Papaya Industry Faces Tough Recovery

[kalakoa]

The apparent "price differential" against mainland goods is an artifact of artificially cheap gas, or it would never be cost-effective to ship them here. (This, before arguing the relative cost of land, labor, and regulatory compliance.)

If the State were serious about the "imported food dependency problem", they would further manipulate the market by taxing shipping to subsidize local farmers. (Bonus round: the "small local family farm" would be exempt from some of the regulation, and land is still relatively cheap in lower Puna.)

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Then, as Rob said, "you should do it."
If you include your tears as part of your overall profit, you'll do pretty well.
(Disclosure: I farmed vegetables for six years, and there's a reason I'm not doing it anymore. I'll let you guess why.)

[dmbwest]

Doesn't even Hydro water have to be changed once in a while ?

And where does that water go to ?

aloha,
pog

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

kalakoa-
Your suggestion would not only benefit local farmers, but every resident as well.

Most people never consider how many vitamins are lost in our produce when it's shipped in from California. Picked, packed, shipped to the dock, barged to Hawaii, unpacked at the grocery store... much of what you see in the coolers at Safeway & Foodland is two weeks old before you have a chance to buy it. There are charts (Google it) that show the volatility of vitamins in various fruits and vegetables - - peas as an example can lose 1/2 of their vitamin C in 24 hours.

A fresh food industry in Hawaii would provide our residents with a greatly increased source of vitamins and minerals. We should be grateful the papaya growers have been doing this for us for many years.

[snorkle]

To answer questions;
pog; Yes you change the water occasionally; but you don't need new water and food every time. You reuse it and replenish it gradually.

primal; As I said, I am doing it. I'm more interested in developing backyard(or even lanai) systems instead of commercial production. I already have a job.

And primal; I've done carpentry for years; There's a reason I don't use a hand drill anymore; I'll let you guess why.[]

edit; Great ideas Kalakoa

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

snorkle -
Hydroponic vegetable production is a good way to produce many types of vegetables. It works, and works well. There were systems available back when I farmed vegetables 30 years ago. They've been around for a long time.

One thing I learned farming was that on a yearly basis a new tool, or growing method or variety of vegetable was announced in the seed catalogs, trade magazines, and in general interest magazines like Organic Gardening. These new discoveries were guaranteed to increase my profit, and keep me ahead of my competitors. Some did, for a time anyway until everyone else caught up. But the real money was made by the seed catalogs, garden writers, and garden magazine publishers selling the seeds, tools and ideas.

After all was said and done, I earned most of my profits from old fashioned, normal vegetables like beans and zucchini, growing in the ground.

A lot of local people have tried to grow hydroponic tomatoes and cucumbers in greenhouses, some have been very successful. But as you drive around Puna you can see the torn shards of plastic on greenhouse frames where people attempted to grow those crops hydroponically. If it was a wildly successful system, the corporate farms in California would switch to growing their crops that way, especially with the water shortage and restrictions that are affecting farmers over there.

[csgray]

Virtually all the large scale vegetable production in Mexico is now hydroponics, so when you buy a pepper or head of lettuce that was grown in Mexico, it was probably hydroponic. Israel also has largely switched over to hydroponics as well, because it is much more water efficient. But hydroponics is not cheap to set up, so independent farmers usually stick to what they've been doing all along, while big farm corporations have the money or credit to pay for a switchover, or just create a new division. Hydroponics can be very dependent on chemical fertilizers and pesticides to control pests like whitefly that love a greenhouse environment, although it can be done organically. Aquaponics can also be done organically, but it has other issues too. Neither are a magic bullet for all crops in all places.

Those shreds of greenhouses scattered around Puna were not necessarily used for hydroponics, a lot of them were from people growing flowers and foliage for the florist industry, others were from people who tried other crops and failed, still others were on rented land and the greenhouses weren't worth moving at the end of the lease.

Farming is hard work, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, and a lot of people think they can short cut their way around that reality, I think that ends up be the biggest reason a lot of naive people who think they can make it as farmers here end up quitting farming. Plus, farming in a place with virtually no soil is just alien to mainland transplants. My mother was a master organic gardener who just couldn't understand why we didn't have a big garden here, until I handed her a shovel and told her to try to dig a row, then she got it.

Carol
Not my circus, not my monkeys.

[kander]

This is why I said, If those other products would grow here. Corn, Wheat, Barley will all grow in 4" of soil pretty easily. Im just assuming that like most farmers I know, do what they do because they have always done it that way their whole life like their father before them and so on.

I wonder if there is any USDA farming subsidies that might be had to help them out.

[leilanidude]

kander - you don't live here, do you?
Cause if you did, you wouldn't be asking if corn/wheat/barley could be profitably grown here.
It takes many, many acres to grow enough of those crops to make a living off of, and most farmers that do, have well over 1,000 acres.

[csgray]

Most of Puna would kill for 4" of topsoil. At our place we have rock, from boulder sized rocks to baseball sized rocks, to golf ball sized rocks, but no more than 1/2" of soil on top. Fruit trees will grow in that environment, but hardly any row crops.

Carol
Not my circus, not my monkeys.