Another big hit to our Big Island economy!

[Menehune]

Aloha!

Dairies, chicken farms, cruise ships (tourists) - now trouble with the macadamia nut business! []

ML Macadamia Orchards, L.P. is the world’s largest grower of macadamia nuts, owning or leasing 4,189 acres of orchards. All of its orchards, assets and employees are based on the island of Hawaii where macadamia yields are the highest in the world.

"Many farmers in Hawaii and Australia are unable to sell their crop at any price at this time," the company said. [!] [V]

The article - "ML Mac seeks to process own crop
In the face of rotting crops, the Big Island firm wants to process and market its nuts."

http://starbulletin.com/2008/02/14/busin...ory01.html

Globalized markets have severely hurt American/Hawaiian farming at times dropping the market price below actual production costs. I was never for tariffs or subsidies because of the higher consumer prices and artificial markets they can create - now I'm not so sure?

Mahalo!

[Kelena]

Trade is killing American industry. Throw up tariffs, the higher the better. Break all treaties necessary and create an island America. That will bring the nuts back to Hawaii (and more of us nuts are on the way!).

[Greg]

Glen, To sharpen your point a little more; put a sharp tariff on anything we import to Hawaii that can be grown or manufactured here.

In my mind, this would not only stimulate the local economy, but make us less dependant on petrolium.

[james weatherford]

Better check your facts. This is very doubtful:
"island of Hawaii where macadamia yields are the highest in the world."

Australia has put a lot of pressure on Hawaii producers because of Australia's higher productivity.

What is the local market for Macadamia?
We just bough 25lbs bulk and that will last us for months, using them out of the freezer. We buy MacNut oil (best and healthiest oil you can find), but that only comes in tiny little bottles.
To buy nuts or oil locally we go to more than a little bit of extra effort.
The Hawaii macadamia nut industry has been targeted at the 'world market' with zero attention to developing a local market.
Tariffs will not change this.




James Weatherford, Ph.D.
15-1888 Hialoa
Hawaiian Paradise Park

[Kelena]

Well, yes and no. I find it bizarre that when I go to my local Trader Joe's, the payapas (which are about $3.00 a piece) are labeled "Brazil". (By the way, because I am trying to retire, I buy no $3.00 papayas!). I can "import" a case of payapas myself from Hawaii for less than $3.00 a piece. And yet, we go to Brazil for payapas. Every time I see those payapas, I think of Kapoho and the payapa farms that are slowly being abandoned. Makes me sad.

I really do think that tariffs (they worked before) and an education campaign to get Americans to buy Americans could work. The so-called "globalized" market is just a euphemism for a particularly rapacious form of capitalism -- one that knows no country, has allegiance to no people, and that sucks the resources out of one country before it moves to the next. Not sustainable.

The island has taught me a lot about what is sustainable and what is not, and is a perfect place to begin an experiment in sustainability. Milk is the best example. There should be no reason to "import" milk to Hawaii. And the Hawaii government should have moved heaven and earth to keep the dairy producers afloat, even if it means heavy subsidies. Those subsidies would not be necessary if buyers were educated to buy local each and every time the choice is presented. In the meantime, the last Big Island egg producer is going out of business: http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/arti...ures01.txt

[Les C]

Regarding mac nut oil, I found it annoying that the only organically produced mac nut oil we've found on the east side (and maybe anywhere in the State) is processed in the Midwest. The bottle doesn't say where the nuts come from.

[Nate SC]

Glen..in the words of my lil' round& brown friend Gary Coleman.."What chu' talk'n bout Willis?" $3 dollar papaya fruit ? that would rot on the shelf and sprout a new tree before I bought that.
I wonder if some AG business people just don't know how to run a
Ag-business correctly, or run a business period. To be successfull in Agribusiness takes a skilled individual , in the modern age of farming. Farm equipment is super expensive as well. New/Used tractors run 20K with minimal attachments. Little Bobcat loaders at 26K, new & used D-9's are 50K. Thats a big chunk of change tied up in equipement. How can you not make money when milk retails for almost $4 a gallon though? Gasoline cost less than milk now. With the only dairy going under who controls the milk distribution now ? Wallyworld ??
People gotta eat..bottom line. Hungry people don't stay hungry for long. The key is distribution, in this case. The small scale farm has to figure out how to get their product to market. The use of wholesalers to open stands and outlets for sales would help free up the farmer to work. The wholsalers won't grow, but they will represent the farm and sell the products for the farmers at markets. It can work in Puna for sure, it just takes a business mind set and hard work. Now watch the nay sayers come out. Oahu is 700K plus population wise? Your telling me they don't eat things made& grown in Hawaii? If I went to Food4less and said I can supply 10 cases of fresh eggs a day for 3/4 what your paying now just for your Big island stores and me not make money on that deal compared to mainland eggs does not make sense? There is tons of room to cut out the midle man in this market for sure and to expand the market as well. I'm just not buying the line " can't make money in AG in Hawaii" or "the days of Big A are gone in Hawaii".
If you let Wallyworld squeaze out all the production of food the economy will suffer in the long run.

[Bob Orts]

Think for a moment of all the items that you have that was imported in one form or another. How much more are you willing to pay for those items (25%, 100%, 500%) to protect or promote local?

Hawaii has no oil production, so what tariff would be imposed and what will that tariff do to your gasoline bills, electrical bills, all your purchases including locally produced goods? How will that additional fuel tariff impact the cost of producing local products, transporting them to market, and you getting to the store to buy it?

Will you still be in favor if all the imported electronic and computer devices cost 100% more? How about all the small foreign cars Hawaii seems to like, what will you do when parts become prohibitively expensive? Will the US auto makers lower cost (never have) for new cars or raise it (standard practice) to almost as much as the foreign cars?

What happens when food produced on Hawaii becomes a scarce commodity because of their lower price versus imported food, and production can't keep pace with demand, will prices remain low in the aloha spirit or will it rise with the demand in the true spirit of capitalism?

Even subsidies sound good until one ask the question, where is government getting the money for that subsidy? I think it's from us. So sure we can keep something locally produced via subsidies so long as you have the money to pay for it. But if you want it to happen but unwilling to pay for it, that's a big gap.

Of course there's the mechanism that does work in many places:
1. No tax on local produced items.
2. Government subsidized production energy cost for locally produced and sold items.
3. Truth in labeling for locally produced items.
4. Low/no cost loans for increase local production improvement to become competitive.
5. Increase spending on production to promote local products and services.

Taxing and tariffs isn't going to solve anything until we break our desire to have everything dirt cheap without regard to what it means. If we come to expect our electronic to be cheap, our food to be cheap, our commodities to be cheap, our services to be cheap, can we really accept higher prices for the sake of local? I think we're deluding ourselves. We will only accept local produced product and tariffs on imports so long as it doesn’t raise the price for something we want.

The truth is - people love tariffs on imported products so long as others are paying the cost, but not when they have to pay more. The second they are the ones who have to pay more…………

[Greg]

"What happens when food produced on Hawaii becomes a scarce commodity because of their lower price versus imported food, and production can't keep pace with demand, will prices remain low in the aloha spirit or will it rise with the demand in the true spirit of capitalism?"
____________________________________________________________________

Doesn't demand stimulate production? We've got thousands of acres of year round Ag land lying fallow here on Hawaii. I can see us becoming the food basket of the state.

I mentioned a tariff on imported goods we can produce here, not electronics or cars.

The benefits would not just be to the local growers; We all benefit by becoming less dependent on "food miles".

I would hope the prices of home grown produce would rise, the difference is the money would stay in the local economy.

[gtill]

Growing crops in hawaii, although it looks so easy, there are so many problems with bugs, rot flooding etc, and with the restrictions on spraying and other necessary controls on growing, food cropping is nearly impossible(or it would be common)!

The new population is why there is no more ag. Burning cane killed that industry(and removed most of the local population in the process).

Dairy was killed by a heptaclor in milk scare(from cows eating tainted pineapple tops). And chickens were gradually killed off by nighborhood complaints about noise or smells. Blame yourslves for the demise of ag,it was here till the 1960s invasion, when the newcomers decided how they wanted things (which we live with now)! Just like LA,which is why Kona still thrives(homegrown smog)!