HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0799.003 2006-2008
NOVEMBER 20T" 2007
HAWAII COUNTY COUNCIL RESOLUTION 417-07
TESTIMONY IN FAVOR OF THE RESOLUTION.
KEN SHEPPARD
PRESIDENT
KONA COFFEE FARMERS ASSOCIATION
Chairman Hoffman, Vice-Chairman Pilago, Councilors, thank you for hearing my
testimony today.
My name is Ken Sheppard, I am a retired Kona coffee farmer and am currently President
of the Kona Coffee Farmers Association, we support this resolution.
Our mission is to promote and protect Kona farmers' interests in 100% Kona coffee, to
protect our Kona coffee heritage and to seek greater legal protection for the Kona coffee
name. In doing so we hope to encourage others in the industry to join us in our long term
vision for a sustainable high value Hawaii origin Kona coffee industry rather than the
short term pursuit of profit by the promotion of 901/6 low priced foreign coffee labeled as
Kona Blend.
Low percentage Kona blends are effectively devaluing Kona Coffee from being a high
value Specialty coffee to that of a commodity crop. Commodity crop status will lead to
lower prices and a non-viable Kona coffee farming economy.
The broader Hawaii origin coffee market potential is also being stifled by State sponsored
blends because we are effectively competing against ourselves by importing inexpensive
foreign coffee instead of promoting and expanding our own origin coffee regions and
markets to benefit all segments of the community. The low percentage blends ultimately
affects the ability of our fellow coffee farmers in Kau, Puna, Hamakua and elsewhere to
develop their fledgling coffee enterprises and markets.
Visitors are constantly telling us that they are being fooled into buying a Kona Blend
which they later find out is 90% foreign coffee they could have purchased cheaper at
home. This not only damages the reputation of Kona coffee but also the State of Hawaii
for allowing this egregious practice to continue. We owe it to tourists to protect their
interests too, enjoy a memorable visit with true aloha and feel disposed to come again and
buy high value local products where all the money returns back into the local economy.
The rest of the world works hard to protect their high value origin products, we believe
the time has come for all of us with the best interests of Hawaii at heart to work together
and finally begin to right this wrong. Many want to continue the easy path of status quo,
the reason is simple, it is very profitable but it is based on a deception. In the long term it
will be self-defeating and at the expense of the Kona name; we will be left with the
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aftermath as the blend industry moves on. The coffee consumer is growing ever more
educated and savvy about the coffee they buy, a customer gained is worth keeping, a
customer lost is irretrievable and usually causes collateral damage far outweighing the
effort to gain a loyal customer in the fast place.
We earnestly and respectfully ask everyone in the Hawaii coffee industry to join us in
adopting a different and mutually beneficial vision for the long term benefit of the Hawaii
coffee industry and in particularly the farmers whose voice is little heard.
We see the promotion of Hawaiian origin coffee as the best way to protect the
agricultural products of Hawaii; that is exactly what the Hawaii Coffee Association was
originally set up to do and we strongly urge the State of Hawaii and the Hawaii DoA to
revert back to that sound working premise. ( I am sure you are all aware that the HCA
policy was diverted from that of promoting Hawaii grown coffees to promoting the
Hawaii coffee industry as a whole with the unfortunate unintended cx rmm of
creasing a division between the importlblend industry and the State coffee growing
industry).
In closing it is important to reiterate that we are not opposed to blends per se; what we are
opposed to is blends that use the Kona name to sell cheap foreign coffee at the expense of
our name and reputation. Low percentage blends inhibit the growth potential of local
coffees on Hawaii island and the rest of the State.
Tbank you and aloha
Respectfully submitted,
Ken Sheppard,
President
Kona Coffee Farmers Association
PO Box 5436
Kailua Kona
11196745