Hawaii

Planned Dairy in Hawaii Delays Approval Process

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 03:00:35 GMT

A planned dairy farm in Hawaii has taken a step back by withdrawing parts of its application to allow more time for discussion of its likely environmental impact.

Kauai’s Hawaii Dairy Farms withdrew its Final Environmental Impact Statement from state consideration on Tuesday, reported The Garden Island . Spokeswoman Amy Hennessey said in a release that the dairy wants to allow time for additional responses to comments on its plan to keep a minimum of 699 dairy cows on a 557-acre site in Kauai’s Mahaulepu Valley.

Opponents of the dairy see a chance to stop its construction and hope to meet with owner HDF Pierre Omidyar and his staff.

Bridget Hammerquist, president of the citizen group Friends of Mahaulepu, said her group wants to share its research data with HDF leaders before they proceed with “a project that significantly threatens our water, fresh and ocean, our health, our economy and our daily life style.”

HDF may have to restart the two-year process in order to get a new Final Environmental Impact Statement approved by the state Department of Health. But the process is still being worked out since it is the first time the health department has handled an environmental impact statement.

Department spokeswoman Janice Okubo says officials need some time to determine the legal language before continuing to the next steps.

Environmental Assessment Released for Proposed Hawaii Dairy

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 02:59:09 GMT

Hawaii Dairy Farms says its planned operation on Kauai will serve as a model for sustainable agriculture and won’t have a negative impact on the environment or surrounding community.

HDF released its draft environmental impact statement for the dairy in Mahaulepu on Wednesday, The Garden Island reported . Kaui County had already approved the dairy’s $7 million building permit in 2014, but HDF spokeswoman Amy Hennessey said they decided to conduct an environmental evaluation to address residents’ concerns.

“We promised the community of Kauai that we would prepare a DEIS for Hawaii Diary Farms, not because we have to, but because it is the right thing to do to help answer community questions,” Hennessey said.

The report says cows will be allowed to roam freely across hundreds of acres of pasture and that measures have been established to prevent the release of large amounts of runoff, including growing thick thatches of pasture grass to serve as what Hennessey called “an organic net.”

The 557-acre dairy is expected to produce roughly 1.5 million gallons of fresh milk annually and create 11 full-time jobs and 36 construction jobs.

Bridget Hammerquist, with Friends of Mahaulepu, an organization against the dairy, said she still does not support the dairy and questioned whether the environmental assessment was conducted as an independent study.

“The draft EIS was extensively prepared by Group 70 International, the very firm that is credited with developing HDF’s waste management plan,” Hammerquist said. “How could anybody conclude that an independent EIS has been conducted if prepared by the same company who prepared HDF’s dairy plan?”

Hammerquist also said she was concerned about water contamination, odor and the cows having shade.

“It gets very hot at Mahaulepu in the summer, and they’ll be crowded,” Hammerquist said. “It’s hard to accept that a plan with no shelter for their cows, other than at milking, is a good living condition.”

The draft environmental impact statement has opened up to public comment for a 45-day period.

Hawaii Dairies Disagree about Milk Pricing

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 02:47:06 GMT

Dairy farmers on the Big Island say one of Hawaii’s largest dairy farms has requested to sell milk below the minimum price set by the state.

West Hawaii Today reported that concerns were raised at a public hearing hosted by the state Department of Agriculture held Tuesday on the Big Island.

Big Island Dairy requested to sell milk at a price below the minimum set by the Milk Control Act.

Cloverleaf Dairy President Ed Boteilho Jr. said if the request is granted for just Big Island Dairy it will give that company a price monopoly.

Boteilho said he was told Big Island Dairy’s request was backed by milk processor Meadow Gold, and that the companies had reached a pricing agreement.

“In order for us to supply more milk, we need to secure contracts with processors so that we may plan for the future,” said Brad Duff, general manager of Big Island Dairy, who testified in favor of the proposal.

State Milk Control Program specialist Grant Tomita in the Department of Agriculture says the Big Island Dairy’s request will be considered at a meeting next month in Honolulu. The meeting date has not yet been set.

Hawaii Approves Dairy, Cheesery on Big Island

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 02:44:51 GMT

Hawaii land officials have approved a nearly 1,400 acre dairy farm and cheesery on the Big Island.

The Hawaii Tribune-Herald said Monday the business will be run by a family whose history in the dairy industry goes back several generations, to the Netherlands and, more recently, California.

Mauna Kea Moo will include 200 milking cows and 100 dry cows. The Dutch Hawaiian Cheesery will include several flavors of hard cheeses named for different areas of the farm.

Kees Kea, one of the farm’s owners, says his family planned to open the dairy several years ago but had to wait for a state lease.

“Finally,” Kea said.

The Board of Land and Natural Resources approved the leasing of former sugar cane land for the dairy. Kea says the process took five years.

Malana Kea said she met Kees Kea on her father’s dairy farm in 1979. She learned to make cheese in Holland.

“I’m the seventh generation in the dairy business,” Kees Kea said. “My great-grandfather started in the Netherlands in the early 1700s.”

The 35-year lease will cost $20,500 annually for each of the first 10 years. Kea said the operating costs for the dairy farm will be about $2 million and $1 million for the cheesery.

Michael DuPonte, a livestock agent on the Big Island, said the Keas could have an advantage of few dairies to compete with.

“Right now, it’s very lucrative because there are only two left in the state,” DuPonte said. “There’s an opportunity. It all depends on the price of milk.”

Kees Kea said operations could begin in 2015.