Agriculture Committee Chairman Clift Tsuji, D-Hilo, was unavailable for additional comment Thursday.
BY ERIN MILLER
WEST HAWAII TODAY
emiller@westhawaiitoday.com
Coffee farmers and blenders are split over a proposed bill that would eliminate inspection and certification requirements for green coffee beans being shipped off island.
House Bill 280 passed out of the House Agriculture Committee Thursday morning. The bill would remove provisions put into law after the Kona Kai coffee scandal in the 1990s.
Jim Wayman, president of blender Hawaii Coffee Co., said the Hawaii Coffee Association, Kona Coffee Council and Hawaii Growers Association put together a committee to address their concerns about the delays stemming from waiting for a state inspector to grade and certify the coffee.
Their goal, he said, is not to eliminate certification, but make it mandatory, while simultaneously beefing up Department of Agriculture rules regarding documenting coffee bean origin.
Testimony from the department backed that up, Rep. Clift Tsuji said.
“The department does want to clarify, this measure will make certification voluntary,” Tsuji said, reading from the department’s testimony during Thursday’s hearing. “This measure will not trump the current quarantines in place that are meant to prevent the spread of coffee berry borer and other invasive pests or diseases.”
Tsuji, D-Hilo, is also looking into what the department’s existing rules are regarding grading rules and enforcements for violations of rules regarding coffee origin.
Holualoa coffee farmer Bruce Corker thinks the proposed changes are foolish.
“If the problem was delays because of too few inspectors, the request would be for the Department of Agriculture to hire more inspectors,” Corker said. “There’s some other motive. This will put us back in the Kona Kai situation, where buyers on the mainland and Japan will not have the assurance this is the genuine product.”
In the 1990s, Kona Kai Coffee purchased coffee beans from other coffee growing regions, labeled it Kona coffee and sold it as such. Farmers sued, the company settled and Hawaii’s agriculture department took out trademarks for 100 percent Kona coffee and 100 percent Hawaiian coffee.
Ending the certification process will also get rid of the paper trail that proves Hawaii-grown coffee’s origin, Corker claimed.
“It is a grave concern,” he said. “This would make a serious problem even worse.”
Wayman said that’s just not true. Inspectors were spending a majority of their time grading coffee, which led to long delays, six weeks in the case of one coffee buyer trying to send coffee to the mainland this growing season, he said.
Secondly, the department’s rules will continue to mandate coffee sellers sign documents, under threat of perjury, that verify the coffee’s origins, he said. The various coffee farmers groups who support the legislation are also working the with Department of Agriculture to see stiffer penalties enacted for failing to comply with those measures, Wayman said.
“The people who were opposing this haven’t read the whole law,” he added. “It’s a criminal offense to break those rules.”
Written testimony provided to the House Agriculture Committee was split, with the Kona Coffee Farmers Association speaking out against the bill.
“As a Kona coffee farmer, I have appreciated the state’s oversight of bulk green coffee shipments, ensuring the coffee is certified Kona and not the coffee from somewhere else,” Susan Dursin wrote. “Rather than reducing the protection we have had for at least 15 years, which includes some verification of the quality in terms of grading, the Agriculture Committee should be considering increased protection such as branding protection. That kind of support is common to many products in the United States and in other countries.”
The Ka’u Farm Bureau offered support for the bill, noting budget cutbacks that “hindered” the state’s ability to run the coffee certification program.
“This has led to long delays, hurting customer relations and crimping cash flows for growers and processors,” President Chris Manfredi wrote. “Ka’u Farm Bureau supports the intent of this measure and recommends stiff, enforceable penalties in the law that will close the door to counterfeiting coffee.”
Agriculture Committee Chairman Clift Tsuji, D-Hilo, was unavailable for additional comment Thursday.