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With a little nitrogen fertilizer and trace elements just about anything could be grown in most parts of Puna, at least anything that could be grown in Iowa. Which is just about every fruit and vegatable. And perhaps 2 crops or more a year. So what is the big hold up for agriculture? Is it really the goverment?
This is in response to the shipping strike issue and the fact that almost all food is imported.
PS. If you need TP let me know and I can send a couple of rolls. [  ]
I started out with nothing and I still have most of it.
Mahalo
Rick
I started out with nothing and I still have most of it.
Mahalo
Rick
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quote:
Originally posted by Wuzzerdad
So what is the big hold up for agriculture? Is it really the goverment?
Yes: farmers can't afford to pay their fieldworkers $7.25/hour.
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There were more people here 500 years ago who thrived without Young Brothers LTD than there are here now.
They did it with diverse, sustainable agricultural practices. Chemical fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides not necessary.
We could learn from them. In Puna Makai they even grew sweet potatoes successfully without dirt. Stacked rocks, with mulch material in the cracks worked nicely(Potato mounds).
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Rick, As you have probably seen in Iowa now, the main agriculture here had been mostly large corporate business for over a century...the bottom fell out of that in the 1990's with the departure of sugar...
I have worked with, & friends with some of the farmers here, a few who have no problem paying their workers, growing in excess of their needs & utilizing some rather innovative systems....
One of the big things here is land...if you have, & it is good, then you have a huge advantage...but some of the best land is also in the same area where people want to put in beautiful homes & good ag land is often in the same area where land is going for $100-$500K/acre... cannot tell you how many times I have been out in a potato or taro field, overlooking bucolic pastures of cows, right next to million dollar estates...
Then there is that nitrogen...all of the things you do not really think about in Iowa have a long boat trip to get here (granted a century ago, Hawaii was one of the main exporters of nitrogen fertilizer...but that mining is now frowned upon by most...) Present day HaberBosch nitrogen fertilizers are a product of natural gas & electricity...and those are not cheap things here! (nor is hay, grain feeds, field work....) (of course producing without chemical fertilizers is an option...but that is a whole 'nother set of work vs return options!)
Next is the market... most of us, either who were born or moved here, probably have not totally changed what we eat to be in total sync with the produce of the moment. We WANT things even if they are not ready here right now...and the market of shipping & processing... one of the problems with that 92% importation number is that a portion of that IS produced here, shipped to the mainland (as shipping there is really cheap) processed (have the reduced costs for processing, esp the electricity) then shipped back!
Hope this give a little insight (this is no way totally conclusive...but a little of what I have seen...
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quote:
Originally posted by Wuzzerdad
just about anything could be grown in most parts of Puna, at least anything that could be grown in Iowa. .
I had a small commercial vegetable farm in Wisconsin back in the 1980's about 10 miles from the Iowa border. When I moved to Hawaii, I too thought I would be able to grow anything and everything. I soon learned that the fruit flies will sting and destroy tomatoes, peppers, squash, and almost all similar vegetables and fruit. The rains will rot your carrots and potatoes and other root crops. After years of experimentation I found there were only 5 or 6 vegetables out of the 30 I grew in Wisconsin that were dependable in Hawaii without a greenhouse, sprays, bagging the fruit, etc. It's really hard to grow most types of food here, and then as others have mentioned, fertilizer prices and labor costs make what you do grow very expensive.
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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Primal edge is correct about selecting the right crops for the grow site. There are so many micro climates here, It's not difficult to find a spot for most crops. ( You're not in Kansas anymore Toto)[  ]
In Puna Makai (800'-Kalapana side of the rift) I've given up on most thin skinned veggies, but have had great success with gourmet lettuce, cherry tomatoes, snow peas, green onions, peppers, etc. (All in containers on a 6x 20 foot bench under a clear cover. Enough for a large family, all year round)
I'm designing a hydroponic system now that will pretty much run unattended, and will virtually be weed and pest free.
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It's simply not economical to grow food here. If it was, then people would do it.
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Given that the "economy" is tied directly to the "price of gas", I predict that food production will become economical in the near-term future (less than 10 years).
Either that or "most people" will have to leave the islands.
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Most places have huge amounts of un-utilized food and instead ship in what people are used to. I could pretty easily live off of what I grow, gather, and hunt hear in Utah. But when it is so easy to walk into a store and buy a donut I am less willing to eat siberian elm seeds 3 meals a day when they are in season. While I haven't lived in Hawaii I gather that it is a similar situation with all of the fruit and pigs....
As for nitrogen....it is in rain water and can be fixed easily with a large array of plants and algaes. Does anyone know what the P, K and micro nutrient picture looks like on the Big Island?
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Hanley Your analogy of the un & under-utilized food & agricultural resources here is very spot on... we work with some of the farmers here to glean a small portion of the food that is left on the fields...
The economics of picking ALL of the food, vs the marketable produce comes into play (it is even hard to get people to volunteer to glean fields...some will do it once, a few more than once, very few are up for things like weekly field clean ups for the food basket....so there are tonnes - not even close to an exaggeration of the weekly food left on fields here- left) add to that the feral farm animals (pigs, chicken, goats, cows - yup, there is a problem here with FERAL cows...) and the game animals (doves, turkey, ducks, pheasant, sheep & soon abundant deer )
As to not economical to grow food here..do not know where Paul is/has been...but there are many, many people growing food, many of our neighbors have spent their life here growing food... just a drive around Puna you will see papaya fields, macademia farms, coffee groves, farms of noni, taro, sweet potato, tea, guava, oranges, along with truck farms of veggies, fruits & even goat farms for cheese, Puna lamb, chicken & eggs, even some interesting aquaculture & aquaponics...
As to the Nitorgen...rain water here is not as high in N....as there are not too many thunderstorms here (one of the best N fixing routes is lightening...) The nutrient content of the island soil is way complex...most nutrients are made available through weathering...on our newer mountains, there has been very limited time for weathering... up in the Kohalas, you have a nice full spectrum of nutrients with a fairly weathered soild (500K years of time) Non ag lands in the Kohalas also have a nice amount of Nitrogen.. New lava flows have close to no nitrogen in the new bits of soil, and this soil has a range of nutrients in the rock portion of the soil, but with barely any weathering, much of this is not available.... luckily the USGS & USDA both have great soil info...
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