Green Certification Muckup Looming

The Big Processors are up to their tricks again.

They are pushing Hawaii Dept of Ag to require mandatory certification of ALL green Kona coffee prior to roasting.

Reread that sentence. If you are a small farmer, you are going to have to go through a cumbersome and expensive procedure to roast and sell your coffee direct-to-consumer.

This is being driven by the Hawaii Coffee Association and the KCC. They both have business incentives for pushing the small farmers out of the market.

We have been in discussions with members of the coffee industry on requiring mandatory certification of all green coffee. This is mainly due to the allegations that coffee lower than Prime Kona grade is being roasted and sold as 100% Kona, which is in violation of the roasted coffee requirements. Discussions are still in the infancy stages. We have not yet agreed to mandate certification of all green coffee yet. A meeting is scheduled with various representatives of the Kona coffee industry for Thursday, April 27, 2006 at 9:30 am at Capt. Cook Coffee. If you are interested in attending, please contact Roger Kaiwi-Machon.

Thanks You,
Jeri Kahana, Acting Administrator
Quality Assurance Division
HDOA

Where's the evidence for these allegations of low-quality coffee being sold as Kona? Interesting that the businesses alleging such things are blending 90% foreign coffees with Kona and calling it "quality coffee".

PLEASE attend the meeting at Captain Cook Coffee if you can. If you call Roger, he might tell you that there is no room. Go anyway. There has to be room for all of us in this industry if we want to survive. Dept of Ag needs to hear the farmer's voice.