Environment

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.

Berries are Blue

Wednesday, October 5th, 2011

Community Contributed by Glenn I. Teves, County Extension Agent

When it comes to antioxidant content, blueberries are close to the top on the list. As a consequence, everyone is trying to grow them, and Hawaii is no exception.  Blueberry is a potential high value niche-market crop for Hawaii but little has been known about the adaptability of this crop to our sub-tropical conditions until recently. Trials on the Big Island conducted jointly by USDA researchers from Oregon and Hawaii and University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources researchers indicate that a handful of varieties show promise, but there are challenges.

There are many species of Vaccinium or blueberry, with two cousins native to Hawaii called Ohelo, Vaccinium reticulatum from Hawaii and Vaccinium calycinum from Maui. The focus in Hawaii has been to field test crosses of southern hibush types which are a cross between northern highbush from temperate climates and warm species such as Vaccinium darrowii. These types are more tolerant to warm weather and have low chill requirements that allow them to flower in parts of Hawaii.

At least six varieties have been tested on the Big Island since 2004 in three locations. Early results from Waimea indicate that Sharpblue, Misty, Emerald and Jewel performed well, with Sharpblue having the sweetest fruit and Misty having the largest fruits. Fruit size can be manipulated by having good vegetative growth and a robust plant prior flowering. The bigger the flower set, the smaller the fruits. Diseases such as rust and phytophthora can be a challenge. Good drainage can help avoid some root diseases, and dry conditions can help to avoid leaf diseases. Misty and Sharpblue even grew well in Hilo at 250 feet elevation.

The American Society of Horticulture Science Annual Convention held in Kona last week brought key researchers from around the world to present their research, and some of the giants of blueberry research were there. Among them was Dr. Paul Lyrene of University of Florida, a leader in the development of low chill blueberries. He developed four of the six varieties tested in Hawaii, including Misty, Sapphire, Emerald, and Jewel.

Aside from receiving a national award at the meeting for his work, he also presented his latest research on low chill blueberries. His challenge when developing crosses between northern and southern varieties is that you don’t know what parent it will take after. He showed a slide with many confused plants, not knowing if they should grow or flower. Having a lot of vegetation before flowering will allow the plant to carry a larger fruit load.
I was able to talk story with Dr. Lyrene, and he felt that blueberries could be grown successfully in Hawaii. The key was to have a strong harvesting season when the other parts of the world are not in peak production, and in this way you could get top dollar for your product. He also cautioned about a disease called rust that was prevalent in rainy areas that could be a problem in Hawaii.

Blueberry prefers very acid soil in the pH range of 4.0 to 5.2. Sprays of iron help to correct foliar deficiencies, and ground applications of sulfur help to acidify the soil. At the Volcano Research Station blueberries are growing well as a potted plant and will produce handfuls of fruit. One source of disease-free plants is North American Plants.