in the fourth quarter the company business was mostly Kapalua resort.
The resort had revenue of $6.8 million, down from $8.5 million in the last quarter of 2008, reflecting the decline in the visitor industry. Its operating loss was $4,672,000, down from $6,621,000 the year before.
For the year, Kapalua had revenue of almost $30 million and losses of $16.1 million. Thus the resort accounted for about three-fifths of the company’s total operating revenues in 2009 of $50 million, and about 13 percent of losses.
Pineapple had continued at a low level through the end of the year, and it continued to pile up losses. The loss from discontinued operations of $24.7 million accounted for four-fifths of the $30.3 million in losses in the fourth quarter.
Since then, ML&P has sold much of its Maui Pine assets to Haliimaile Pineapple Co., run by former employees, who are attempting to revive pine cultivation, although with a market to be limited almost entirely to the islands.
Of all the losses during the year, pine made up $11 of the $15.33 per share.
Continue reading ‘ML&P ends ’09 with $123.3M in losses – The Maui News’
When Maui Land & Pineapple Company stopped planting fruit last December, it looked like the end of an era—and an island way of life.
Story by Jill Engledow
Pineapple was plentiful when I passed through Kahului Airport in mid-December. A Hawaiian-style Santa beckoned from colorful boxes stacked outside shops, inviting passersby to pick up some Maui Gold for the trip home. So it was a bit of a shock when, returning to Maui just after Christmas, I hit the farmers’ market and found no pineapple on display. Only days earlier, Maui Land & Pineapple Company had ceased its harvest. Though in fact pineapple was still available in some stores, its absence from the farmers’ market was a sad reminder that a crop was disappearing. Suddenly the future of agriculture on Maui looked a lot less sweet.CLICK HERE for a larger image of the Desecration
It’s hard to imagine Maui without pineapple: the orderly silver-green rows of spiky tops stretched across acres, the dusty laborers in sunny fields, the luscious golden fruit. How many kids paid for college by working summers in the cannery? How many generations earned a decent living growing pine, and climbed from immigrant beginnings to middle class?
Continue reading ‘Aloha, Pine – Maui Magazine – March-April 2010 – Maui, Hawaii’
Stop the presses!
That fruit overhanging into your property does belong to you, at least in Hawaii.
Continue reading ‘Tree’s owner loses right to overhanging portions – Starbulletin’
In the biology department, an assistant professor sits in front of a continuous screen of green letters reminiscent of scenes from "The Matrix."
He is analyzing the gene sequences of wasps –wasps that are being used as an alternative to chemical pest controls in agriculture.
The wasp, Nasonia vitripennis, is being used as a form of chemical-free pest control "whose larvae parasitize various life stages of other arthropods such as insects, ticks and mites," according to a paper published Jan. 15 in "Science."
"In the 1950s, they didn’t know about these wasps, so they used chemicals," Christopher Smith, an SF State associate professor on the project, said. "Now, agriculture chemicals sterilize water systems and kill arthropods. Even household pesticides are a big problem –they reduce biodiversity in the ecosystem."
Parasitoids like the wasp are used nationally and are bred to attack pests that negatively affect agricultural crops.
"It’s where the frontier of science is at right now. When I was in grad school, there were no genomes," Smith said.
Smith is one of a team of researchers contributing to a larger study on the wasps. p>
His job is to receive the insect’s genome, then sequence and analyze the DNA he gets on the computer.
Continue reading ‘Golden Gate [X]press : Researchers abuzz for wasps as pesticides’
Beautiful plants from the time of the dinosaurs now threatened by thieves.
By Erin Conway-Smith — Special to GlobalPost
Published: March 9, 2010 07:06 ET
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — The thieves knew exactly what they were looking for when they broke into the Durban Botanic Gardens on a Saturday night. They smashed open the lock on a gate, drove past where security guards should have been patrolling and headed straight for some of the rarest varieties of cycads in the world.
They roughly but selectively dug up 20 of the most highly endangered plants of a collection of 150, a haul worth $65,000, loaded them into their vehicle and rolled out.
It was a brazen theft but not at all uncommon in South Africa, where demand from collectors at home, in the United States and Asia is behind the widespread plundering of rare cycad varieties.
Cycads are the oldest seedling plants on earth, with fossil records dating them to before the time of the dinosaurs. During the Jurassic period they were spread across the earth, but today they are found only in diminishing numbers in certain tropical and subtropical areas of the world.
Now, in a high-tech bid to fight the cycad smugglers, scientists at the University of Johannesburg have launched a DNA barcoding project that aims to create a database of cycad species. The project could eventually help police and customs officials to identify specimens being stolen and trafficked across borders, with the hope of deterring crimes like the one in Durban late last year.
Dispite the heroic efforts of Haliimaile Pineapple to resurrect the industry after Maui Land and Pineapple abandoned stewardship if their lands and their responsibility for their former employees hundreds of acres of Pineapple have been plowed under in Haiku Maui.
Despite the trauma individual pineapple plants are attempting to grow. CLICK HERE for larger image.
CLICK HERE for a larger version of this image and snapshots of verdent Haiku pineapple fields before the desecration.
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