HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0997.002 2012-2014 P/AWESG
MM. Cti17
County of Hawai'i I State of Hawai'i Testimony re Resolutions No. 500- 14 and 501-14
Date of Hearing:9 16 2014 Testifier: Richard Creagan, M.D.,State Representative, District 5
I want to first thank you all for the opportunity to testify on this important issue and Councilwoman Ford for
the resolutions she has put forward.
I am testifying as both a coffee farmer and a State Representative who faces making decisions about our coffee
industry.
I would first like to emphasize that I am a coffee farmer, or perhaps to stick to truth in labelling, my wife is a
coffee farmer who gets a little help from me from time to time.
My wife, Marilyn is also a blender, and I support her in this.
While our farm, Kiolaka'a Mountain Farm is in Ka'u, it is in Kiolaka'a near Waiohinu, and we call our coffee
Kiolaka'a Coffee. It is a blend because when Marilyn roasts the coffee she roasts a light, a medium, and a dark
roast and she then blends those roasts together into what we call our mélange blend, and sometimes refer to
it as our mélange a trois as it a blend of three roasts (this is as opposed to ménage a trois). We do this not for
economics,as it costs more to do it this way, but because we feel that this blending produces a better product,
with more flavor notes then would be present in a single roasting. While we believe that the coffee is
improved, it would be perhaps also be a marketing tool if we produced enough coffee to need a marketing
tool.
The blending issue that we are addressing today has elements of truth in labelling, of what has been termed
fraud, of economics, but no one that I have ever heard has proposed that blending Kona coffee with low cost
non-Kona coffee produces a better blend except from an economic and profit perspective.
I therefore support these bills which propose to protect what seemingly every other coffee and wine growing
area has protected,the names and the reputation of their region, and perhaps particularly the names of Kona
and Ka'u Coffee which are most impacted by the blending issue. Even if these resolutions do not pass, I will
pursue their intent in the legislature.
While I hope this resolution passes, many similar resolutions have not, and I would offer the following quote
from Buckminster Fuller:
"You never change things by fighting the existing reality to change something. Build a new model that
makes the existing model obsolete."
Given the historical and on the ground realities in Kona I would propose that we look outside the box for a new
model, a new solution to this intransigent problem. In a homage to Councilwoman Ford's stance on Home
Rule I would propose that a one size fits all solution may not be the best, but that a solution that addresses the
Coffee problems on just Hawaii Island might be one of the possibilities.
Thank you. COUNTY CLERK
COUNTY OF HAWAII
Richard Creagan, M.D.,State Representative, District 5 RECEIVED
Time @1/4.3.'Y5pN By • i
Date 20/4' J0=7 ' Comm. 9617.-2--
wrcc Ref. To: A'W ES
Ref. Date SEP 1 2014