Despite having the backing of the Hawaii County Council for
discussions with the Department of Agriculture and the Kona coffee industry
to review the permitting process, the Kona Coffee Council has yet to successfully
get a meeting with the Depart,ment of Agriculture in response to its letters,
faxes, emails, and phone calls. So at the end of January, 2003 Kona Representative
Bob Herkes introduced HB (House Bill) 99, calling for a moratorium on the
release into the field of GM coffee in the County of Hawaii.
We are waiting for this Bill to be heard by the Committees of Agriculture
and Finance.
Report Title:
Genetically modified coffee
Description:
Imposes a moratorium on the release and planting of genetically modified
coffee in the county of Hawaii until a permit process has
been developed. Establishes a permitting process.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES - H.B. NO.99- TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2003
STATE OF HAWAII
A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating to genetically modified coffee.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. Coffee has been grown continuously in the districts of north
and south Kona for over one hundred and seventy years. Coffee from this
area is referred to as Kona typica and is acknowledged to be one of the
highest quality coffees in the world. Kona coffee provides an enormous
economic contribution to the county of Hawaii and the State of Hawaii,
generating approximate yields of three million pounds of green coffee annually
with an estimated income at
the farm gate in excess of $15,000,000, and a much higher value at
the wholesale and retail levels.
Three research institutes on Oahu are currently conducting research
to develop genetically modified coffee plants. Although coffee is primarily
self-pollinated, it may be cross-pollinated ten per cent of the time. Therefore,
nongenetically modified coffee in the neighboring orchards could become
pollinated with genetically modified pollen.
Because organic coffee is an expanding high value niche crop within
the Kona coffee industry, the legislature finds that it must be protected
from any traces of genetically modified interference. Currently, the county
of Hawaii has no regulatory authority or department with the scientific
competence to regulate the release and development of genetically modified
coffee crops.
The purpose of this Act is to:
(1) Impose a moratorium on the release and planting of genetically modified
coffee plants in the districts of north and south Kona;
(2) Establish a regional regulatory panel to extensively evaluate genetic
contamination from pollen drift and other environmental consequences associated
with the development and genetically modified coffee stock and its release;
and
(3) Require the department of agriculture to work with Kona coffee industry
group leaders to develop a permitting process for genetically modified
coffee.
SECTION 2. There is imposed a moratorium on the release and planting
of genetically modified coffee plants in the county of Hawaii until a regional
regulatory panel and the department of agriculture establishes a permitting
process for genetically modified coffee.
SECTION 3. A regional regulatory panel (panel) shall be established
by the department of agriculture. The panel shall extensively evaluate
genetic contamination from pollen drift and other environmental consequences
and secondary ecological effects to assure that the biological integrity
of Kona heritage coffee is preserved and the market value of Kona coffee
is protected
from any adverse consequences and secondary effects associated with
the development of genetically modified coffee stock and its release.
SECTION 4. The department of agriculture and the panel shall establish
a joint committee to develop a permitting process that includes:
(1) Advance notification to the Kona coffee industry of permit applications
for release or planting of genetically modified coffee in the county of
Hawaii;
(2) Public hearing for input from the Kona coffee growers as to the potential
impact of release or planting of genetically modified coffee in the county
of Hawaii prior to any permit being granted;
(3) Having members from the Kona coffee industry serve on the permitting
body; and
(4) Requiring unanimous vote on the permitting body.
SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
There are no genetically modified coffee plants growing in
Kona. In fact none exist in the field anywhere in the State of Hawaii.
So why have Kona coffee farmers been pushing the Department of Agriculture
for new rules on field testing of GM coffee in Kona?
Because the current rules give Kona coffee farmers no input into the
permitting process for field tests. Because we will not know GM crops are
in the field until it is too late to prevent it. Because GM coffee in Kona
would cross-pollinate with our heritage stock and ruin its marketability.
Scientists at CTAR (University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture
and Human Resources), HARC (Hawaii Agricultural Research Center), and ICT
(a private company Integrated Coffee Technologies, Inc.) all have labs
on Oahu where they are researching genetically engineered coffee plants.
They have lofty ideals of making coffee plants that are nematode-resistant,
that are naturally decaffeinated, that will ripen all their beans at the
same time....
When Kona coffee farmers tell them we don't want their genetically modified
plants here's what they tell us. "The Kona coffee industry may need to
use this technology in the future to address a pressing problem" - Dean
Andrew Hashimoto, CTAHR. "I hope Kona coffee will never need to be saved
by a GM coffee like the papaya industry in east Hawaii was" - Dr. Skip
Bittenbender, UH. "GM techniques offer many opportunities for development
of specialty coffee including altered caffeine content, unique flavor,
and disease and pest resistance; this latter leads to reduced pesticide
use" - Stephanie Whalen, President of HARC.
What these scientists seem unable to grasp is that, right now, our biggest
problem is them!
We have the healthiest coffee trees in the world, the most disease and
pest free, we do not use any pesticides on coffee in Kona. Nematodes are
being dealt with by traditional methods. Our taste profile is considered
one of the worlds finest and is already a unique flavor. Kona coffee sells
at the highest niche in the specialty gourmet coffee market. If some terrible
disaster should wipe out our heritage crop, GM-coffee could not help us
because it would not sell at that high niche price. Even if they made a
coffee tree that bore 40 lbs of cherry, needed no fertilizer or water,
and had beans that jumped off the tree into the picking basket, it would
not be Kona coffee with its 175 year heritage and world-renowned flavor.
We all know the economics of coffee farming in Kona. It is mostly hand
labor on small farms. We are the only non-third-world country producing
coffee. The only place with fair wages, U.S. land prices and operating
costs. We cannot survive on a lower price for our coffee. Coffee farms
on Maui and Oahu stand abandoned because those island coffees could not
command Kona's price. It was uneconomic for them to continue.
If we introduce GM coffee into Kona we will be in the same position.
The Specialty Coffee Association of America's Sustainability Committee
says that a GM coffee does not meet the definition of quality needed to
be a specialty coffee. Many foreign markets (Japan, Europe) will be highly
resistant or even closed to GM coffee imports. Kona coffee sells for three
times most other coffees. Our buyers are discriminating and savvy about
their purchases. Many will reject GM coffee.
Even a field-test site poses a real danger of cross-pollination. Once
you let the genie out of the bottle there is no cramming it back, as the
corn farmers on the mainland found out to their disadvantage.
There is good news too.... CTAHR, HARC, and ICT have given undertakings
not to field-test in Kona while the coffee industry is in opposition. We
are grateful for their assurances. But who else is doing research
that we do not know about?
The REAL gate-keeper in this issue is the Hawaii Department of Agriculture.
Permits for field-testing of GM crops are issued by APHIS (Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service of the USDA). APHIS allow the State DoA to veto
a permit application. Requests from the Kona Coffee Council, the Kona Farmers
Alliance, and efforts on our behalf from Hawaii Pride (papayas), asked
that the Kona coffee industry be included in a review of permit applications.
The only response has been a letter from James Nakatani, Chairperson, Board
of Agriculture, which restated the current ineffective policy, "the State
has the opportunity to address local concerns, when needed".
Fortunately our County Council is more foresighted. They saw the
need to protect Kona coffee's unique niche. They recognized that
introduction of GM coffee into Kona would cause unacceptable risk to the
industry. On September 25th the HCC voted in a Resolution supporting the
development of a regional protocol prior to any release or planting of
genetically modified coffee in North and South Kona. Such protocol to be
established in collaboration with appropriate government agencies, the
scientific community, and the Kona coffee industry stakeholders.
The unity among the Kona community was solid. Testifying for the resolution
were the Kona Coffee Council, the Kona Farmer Alliance, the Kona Pacific
Farmers Cooperative, the Kona County Farm Bureau, the Hawaii Organic Farmers
Association, and more than a dozen individual coffee farmers.
What's the next step?
With the support of our County Council Resolution, we are taking our
case back to James Nakatani at the Department of Agriculture. We request
that we are included in the loop, that we have the opportunity to be a
part of the organization that can veto field-test applications within our
growing area. It is the only way we can safeguard against a cross-pollination
spill that would take our livelihood away.
Those who develop genetically modified plants make profit when they
get those plants into farmers' hands. The farmer only makes profit when
he sells his crop, and if the world doesn't want to buy it, why grow it?
According to its' web-site the Hawaii Department of Agriculture's Plant
Quarantine Program began over a hundred years ago when, in 1888, King David
Kalakaua decreed that in order to protect the coffee industry in Hawaii,
new coffee plants would not be allowed into the islands. This protection
has resulted in Hawaii having the only 100-plus year old trees still producing
coffee.
Scientists, please continue to keep invasive pests and diseases out
of our islands. Don't introduce varieties that put us at risk. Let's keep
Kona Kona, pure and simple.
