A big part of being a successful business is learning ways to manage risks. When your business is growing food, plants or flowers, insuring your crop can help protect you from financial disaster, as well as cover minor setbacks in production.
A big part of being a successful business is learning ways to manage risks. When your business is growing food, plants or flowers, insuring your crop can help protect you from financial disaster, as well as cover minor setbacks in production.
Though we hate to think of the possibilities, we do live in a place where storms, tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, droughts, fires or lava flows can negatively affect our crops. Of course, our frequent heavy rains and strong winds are lesser dangers, but they can also severely impact a harvest. Fluctuations in markets can also cause financial losses. Growers with crop insurance can face these potential problems with less anxiety knowing that if losses do occur they are covered.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, in its efforts to keep agriculture viable in this country by helping farmers be sustainable, underwrites insurance for many crops. Many of the crops covered in this program are grown in Hawaii. Coffee and bananas are covered, as well as papayas, macadamia nuts and livestock with premium discounts available for beginning farmers and ranchers. A new Whole Farm Revenue Protection Program is being launched as well through the latest Farm Bill and will cover most crops including fruits, vegetables, animals and aquaculture with highly diversified growers receiving additional subsidies.
The U.S. Congress updates the nation’s Farm Bill every five years. The bill is a comprehensive piece of legislation that covers federal government policies related to agriculture and includes many assistance programs for farmers. The latest version offers special benefits to new farmers, as well as those with limited resources.
The many programs offered through Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Farm Service Agency and its Risk Management Agency, as well as the Agricultural Mediation Program are all part of the Farm Bill and designed to help farmers succeed. The programs serve the interest of the USDA to make farming a sustainable occupation in this country. Though many small farmers feel the programs only benefit large corporate farms, that is not the intention of the USDA or the actual fact. Many of its programs can be helpful to small and organic farms and growers in Hawaii. We only need better access to information about these programs.
Signup dates are important to know, in order to ensure coverage. Trees of coffee, banana, papaya and mac nuts, as well as coffee and mac nut fruit must be insured by Dec. 31 to be covered in 2015. The banana and papaya fruit needs to be covered by May 31. The new Whole Farm Revenue Protection policy covering most crops may have a deadline as early as Feb. 28. Check for actual dates as details on that program become finalized. Nursery crops can be insured at any time with policies taking effect 30 days after paper work has been filed, and livestock risk protection price coverage can be locked in anytime for growers that have an application on file with a carrier.
An opportunity to learn more about crop insurance as a way to manage your financial risks will be held in several locations around the state in November. Insurance agent Bonnie Lind represents two of the USDA’s most experienced approved insurance providers in our area: Rural Community Insurance Service and ProAg Insurance Services. She will discuss current coverage possibilities and answer questions about the services she offers at these free meetings. She will include newly released crop insurance tools for the grower in her presentation.
A Waimea meeting is scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday in the Waimea Civic Center conference room. On Nov. 17, she will host a meeting from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Kona Cooperative Extension Service conference room in Kainaliu. Call Gina at 322-4892 to reserve a Kona seat. Meetings will also be held starting at 6 p.m. Thursday in Ka‘u and at 6 p.m. Nov. 18 in Hilo. For information about those meetings or to contact Lind directly, call (888) 276-7728 or email agsecure@sbcglobal.net.
Tropical gardening helpline
Steve asks: My lime tree is producing limes this year that seem especially hard and have little to no juice. Do you know of a cause and cure for this problem?
Answer: Several conditions can produce citrus fruit that lack juice. Your elevation and the location of your tree can be factors. Juiciness can be affected by weather conditions, soil type, irrigation frequency, nutritional contents in the soil and pest issues. Your sample did not seem to have any pest problems.
Citrus trees do best with a good consistent moisture level. One way to be sure that they get sufficient moisture is to install a drip irrigation system around the root zone of the tree.
Several mineral elements can affect juice content of the fruit. For example, nitrogen can help increase juice content and acid concentration, but it can also increase the thickness of the peel and needs to be balanced with other nutrients.
A proper balance of major nutrients, including nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and magnesium, is necessary to produce quality fruit. It is recommended that you do a soil test before adding any fertilizers, however, so that you can add what is needed without risking toxic doses. Citrus fertilizers usually contain all the ingredients necessary for production of quality fruit.
Though citrus trees can tolerate the heat at lower elevations in Kona, they may be adversely affected by salt spray at properties near the ocean. They also will do well at upper elevations in West Hawaii. Good soil drainage is important at any elevation. Another way to help citrus produce juicy fruit is to help keep their roots cool and moist and the soil in the root zone healthy by applying a thick layer of mulch to the area.
Email plant questions to konamg@ctahr.hawaii.edu for answers by certified master gardeners. Some questions will be chosen for inclusion in this column.
Diana Duff is a plant adviser, educator and consultant living on an organic farm in Captain Cook.