All posts by Richard Ha

Current Affairs

President-Elect Obama

Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States. His message of inclusiveness is inspirational. And besides, he has a
solid, local boy bodysurfing form. We all know that he knows what he is doing.

As I write this on Tuesday night, John McCain is giving his
generous concession speech on TV. This feels like a historic moment!

The other big deal these last couple days is that our tomato
production has finally started to increase again.

We’ve done what we have to do to position ourselves for a future of lessening energy supplies and discretionary income. We need to be lean and mean and we’re getting there.

Not just our farm but our whole country needs to adjust and be prepared for a challenging future. But somehow the future looks, and feels, so much more hopeful than it did last week.

Renewable Energy Sources, Sustainability

Hydroelectric Decision

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We have a big decision to make: Should we, or should we not,
continue with our plans to build a hydroelectric plant?

There are changes in the air with the recent energy agreement signed between the State of Hawai‘i, the group of companies under HEI and the consumer advocate.

All activity under Schedule Q, which allows electricity to be sold back to the utility company, has been suspended until the incentive program, or feed-in tariffs, for the power company’s buying back of renewable energy is defined and in place. The PUC has directed that the utilities develop the feed-in tariffs by July.

Under “net energy metering” in the current arrangement, any excess energy we generate would go to the utility for free. That is very risky for us, as our plan calls for us to use that money from selling back electricity to help make our loan payments.

How sure can I be that the agreement will go through? How certain can I be that the July deadline will not be extended?

Can I afford to make loan payments on a million dollar loan without an agreement in hand?

If I wait, the funding may run out.

I just laid off 20 people; can I gamble?

On the other hand, if I go ahead and then everything falls in place, maybe I won’t have to sell off parcels of land. If it becomes necessary to sell our land a parcel at a time, sooner or later it will be our irreversible journey out of agriculture.

What to do?

Company News

Good Plant News

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I wrote about how we’ve run into some trouble in the plant houses, but today Dr. Scot Nelson told us it’s not a serious problem.

Three of the samples he took tested negative for virus and only one tested positive. He showed me how the positive sample showed dead tissue over the vein of the leaves. The ones that tested negative did not have that feature.

We went into the field to see how many plants are exhibiting that symptom, and it was very few–  maybe less than one percent. Furthermore, Dr. Nelson told us the virus was more likely to have spread by aphids than by mechanical transmission.

This is huge – less than one percent of our plants affected, and the problem not spread by tools or by touch.

Tomorrow is our visit from Pete Bunn, who is an independent consultant on plant nutrition. I wonder what he will say about the
thousands of plant we thought were virus-infected. We have our suspicions, as well as a tentative plan of action, but we’ll wait to hear Pete’s conclusions.

It’s a reminder that farming is more involved than we sometimes think.

Hydroponics

Challenging Assumptions

Because of the challenges we are currently facing at the farm, I’ve gone back to being involved at the most basic levels of our farm operations. Last week I walked each of our 135 plant houses and looked at every single plant.

The other day I wrote here that we are taking out all the virus-infected plants. But I have learned, through years of experience, that one must always challenge assumptions. So I asked Dr. Scot Nelson, a plant pathologist from the UH Hawai‘i at Manoa’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, if he would come evaluate our virus problem.

The first thing he said was that the samples I’d submitted the other day tested negative for virus. I could not believe it. Everywhere I looked in the tomato houses I observed it. How could there be no virus?

I showed Scot what I thought were virus-infected plants and he took four samples, each slightly different in its stage of infection. Besides taking samples of what I thought were virus-infected plants, Scot took apart the growing media of an infected plant and evaluated the roots, which looked perfectly healthy. They were all white except that there were no roots where water sits in the bags holding the plants in the media.

He surmised that the roots were waterlogged and lacking oxygen, so the roots could not survive. I made a note to cut a drain hole in the bags.

Because of the lack of roots, he also left open the possibility that it might be a nutritional deficiency, caused by the roots’ inability to take up nutrients. He suggested we do a tissue analysis to check on the plants’ nutritional status. If the levels are low, he told me, we might have to compensate by spraying some fertilizer on the leaves.

I filed all this away.

This afternoon Scot called me. The three youngest samples tested negative for virus. But the oldest sample tested positive. Scot had told me that sometimes viruses cannot be detected in the youngest leaves that exhibit symptoms. So it appears we do indeed have a virus; just one that is difficult to detect in young tissue.

I’m writing all this down because it illustrates the truth that one needs to check, double check and question assumptions in order to be a plant doctor. One can never assume anything.

There’s a lot more to being a farmer nowadays than just sticking a plant in the ground and waiting.

Later this week, nutritional consultant Pete Bunn is flying in from O‘ahu for the day, and we’ll see what else we learn.

Company News, Peak Oil

Full Hands at the Farm

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We have known that beef, egg and hog producers are in
trouble, largely due to increases in feed and transportation costs.

And now, vegetable crop producers are in trouble as well. For vegetable farmers, it’s mostly about fertilizer and supply costs.

At the farm, we have not been immune to the fertilizer, chemical, packing, cooling and transportation cost escalations, which are all related to the spike in oil prices earlier this year.

Unfortunately we have recently had to lay off some of our employees. And in these tough economic times, that is something we just did not want to do.

We were doing okay at the farm until two things hit us at once. During the summer we started to see a production slow down, and we were slow to react. When you look at something every day, it’s easy to miss changes. But the plants just weren’t doing well.

Then, at the same time, we discovered a virus outbreak. All of a sudden, we had our hands full.

We have been removing all the virus-infected plants, which numbered in the thousands. I feel we have the problem under control now, but there are bald spots in our production houses. It will take us a couple months to work our way out of this.

More serious was a general weakness in plant growth during the summer. A month ago, we tried different fertilizer and water programs and today, it’s looking a lot better. We are still fine tuning.

As a result of this, I have resigned from almost all the boards I belong to. It doesn’t feel appropriate to be concentrating my efforts elsewhere when I am having to lay off my own workers.

We are hopeful all will be back to normal in about two months.  However, something like this makes one stop to think about the future. Such as, where do June and I want to be in 10 years. It’s an interesting question to ponder.

Renewable Energy Sources

State Moves Toward Locally Produced Renewable Energy

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Richard Ha writes:

There’s been an important announcement in the newspapers about a series of renewable energy commitments by the State of Hawai‘i and the various Hawaiian Electric Companies.

Energy Agreement Among the State of Hawaii, Division of Consumer Advocacy of the Department of Commerce & Consumer Affairs, and Hawaiian Electric Companies

Summary of Key Agreements
Signatories: The Governor of the State of Hawaii; the State of Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism; the State of Hawaii Consumer Advocate; and the Hawaiian Electric companies.

All parties believe that the future of Hawaii requires that we move decisively and irreversibly away from imported fossil fuel for electricity and transportation and towards locally produced renewable energy and an ethic of energy efficiency.

As we move from central-station, oil-based power to a much more renewable, distributed and intermittent-powered system, we recognize the need to assure that Hawaii preserves a stable electric grid and minimizes disruption to service quality and reliability. In addition, we recognize the need for a financially sound electric utility.

Finally, we commit to a system of regulation that will transform our major utility from a traditional sales-based company to an energy-services provider that retains its obligation to serve the public with reliable energy, strives to source and integrate greener and lower-cost generation, and moves us to a more independent future.

These are some fundamental changes in direction. Hawaiian Electric agrees that the move to biofuels is not meant to preclude renewables. The utilities will move away from the least efficient oil-firing plants to renewables. Up until that statement, many felt the utilities were only concerned about their investment in oil-fired plants.

There is an understanding about the utilities changing their focus from sales to service and a forward-looking direction.

Hawaiian Electric will finance solar water heater installations.

There will be a rate cap for those least able to afford electricity. This is an effort to protect the most defenseless among us.

Regarding transportation, the parties agreed to aggressively pursue alternate fuel vehicles. Fossil fuel transportation is clearly not the answer.

Re: Net Energy Metering, there will be no cap on the number; it just cannot exceed 15 percent of the peak circuit demand. Also, excess energy will be sold back to the grid at retail rates. This is a strong incentive for people to pursue alternate energy systems.

On the strength of the above statement, I am committing to go ahead with a hydro-electric project. Net Metering with these conditions will help with food security, because it will help farmers make/save money. And, if the farmer makes money, the farmer will farm.

There are other provisions, as well, but these are the ones that stand out in my mind. The overall effect will be to encourage small energy production. I think having a lot of small producers gives a certain security in case “the boat does not come.”

Also, the money circulates in our own economy; not to mention that jobs will be created as these projects get going.

It’s a major shift in the right direction – away from fossil fuels.

Food Security, Peak Oil

Farming & the Titanic

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Last week I attended the annual Farm Bureau meeting. There were the usual discussions of new ways to do business, new farming techniques and what’s happening on the national level.

But that’s all just moving chairs around on the deck of the Titanic.

At that meeting I was nominated as Treasurer and asked to say a few words.

I told the audience that I feel it is not fair for farmers to be the only ones carrying the burden of feeding Hawaii’s people. And that they should be concerned about their own well-being.

Farming is in trouble. There were more than a few farmers at the conference who are on the verge of going out of business.

I’ve been pointing out for a while that farmers are in trouble because fertilizer and supply costs are high, while consumers faced with shrinking discretionary income are changing their behavior and not buying as much produce.

Retailers and wholesalers are better positioned to maintain their profit margins, and farmers are the ones least able to avoid shrinking margins. I’ve said before that some farmers are actually dipping into their savings to buy fertilizer.

I told them I was the only person from Hawai‘i to attend the Peak Oil conference in Houston last year. I told them that we, as farmers, know the connection of oil prices to farming. And that we all know oil is finite and the world population is increasing at the rate of 70 million people per year, so therefore we know oil prices will start rising again. And then farming costs will rise some more and people’s discretionary incomes will fall.

At the Farm Bureau meeting, I said that if we are serious about food security we will need farmers to farm. It’s not rocket science: If farmers make money, farmers will farm.

We all know that being too reliant on foreign oil is not good for our economy. It’s like paying a giant tax and it hurts all of us. Money leaving our economy to pay to import food does the same thing. This subject should be our highest priority.

Andy Hashimoto, dean of the University of Hawai‘i’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, gets it. He was the most passionate I have ever heard him on the topic of food security.

I agree with him. I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that we as a society do not have the will or commitment to deal with food security for Hawai‘i’s people.

The tourism and high tech industries are allocated millions of dollars annually. But food security is only given lip service.

Community, Mauna Kea

Epic Discoveries

Richard Ha writes:

I attended all seven of the TMT scoping meetings. And I testified at each one, talking about sustainability, togetherness and planning for future generations. Yet, as meetings came to Hilo, where the most passionate of the speakers talked about past injustices, processes not followed, and betrayal – and where I talked about sustainability, education and future generations – a thought started to surface.

It was this: Hawaiians were the most accomplished navigators of their time. How appropriate for the greatest telescope in the world, and the greatest navigators in the world, to come together for future Hawaiian keiki to look up to and take pride in.

History books are full of tales about heroic mariners such as the Norseman Leif Ericson, Christopher Columbus of Spain, Ferdinand Magellan of Portugal and James Cook of England.

Lesser known are the accomplishments of the Polynesians – arguably the most skilled seamen of all – who were navigating the Pacific centuries before any European explorer left port.

From the Marquesas, those courageous pioneers sailed north more than 2,000 miles to settle the islands that we now call Hawai‘i. Amazingly, they made those epic voyages guided only by the stars, winds and ocean currents.

If the TMT folks listen to everyone’s concerns and take suggestions seriously – in, as they say, a new paradigm – there is a good chance we can honor the greatest navigators in the world with the largest and best telescope in the world on the most sacred mountain in the world—all for the benefit of generations of keiki to come.

Not, no can. CAN!

Peak Oil

Peak Oil & Monetary System Collapse

Several years ago, when I noticed our farm supply prices increasing, I learned that most of our farm inputs are related to oil. I started researching the subject, and that led me to theoildrum.com, and to aspo-usa.com.

After following the subject of Peak Oil for many months, I realized that Gail Tverberg was the writer easiest for me to understand on the subject. Gail is an insurance actuary, so I knew she evaluates long-term risk in her profession.

From her recent post:

It is not a coincidence that just as we are hitting Peak Oil, world monetary systems seem to be edging toward collapse. Monetary systems are debt based, and depend on growth to continue. Resources are finite, and we are reaching limitations on them. Many of us have predicted that monetary systems may collapse, either as we approach peak oil, or shortly after peak oil. I have talked about the connection between peak oil and monetary system collapse in a number of posts. In this post, I reprint relevant sections from one of my earliest TOD posts, written in April 2007.

Gail foresaw the financial meltdown. I invited her to be the featured speaker at the Energy Forum recently sponsored by the Kohala Center and the Hawai‘i Island Chamber of Commerce.

Her writings, along with this series of short videos that make up a “crash course” about Peak Oil and related subjects, provides a strong foundation for planning for our changing future. These are topics we really need to take seriously and I strongly recommend these videos.

I’m speaking to some Hawai‘i Community College students about this subject on Friday, based on this short Peak Oil video.

The world has changed and we must prepare ourselves in a smart way. We have lots of natural resources at our disposal while, at the same time, we are isolated living here in the middle of the ocean. So there are dangers and opportunities.

But we cannot afford to throw away opportunities that come our way. That is why I am “pro” TMT, GMO, geothermal energy and education. These offer us important tools for living a sustainable life here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Community, Food Security, Renewable Energy Sources

The Hawai’i Energy Challenge 2008

Many service stations, from Aniston, Alabama to Asheville, North Carolina, ran out of gasoline due to Hurricanes Ike and Gustav. In Asheville, one gas station owner had to call police after at least three fistfights broke out. In Nashville, drivers waited for hours to get fuel, only to see gas pumps covered in bags. In Atlanta, motorists ran out of gas while waiting in line and had to push their cars to the pumps. An Alabama paper said the regional mood was “as jumpy as a frog farm.” These stories have been overshadowed by the recent Wall Street meltdown.

Matthew Simmons, chairman and CEO of Simmons & Company International, a prominent oil-industry insider and one of the world’s leading experts on the topic of peak oil, points out that a similar meltdown could happen – without warning – to our national food supply system.

He points out that if there were an oil supply disruption due to an oil tanker blocking the Strait of Malacca, for example, there would likely be panic buying and people topping off their vehicles. This would drain all the transportation fuel in the pipelines – and that would freeze up our food distribution system. He estimates that it would take five to seven days for all available food to be bought up. (My note: Try two days.) After that, food deliveries would stop, because refineries would need a fair amount of time to bring their supplies back up. Here is a video of Matt Simmons talking at the Peak Oil conference last month.

Could that happen? And what would happen here in Hawai‘i, where 80 percent of our food is imported?

For many reasons, this just being the most recent, we need to get serious about food security, which includes moving away from our current dependence on oil. I’ve said before that this is not rocket science. If the (Hawai‘i) farmer makes money, the farmer will farm.

“The economic security and stability of the State of Hawaii continue to remain extremely vulnerable to threats due to Hawaii’s overdependence on imported oil.…” – State of Hawaii Energy Resources Coordinator Annual Report (January, 2008)

The Hawai‘i Leeward Planning Conference is putting on a Hawai‘i Energy Challenge 2008:

The Hawai’i Energy Challenge 2008 will assemble keen minds to realistically assess the rising cost of imported oil, its import for key sectors of Hawai’i’s economy and impact on island lifestyles as well as a range of forward-thinking, dynamic opportunities to develop sustainable energy and liquid fuels.

November 20 – 21, 2008
The Fairmont Orchid
Kohala Coast, Hawai‘i Island
Featured speaker: Matt Simmons