Welcome Back!
MCFB Announces In-Person General Meeting & Mixer
Calling all members & friends of the Maui County Farm Bureau! (or at least 75 of them) MCFB is thrilled to announce our first in-person event since December of 2019.
The FREE outdoor event will be held on Tuesday, August 3, from 4 to 6:30 p.m. at MauiWine in Ulupalakua. MauiWine’s scenic venue fits the bill for gathering again with an outdoor covered pavilion, plenty of parking and full use of kitchen and facilities.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions still in place, attendance will be capped at 75 people through online registration. So don’t hesitate to register right away!
“We are very excited to host an in-person event again, and our committee is planning on making this very special and fun,” says Teena Rasmussen, chair of MCFB’s Membership Committee.
Our “Welcome Back” end-of-work-day event will give us a chance to meet and greet old friends, recognize our new members and guests, eat some good kau kau, and get a short update from MCFB on our latest endeavors.
Membership Committee Builds Bonds
| With COVID-19 increasingly in the rearview mirror, it’s time to reconnect! Recognizing this imperative, Teena Rasmussen has stepped up to chair MCFB’s Membership Committee, together with an excellent team of Kai Pelayo, Carol Reimann and Hugh Starr. |
“Our MCFB members are at the heart of why we have an organization,” Rasmussen says. “We share our passion for the rural way of life, our struggles and successes as farmers, and the desire to bond together as an industry. Post-COVID-19, we have a great need to reconnect with our members and friends. At the same time, we want to reach out to the wider Maui community to share what MCFB is all about and encourage all to join us in being advocates for agriculture.”
Rasmussen, a former president of MCFB, is co-founder of Skog Rasmussen LLC, a consulting firm delivering community and economic development solutions. For 35 years, Rasmussen and her family owned and operated Paradise Flower Farms, Inc., a third-generation lei flower farm. In addition to her long career as a farmer, Teena served for eight years as director of Maui County Office of Economic Development.
Kai Pelayo is community affairs manager for Bayer Hawai‘i. Prior to that, he spent decades in the hospitality industry, mostly recently as Director of Operations for the Grand Wailea Resort. He is active in the Maui Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce, including past service as president and vice president.
“As a community we need to focus on the needs of farmers and how we can help them,” Pelayo says. “I believe the Maui County Farm Bureau helps farmers by providing a platform for education, advocacy, services and business opportunities for our farming community.”
Carol Reimann has worked as the Vice President Maui for Alexander & Baldwin since 2018. She formerly served as director of Housing and Human Concerns for Maui County and is active in the community as a Rotarian and other positions.
“Having grown up in the plantation camps in the central valley, I have a personal connection to agriculture on Maui,” said Reimann. “My professional experience at Kapalua Resort and the Maui Hotel & Lodging Association have provided first-hand knowledge of the inter-connectedness of agriculture and other industries as well as the importance of a robust, vibrant agriculture industry in our economy”.
Hugh Starr owns Maui Ranch Land, a consulting firm that fosters long-term land stewardship.
“My motivation is to help build consensus across ag stakeholder groups in Maui County,” said Starr who has worked with many facets of the rural land industry in Hawai‘i for more than 35 years.
MCFB Receives Continued funding for Farm Produce Purchases
Maui County Farm Bureau is pleased to announce that the County of Maui has extended COVID-19 pandemic relief funding to keep MCFB’s Farm Product Purchase Program (FPPP) going for through September 30. In total, the program now exceeds an estimated $975,000.
Commercial farmers who have produce available are welcome to join this program. Membership in MCFB is not a requirement. Weekly produce orders are taken on Thursdays and produce delivery is scheduled on Tuesdays from 7 am – 12 pm. To participate, call Heidi Watanabe, FPPP produce coordinator, (808) 357-8593.
MCFB Sponsored ‘Cooking Hawaiian Style’ Kicks Off July 5.
Get ready to tune in to “Cooking Hawaiian Style,” sponsored by your own Maui County Farm Bureau, in partnership with the County of Maui. This 15th season of the locally produced television show—all filmed on Maui at Kula Country Farms and Kaonoulu Ranch—will air for the first time on Monday, July 5, at 7 pm on Spectrum OC16.
Thirteen Maui farmers and friends of agriculture join host Lanai Tabura for 13 shows, airing weekly with a new show every Monday. Each show will air 7-9 throughout that week. Repeat episodes will air for a second run, for a total of 26 weeks.
Keep your eyes open for a 30-second MCFB commercial which will accompany those fun and entertaining episodes. The commercial takes viewers across the island through a bounty of Grown on Maui produce, flowers and plants, and Raised on Maui livestock.
| “We are proud and excited to see our island and our farmers showcased on ‘Cooking Hawaiian Style,’” said Warren Watanabe, executive director of MCFB. “This is a really great way to remind viewers that buying local is important to our island’s future.” Cooking Hawaiian Style will launch a social media promotion starting with the first episode featuring Ikaika Blackburn, fire-fighter, entertainer, husband, father, and cook. MCFB’s social media team is ready to cross post every show and its teasers. In addition to the televised and social media promotions and broadcasts, Cooking Hawaiian Style has a weekly column in Star-Advertiser’s MidWeek that will feature each guest and recipe from their episode. This newspaper is delivered to more than 280,000 homes in Hawaiʻi. This season will be featured in USA Today distributed to 10,000+ visitors, and will be featured in the Hawaii.com newsletter distributed to 243,627 email addresses. Many of the the episodes end up on Hawaiian Airlinesʻ in-flight program on their national and international routes as well as broadcast outside of Hawaiʻi through CHS’ cable partners. A grand mahalo extended to Dawn Kaniaupio, Ruben Carrillo and Lanai Tabura of Hawaiʻi Entertainment Group / Cooking Hawaiian Style. Mahalo for working with us to showcase Maui ag. It was fun working with you and the crew. |
‘4-H Youth Livestock Show’ Video Shares Highlights
Well-groomed goats were hustled into position, imposing beef cattle were inspected, and fat pink pigs were meticulously wiped down to keep them spotless. Marking the 102nd year of 4-H livestock on Maui, young participants at the 2021 Maui 4-H Youth Livestock Show showcased a variety of animals this year at Oskie Rice Arena in Makawao.
All the 4-H show action is now accessible to MCFB members via a 30-minute video about the event and the importance of 4-H.
With all COVID-19 protocols in place, the show was the only one of its kind in the islands this year, and participants were thrilled that it happened.
“A lot of people pulled together,” says Dr. Kyle Caires, University of Hawai‘i Livestock Agent and MCFB president. “The farm bureau was a huge help, both in terms of funding and organization, to get this going for the kids. [4-H] takes a lot of hard work, day in and day out. They have to feed and monitor these animals, train these animals…all that preparation comes together here at the fair.”
This year’s Maui 4-H Youth Livestock Show was limited to 4-H members, their families and livestock industry leaders, and did not include the traditional auction. Maui 4-H looks forward to bringing back the auction when the event returns to the War Memorial Special Events Arena as part of Maui AgFest 2022.
MCFB Executive Director Warren Watanabe has fond memories of his time in 4-H as a youngster. “4-H is a critical part of agriculture, training our youth and having them learn about agriculture,” he says. “They learn lifeskills, interacting with people, with animals.” The official judge for the 2021 show was Mitch Magenheimer from Canby, Oregon.
“Maui County is the birthplace of the 4-H program in Hawai‘i,” said Caires. “We wanted to support these keiki, our future leaders, by allowing them to complete their projects and showcase their hard work and determination!”
Aloha Members,
The hot summer months are approaching and again we have an upcountry water shortage. The reservoir levels are decreasing and water use demand has increased. The Department of Water Supply declared a Stage 1 water shortage effective July 2, 2021. This declaration prohibits non-essential water use. The NOAA/NWS forecast has probabilities favor near to below average rainfall for the dry season across the state.
| For our farmers and ranchers, there’s a 90-day grace period where adjustments to water use can be made. Per DWS Rules and Regulations, Maui County Code, Title 14 – PUBLIC SERVICES/Article 1 – County Water Code; 14.06A.080 – Agricultural consumers. A. In the event of a water shortage declaration, agricultural water consumers shall be requested to reduce water consumption to the extent practicable, but shall not be required to implement any restrictions or mandates imposed by section 14.06A.060 for the first ninety days after publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the County. B. After the ninety days provided in subsection A, agricultural consumers shall be subject to the same provisions as other consumers. (Ord. No. 4178, § 5, 2014) Drought has been a yearly event with varying degrees of severity. The County and State wants increased food security. To accomplish this goal, the availability and cost of water for agriculture also needs to be a high priority. |
Warren K. Watanabe
Executive Director
Aloha, kākou
June was a busy month in many ways as many of our farmers and ranchers are preparing for drought. Hawai‘i’s youth are out of school for the summer, but many have not been idle. The first week of June on Maui marked the start of 4-H livestock show season in the State of Hawai‘i.
I was fortunate to travel to the Big Island to host a livestock evaluation workshop and contest for 4-H youth on June 18, and judge their county livestock show the following day at Anderson Arena, also known as Rocking Chair Ranch in Waimea.The events were followed up with a carcass show and seminar for those youth on the evening of June 23.
This comprehensive experience helps 4-Hers better understand their animal’s performance from farm-to-fork. It is very evident that Hawai‘i has a lot of talented youth through the state that are gaining valuable life skills and a strong appreciation for agriculture through the 4-H youth development program. Next stop on the 4-H livestock circuit takes us to O‘ahu on July 10 for their county livestock show.
I want to say mahalo again to all the hard-working volunteers and families that endured another year of the pandemic, that came together to make our 4-H program on Maui and across the state a successful venue for our keiki.
Over the last month we met and made revisions to fine-tune our strategic plan goals and target dates for implementation over the next two years. These efforts will help Maui County Farm Bureau strengthen a diverse agricultural community by supporting and advocating for Maui’s farm and ranch families. I’m very excited that our next general meeting will be held in person during the first week of August.
Hope you had a happy and safe 4th of July weekend!
Mahalo,
Kyle Caires
President