Agriculture

Back to Victory

Wednesday, November 30th, 2011

Community Contributed by Glenn I. Teves, County Extension Agent, UH CTAHR

If you hear something repeatedly, it starts to sink in after a while. It’s the same thing for an old idea whose time has come again. Victory gardens are an old idea believed to have started in England in the 1400s. Word spread throughout the land by messengers on horseback that the Spanish were planning to attack England, and that citizens should plant gardens and store their food. In addition, they should save their metal for the possible war effort.

In the building of our nation, immigrants were encouraged to bring their seeds with them. The nation was short of seeds, and many of the native crops such as corn and squash hadn’t caught on yet. In our early beginnings, the main source of seed was none other than politicians who would carry them to the places they visited as a way to promote their self-interests. Finding seeds adapted to the different climates was sometimes a challenge, but gardeners and small farmers would develop their own varieties through selection and sharing of seeds from nearby communities.

During World War I, the National War Garden Commission was established in England to promote the idea of growing gardens as a way support the war effort. During World War II, this same message was spread throughout both America and Europe, and the victory garden was revived. As a result, 40 percent of the vegetables produced in our nation’s garden came out of these 20 million gardens. 

In the early 1940s, the U.S. Department of Agriculture objected to then first lady Eleanor Roosevelt’s efforts to plow part of the White House lawn to plant her victory garden, fearing this would hurt the food industry. Victory gardens enabled more food and supplies to be shipped to our troops. Vegetables were bartered for other foods and ration stamps, the currency during the war time to purchase sugar, butter, milk, cheese, eggs, coffee, meat and canned goods as well as gas. Information on gardening came from sources such as the Saturday Evening Post, Life Magazine, Good Housekeeping, International Harvester and Beech-Nut Packing Company, as well as seed companies and the government.

In March 2009, this effort was renewed when first lady Michelle Obama planted a 1,100 square-foot garden at the White House. Last week, Ma’o Farms of Waianae captured the national stage when the first lady visited; she emphasized the importance of agriculture and education, and of connecting what you do to the rest of the nation. At Ma’o Farms, predominantly Hawaiian youth are being trained in organic crop production and farm management, and also have opportunities to attend community college to further their education.

In times of uncertainty, such as what we face today, it’s always nice to have a little insurance in the form of food growing in our backyard. This form of insurance is the ability to provide for yourself and your family, and having the knowledge to produce and preserve your own food is an investment in the future of your family. As Henry Ford once said, "No unemployment insurance can be compared to an alliance between man and a plot of land."

Who is the Cooperative?

Wednesday, October 12th, 2011

Community contributed by Glenn I. Teves, County Extension Agent

Agricultural cooperatives are unique among organizations because they were formed under federal and state law to give farmers a competitive advantage in buying supplies, processing and marketing their products. It allows farmers to come together and develop an infrastructure that each individual farmer couldn’t afford to construct by themselves. We have two agricultural cooperatives on Molokai, Hikiola and Molokai Livestock Cooperative.

Hikiola Cooperative was formed in 1976 by fledgling Ho`olehua homestead farmers. Anticipating the closure of pineapple production on Molokai, and seeing the need to start farming their homesteads individually, they knew access to affordable farming supplies was a vital component to farming.  Prior to this, a breakdown in your farm operation could force you to fly to Honolulu to pick up key parts or risk losing the crop. First organized as a supply and marketing cooperative, Hikiola shifted to making supplies available. Hikiola has undergone major changes during its history, weathering many storms, including a downsizing about 20 years ago.

Without Hikiola, small farmers would have a very difficult time starting up. Hikiola has extended credit to worthy members, which comes in handy when expanding operations or when money is tied up in the field until harvest. The purpose of a supply cooperative is to order supplies for farmer-members based on their requests. Although Hikiola is not a store, it appears to have morphed into one based on the needs of farmer-members and the greater community. However, anytime a product is sitting on the shelf, it’s not making money and is losing money. By cooperative law, over 50 percent of the purchases must come from the members, and this has been a challenge in some years as more people, including construction companies, depend on Hikiola for key supplies.

Cooperatives are operated on an at-cost basis as opposed to non-profit or for-profit. This means that any income over and above the cost of operation is allocated back to the members based on patronage, called patronage refunds. Patronage refunds can be used to expand the cooperative. In this way, the cooperative can borrow its own money instead of taking out a loan. If the cooperative no longer needs the money, it can allocate this money back to the members. Only members are eligible for patronage refunds.
Who is the cooperative? The cooperative is made up of farmer-members who elect board members who hire a manager. The board approves the budget, and the manager executes on this budget and also hires staff to provide the services. We, as members, are the cooperative. I’ve heard members question, “What is the cooperative doing for me?” The right question should be, “What can I do for the cooperative so it can better assist me?” Presently, aside from the board of directors, very few members are involved in assuring the success of the cooperative. This is not how it should operate. Members may have good ideas on how to improve the cooperative, and can attend monthly board of directors meetings or even volunteer to be on a special committee. Each member makes up the cooperative; there’s no entity out there that stands alone called Hikiola Cooperative.

As members, we are each responsible to help the cooperative function efficiently so the cooperative can keep us on the farm. I can only imagine how it would be if Hikiola Cooperative was no longer operating. It would be a sad day for small farmers, and the community who benefit greatly from it.