HAWAII COFFEE ASSOCIATION
Board Meeting
Wednesday, October 9, 2002
HARC
Honolulu, Hawaii

Members Present
H. Yamasaki, L. Schooler, R. Emery, J. Ferguson, D. Gridley, F. Kiger, T. Greenwell, T. Martin, P. Sussex, J. Wayman, B. Shiroma, J. Alban

Attendees Present
D. Petersen, S. Camp, S. Bittenbender, C. Dave

Meeting called to order at 9:17 a.m. by David Gridley, President

Minutes of last meeting - Brian Shiroma
Motion to accept as presented. Seconded and approved.

Treasurers Report - Richard Emery
Bank balance of $55,521.48 of which $15,887.63 is unrestricted funds. The Annex donated $1000 to help cover the cost of the past HCA conference. Accounts receivable was $2189.99 plus matching funds applied for but not received of $28,421.27. Spent $20671.74 of the initial $48,000 from the USDOA has been spent so far.

Committee Reports
Legislative - Dick Petersen, Howard Yamasaki
Farm Bureau is having a state convention in 3 weeks where any legislation would need to be submitted. HCA has no legislation to submit this year. Howard will look into a request to exempt coffee drivers from CDL license. Any projects that any coffee organizations are planning for that need funding in 2003 should be submitted to Dick Petersen by next HCA meeting.

Marketing - Jim Wayman, Paula Sussex
Idea to develop a two panel brochure and other materials that can be used at POS for 1000 stores with 250 brochures per store in the state of California and Hawaii. This would also include a drawing for a trip to Hawaii. The current six panel brochure would be used more for those in the industry. Idea to coordinate with other targeted Hawaiian promotions by other groups or organizations. This requires the HCA to invest $10,000 of it's own funds. Motion to approve marketing plan and budget with a reassessment of the Consumer Advertising portion in January 2003. Motion seconded and approved. Suggestion to do e-newletters or announcing some of the promotions on the website. Suggestion to ask the webmaster to give a proposal to create a mailing list of the 1000 targeted customers for the e-newsletters. David will check with Mitchell on getting the proposal. Dick will check on getting roaster/retailers from California from the SCAA. Suggestion to make additional POS posters that don't include the Hawaii trip promotion for other non-Hawaii/California roaster and/or retailers.

Finance - Dick Emery, Leta Schooler
No report

By-Laws - Howard Yamasaki
Still gathering information. Howard informed the board that this will be a lengthy process.

Conferences - Jeff Ferguson, Dick Petersen
Still looking at Molokai for the next HCA Convention. Wednesday Oct 30 there will be an onsite meeting in checking the facilities for the convention. Anyone interested may contact Jeff Ferguson. Tentative dates are July 17-20 or July 24-27. Jeff is checking for any conflicts with other trade shows. Concern was expressed on how much outside interest there is in going to Molokai. Also a concern on rental cars expenses and shortage. Suggestion to do conference on mainland and "piggy backing" on with another organization like Coffee Fest. Observation that in order to get more people to attend the conference, the best attraction is Kona.

Communications/Web Site - Brian Shiroma, David Gridley
HCA Conference presentations are available as a power point presentation on the HCA website. Information on the new labeling laws are available as Word document. It is in draft form right now. He is looking for ways to distribute the information without having to print and mail it. 

Membership/ Nominating - John Eddins, Christine Sheppard
Reviewed proposal from committee on membership categories for HCA. Recommendation from board is that there be no discounts as part of the benefits. Jim Wayman volunteered to print out the Certificate of Membership. Suggestion to offer a more permanent type of plaque for an extra cost. Another full membership benefit is to participate in the SCAA Convention on space available basis.

Research & Development - Richard Loero, Skip Bittenbender, Chifumi Nagai
The state does not appear to have allocated any funds for coffee research. Pre-proposal on how shade affects quality of coffee. Talking with inspectors about developing a poster with coffee defects. Sam Camp will be going to a conference on Nov. 13 that will discuss GMO issues. If you have any information you want Sam to bring with him please contact him prior to that time.

Industry Relations - Frank Kiger
Initiative to establish minimum import standards is alive. Frank's recommendation is to oppose this (unless the wording is modified to "full defects" from just "defects") because it would not allow coffees sold with greater than 5% defects. The concern is this may eliminate Hawaiian Primes from being sold. There seems to be some confusion on the definition of what a defect is with regards to these standards. A suggestion was given to send a letter to the SCAA in support of raising coffee import standards provided that they define defects as full black, full sour, or foreign materials and that the defects are measured by weight, not by count. The NCA concern is this will be a disadvantage to American roasters since other countries will not be held to that standard and can import the roasted coffee and compete with American roasters.

Roasted Coffee Certification Mark Committee - John Langenstein, Gus Brocksen
No report

Education Committee - Mike Abrams
No report

Old Business
HCA Coffee Brochure Distribution
Dick Petersen has 9700 brochures available. Need to make corrections before making an incremental printing of about 5000. Call Dick if you need any.

Update on GMO coffee
The resolution was passed by the Hawaii County Council with some change in the wording. CTAHR is sponsoring a GMO forum on Nov. 23 in Kona.

Ad in SCAA Directory - cooperative basis
The ad will make it in the directory

Yellow Freight proposal
Deferred to next meeting

New Business
2003 SCAA Convention - Boston, Charlene Dave', Events International
According to Dick Petersen, need a Boston City health permit to serve coffee in the booth. Every booth that serves good needs a hand washing station. Charlene solicited comments on what worked and what didn't work at the Anaheim Conference. Positives included the florals. Overall impact was good. Negatives included cost of truss system, too much pupus took attention away from coffee. Suggestion to include other types of business to participate like mac nut industry or chocolates. Question on what is the focus for the HCA pavilion. Suggestion to create a set up for 4-6 booths that could be taken to different shows beside the SCAA. 

Kona Coffee Cultural Festival - Events
Dinner on Nov. 6 at Royal Kona Resort. The hotel will also offer a $65 room rate. You may call 329-3111 and request the HI Coffee Assoc. Rate. Cost for the dinner is $30. Kona Coffee Pacific Rim Symposium will be held on Nov. 4-5 during the festival.

Announcements
Nov. 6 - Next HCA meeting at the Ag Extension Center in Kainaliu at 10 a.m.
Dec. 4 - At HARC (tentative)
Jan. 15 - At HARC (tentative)

Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 1:05

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