News
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Laulima Center Grant Aimed at Cooperatives, Small Businesses
November 20, 2013
A Big Island non-profit center will be the recipient of a federal grant designed to help cooperatives and small businesses serve rural citizens and their communities. Laulima Center, a component of The Kohala Center, will receive $200,000 under the US Department of Agriculture’s Rural Cooperative Development Grant Program.
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Big Island Green
October 17, 2013
As consumers, we face a myriad of decisions every day about our food choices. We are tempted and teased by dozens of labels stating “organically grown,” “no-spray,” “raised without antibiotics,” “naturally farmed” and “free range.” Well, imagine the dizziness organic producers must feel about how to deliver a quality and correctly labeled product to the marketplace at a sustainable price, whether that is a roadside stand, CSA, grocery, restaurant or wholesale distributor.
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Organic Agriculture Subject of Conference in Kona
October 9, 2013
A conference entitled “Growing Organics: Moving Hawai‘i’s Organic Industry Forward” will be held Monday, Oct. 28, at King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel in Kailua-Kona. Participating in the event will be a variety of officials sharing their expertise from the public and private sectors.
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USDA grant helps 5 farming co-ops
October 6, 2013
A U.S. Department of Agriculture grant will help a Hawaii Island nonprofit bring training to five cooperative groups on three islands. The USDA last week announced the $152,000 grant to The Kohala Center. Rural Cooperative Development Specialist Melanie Bondera said the organization received the full amount it requested from the program, which aims to serve organizations with at least 51 percent of board members who are minorities or women. The Kohala Center and the five recipient groups — Palili O Kohala Cooperative, Ka‘u Agricultural Water Cooperative and Cho Global Natural Farming Cooperative here, Makakuoha on Molokai and Maui Aquaponics Cooperative — all meet those criteria, Bondera said.
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Grant to help small, disadvantaged farmers
October 2, 2013
The Big Island’s Kohala Center has been awarded a $151,913 federal grant to assist small, socially disadvantaged farmers in Hawaii. The grant will provide technical assistance to three Big Island farm cooperatives — Palili ‘O Kohala Cooperative, Kau Agricultural Water Cooperative and the Cho Global Natural Farming Cooperative in Hilo — and the Maui Aquaponics Cooperative.
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Growing the Farmers
May 30, 2013
According to Jim Cain, program director for The Kohala Center’s beginning farmer training program, growing food requires just three basic things: land, water, and people. “Our island has plenty of land and water, but we are in need of more people who want to make a living as farmers,” he said.
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Value Added Food Expert to Conduct Food Business Basics Workshop
February 14, 2013
Value-added and specialty foods consultant Lou Cooperhouse will present a workshop called “Food Business Basics: Getting Started and Finding Your Niche in the Specialty Foods Business” in Ho‘olehua on March 15.
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Click here to view the article online.
Used with permission from Molokai News
Food Business Workshops Offered in March
February 14, 2013
Value-added and specialty foods consultant Lou Cooperhouse will present “Food Business Basics: Getting Started and Finding Your Niche in the Specialty Foods Business” workshops in Hilo, Honoka‘a, and Pahala March 11–13.
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Click here to view the article online.
Used with permission from Big Island Now
EBT "Double Dollar Days" 2012
Big Island Markets Offer Holiday Support for EBT Customers (Hawaii Public Radio)
EBT Double Dollar Days Set For Dec. 22 and 23 (BigIslandNow.com)
EBT Double Dollar Days is Dec. 22-23
(Hawaii Tribune-Herald)
EBT Double Dollar Days at farmers markets (Dec. 22-23) (Hawaii 24/7)
Several farmers markets now accepting EBT
September 13, 2012
Locally grown food has just gotten more affordable and accessible on Hawai‘i Island with eight farmers markets now accepting EBT. EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer) it is what SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly called food stamps) recipients use to buy food.
Click here to view the article online.
Used with permission from Hawai‘i Homegrown Food Network
Seven Big Island Farmer’s Markets Now Accepting EBT Wednesday
September 5, 2012
Locally grown food has just gotten more affordable and accessible on Hawai‘i Island with seven farmers markets now accepting EBT. EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer) it is what SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly called food stamps) recipients use to buy food.
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Click here to view the article online.
Used with permission from Big Island Weekly
Knowledge is power when fighting coffee berry borer
August 25, 2012
Knowledge will be key if Kona coffee farmers are to survive the pesky coffee berry borer, a scientist who has experience with the pest said Friday. Understanding the insect will be the best means for coffee farmers in Kona to continue producing a high quality product, said Luis Aristizabal, a specialist in tropical-agro ecology with the University of Florida’s Mid-Florida Research and Education Center. Aristizabal is a scientist from Colombia, a country that has learned to live with the coffee berry borer that arrived in the late 1980s.
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Used with permission from West Hawaii Today
Workshop aimed at coffee berry borer
August 21, 2012
A two-day workshop, “Integrated Pest Management of the Coffee Berry Borer,” will bring pest expert Luis Aristizabal to West Hawaii to share his expertise with local coffee producers. The workshop will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Aug. 24-25, at the Kona Hongwanji Mission in Kealakekua. Hawaii’s coffee farmers are facing a very large threat from a very tiny enemy: the coffee berry borer (CBB). A beetle native to central Africa, CBB is considered the coffee industry’s most harmful pest. Some Kona farms reported losses of over 25 percent last year and there are concerns for this year’s crop.
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Used with permission from the Hawaii Tribune Herald
Coffee berry borer workshop slated
August 20, 2012
Luis Aristizabal, a coffee berry borer expert from Colombia, is the featured speaker for a CBB integrated pest management workshop planned from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Kona Hongwanji Mission in Kealakekua. Attendees will learn about successful borer management techniques. They will also learn about the pest’s behaviors — when it swarms, when it moves into the trees — and the proper times to spray and trap the beetle, as well as effective harvest techniques. Two days of classroom and field lectures will cover effective control of the coffee berry borer.
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Used with permission from West Hawaii Today
Howard's Business Hit: Melanie Bondera
March 13, 2012
Melanie Bondera from The Kohala Center joins Howard to talk about Kona Coffee farmers!
Click here to view the video online.
Used with permission from Hawaii News Now Sunrise
Integrated Beetle Management video released
February 25, 2012
A new farmer-to-farmer video about Integrated Beetle Management is available online to help farmers manage the coffee berry borer beetle (CBB). The beetle has spread at an alarming rate through Kona, threatening the survival of Hawaii’s premier specialty crop. “With some Kona coffee farmers still discovering the beetle infestation and others reporting a total crop loss, information is needed to saturate the community immediately,” said Suzanne Shriner, Kona coffee farmer and member of the Kona Coffee Farmers Association.
Click here to view the article online.
Used with permission from Hawaii 247
Kaiser supports Big Island healthy eating initiatives
Friday, December 2, 2011
Kaiser Permanente Hawaii has announced $20,000 in grant funding to the Food Basket and The Kohala Center to address healthy eating initiatives on the Big Island: * The Kohala Center – A $10,000 grant to support setup of SNAP/EBT redemption systems in six farmers markets involving 170 local vendors on the Big Island. Incentives will be offered to promote consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables by low income families. * Food Basket – A $10,000 grant to Hawaii Island’s foodbank to extend their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program and provide seniors with greater access to fresh produce.
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Click here to view the article online.
Used with permission from Hawaii 247
From Farm to Fork
One possible solution to our local food system
By Melanie Bondera
June 8, 2011
Mauka to Makai / Imagine: It’s Saturday morning. You take the kids and head down to your local farmers market to pick up your weekly box of fruits, vegetables, taro and sweet potatoes from your ahupuaa co-op. You were able to get add-ons of mahimahi, Island beef, eggs, milk, bread, ohelo berry jam, and Kona coffee to round out your meals for this week.
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Used with permission from Honolulu Weekly
Cooperatives can help gardeners and farmers
by Melanie Bondera
March 6, 2011
Though we all probably love spending time working solo in our gardens or on our farms, we usually arrive at a point where we realize we might benefit from a little support. Then it's time to "hui up." Working together can accomplish many goals. Maybe you want some organic gardening supplies that are too expensive to buy locally. Perhaps you'd love to be able to use a piece of equipment occasionally that you can't afford to buy on your own.
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Used with permission from West Hawaii Today
Laulima Center offers assistance for cooperatives
February 8, 2011
Groups across the state that would like to form a cooperative but need some assistance getting organized, writing a business plan, or becoming legally incorporated have a new resource—the Laulima Center. Established by The Kohala Center and funded by a USDA-Rural Cooperative Development grant and the Ulupono Initiative, the Laulima Center will serve all sectors of the rural economy by providing organizational support to cooperative ventures statewide.
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Click here to view the article online.
Used with permission from Hawaii 247