Submit testimony to the Plant Quarantine Branch in Honolulu by faxing it to 832-0584. View the proposal at hawaii.gov/hdoa/Info/proposedrules/proposed-administrative-rules.
KONA GROWERS QUESTION MOTIVES BEHIND
AG DEPT. PLAN TO CONTAIN BERRY BORER
BY CAROLYN LUCAS-ZENK
WEST HAWAII TODAY
clucas-zenk@westhawaiitoday.com
The Hawaii Department of Agriculture wants a permanent quarantine to prevent the spread of coffee berry borer, evident by its proposal available until today for comment.
However, some Kona coffee growers are questioning the motives behind the proposed amendments, particularly whether the rules are serving just a few large coffee processors or the hundreds of small, independent farmers. Instead, Kona coffee growers, during a public hearing Thursday at the Kona Imin Center in Holualoa, urged the department to fine-tune management and mitigation efforts.
“Coffee berry borer doesn’t stay put. It moves naturally, including with the wind. It’s here and it’s not going away,” said Colehour Bondera, Kona Coffee Farmers Association president and Kanalani Ohana Farm owner. “Rather than creating boundaries haphazardly, create rules and strategies that help farmers here in Kona deal with the problem now. … Or, are we just catering and reacting to a few voices in Honolulu?”
The Board of Agriculture’s interim emergency rule establishing quarantine zones on Hawaii Island expired Dec. 2. Under the proposal, Hawaii Island would be designated as a coffee berry borer infested area, notwithstanding ongoing control projects on Hawaii Island, and other islands designated as coffee berry borer restricted areas where this pest is not known to be established. An infested area may be expanded by the board to implement quarantine measures in a newly infested area on a timely basis.
The Plant Quarantine Branch chief would be able to issue permits for intrastate transportation of coffee plants, plant parts, unroasted coffee beans, used coffee bags and coffee harvesting equipment from a coffee berry borer infested area, with conditions for mitigating treatment and measures appropriate to the applicable circumstance, such as propagation, research or roasting.
The proposal states the branch chief would also approve new treatments and mitigating measures as they are scientifically validated and revise permit conditions accordingly.
Currently, growers can use two pesticides containing a fungus, Beauveria bassiana, that has helped keep this destructive pest in check in other parts of the world. Other approved treatment methods include: fumigation using chemicals like methyl bromide or Profume, heating the beans at 315 degrees Fahrenheit for at least five minutes, or freezing the beans for 48 hours.
However, several growers urged the department to replace pesticide fumigation with less damaging alternatives, such as impermeable bags and ozone treatment. Kona Country Farm owner Ray Anders suggested allowing high pressure powerwashing of coffee, saying it’s proven to be effective in killing pathogens.
Attendees also asked the department for allowance of a self-certification process for freezing coffee with an affidavit, to determine whether Profume use on coffee presents a human health hazard, to station an entomologist in Kona to help with control efforts and to deal with untended coffee on private properties.
The proposal also exempts transportation of coffee plants, plant parts, green coffee beans, used coffee bags and coffee harvesting equipment for direct export from an infested area if not trans-shipped through uninfested areas.
“(The department) first needs to determine why its protective systems failed to keep coffee berry borer out of Hawaii County and it needs to fix the causes of that failure,” said Bruce Corker, Rancho Aloha owner and Kona Coffee Farmers Association board member. “Second, the primary reliance of the quarantine on fumigation with the pesticide Profume threatens Hawaii coffee growers with the same type of economic devastation suffered by Washington State apple growers from the Alar scare of the late 1980s. Third, the quarantine needlessly restricts the access to the Honolulu market for organic farmers and those who do not want to fumigate their coffee with Profume, and it unnecessarily complicates the trans-shipment of Hawaii County coffee through Honolulu.”
Corker recommended charging a tax of 10 cents per pound on imported and local coffee being shipped within the state, as well as designating the money for mitigation at infested farms — an idea attendees seemed to like.
The invasive insect has affected the yield of some Kona coffee growers by as much as 25 percent since its September 2010 discovery in Ka’u.
Kona Coffee Farmers Association member Page Trygstad said he has spent more than $11,000 trying to control and stop coffee berry borer. He treated his seven-acre farm six times with pesticides containing B. bassiana. Still, he lost about 40 percent of his crop.
“The department needs to find a method that’s both accessible and affordable to small, independent farmers,” said Sandra Scarr, Daily Fix Coffee owner. “You need more focus on the efforts here, figuring out how best to mitigate the farms now affected, instead of protecting interests outside this county.”
Submit testimony to the Plant Quarantine Branch in Honolulu by faxing it to 832-0584. View the proposal at hawaii.gov/hdoa/Info/proposedrules/proposed-administrative-rules.