Class X, Seminar 5
 

The Agricultural Leadership Foundation Hawaii continues its current round of training seminars in leadership skills for members of Hawaii’s agricultural community. Seminar 5 for the current class, called “Class X,” was held on Maui, April 22-24, 2005.

The participants, who are entrepreneurs, agribusiness managers and staff members of the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, spent the first day at Maui Community College (MCC) touring the new Maui Farmers Market, held at MCC every Friday, and then convened to the MCC Executive dining room to learn about the marketing aspect of Alii Kula Lavender Farm. Lani Weigert of Alli Kula Lavender Farms provided excellent information regarding the marketing aspect. The remainder of the day, Dr. Wieczorek of CTAHR, Dan Clegg and Bruce McBratney of Monsanto and Dr. Kallie Keith each presented comprehensive information on agriculture bio-technology. These presentations provided Class X an opportunity to learn about the importance of bio-technology and to form a professional opinion about the topic. Lunch was served by the MCC culinary arts students, who support the agricultural community by serving all locally-grown commodities from Maui.

Saturday was devoted to field trips that focused on agriculture, water and native plants. Garret Hew, an ALFH alumnus, provided a tour to the Kamole Wier to learn about the water-delivery system for the island of Maui. The class then proceeded to Kula Agricultural Park and met Mr. Kenneth Yamamura, Office of Economic Development, Maui County, and Benny Yamamoto, a cropland producer. Mr. Yamamura provided the trainees with an historical background of the agricultural park concerning water leases and revealed that it is the only county agriculture park in the State of Hawaii. Benny Yamamoto, who farms vine-ripened tomatoes, onion and zucchini, shared the challenges that he faces daily as an agriculture producer. The next stop was the Alii Kula Lavender Farm, where Alii Chang gave an excellent tour of the gardens and disclosed the many varieties of lavender he grows as well as his soothing lavender products that may be purchased at the gift shop on site including their wonderful lavender lemonade, tea and scones.

The afternoon field trips led to Chauncy Monden’s Kula Strawberry Farm. He described the cultural practices of growing strawberries as well as the challenges he faces daily as an agriculture producer. The next destination was Ulupalakua to visit the winery and D.T. Flemings Arboretum, Pu’u Mahoe. The tour was very informative about the importance of the oldest native tree arboretum on Maui and of preserving the predominant species of the Auwahi dryland forest.

 Sunday was another active day visiting Maui Pineapple Company with Wes Nohara, Operations Manager and, also, an ALFH alumnus. Wes provided us a comprehensive tour of the organic pineapple fresh fruit cannery and the cultural practices of growing pineapple as well as the marketing aspect of organic pineapple. Steve Raymond, current Class X participant, introduced HC& S and gave a tour of the processing and packaging aspect of sugar at the sugar mill.

Class X also had the opportunity to meet Gaylord Kubota, the curator of the Sugar Museum, and toured the museum to learn about the history of the plantation days.

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