Arianna Farms 'Ono Kona Coffee

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Ecological Focus


 

 The health of the coffee land and the workers who tend it.

In developing our farm, we think it's essential to consider all the things we might affect.  We want to be as economical as possible, and in this, we consider the effect on the environment and people as essential costs to consider  The interesting thing we find is that in the long run, the practices that sustain a healthy environment and people, end up being the most cost effective as well. 

The land which is now Arianna Farms ‘Ono Kona Coffee has been many things, especially the last 200 years … A royal hunting ground for the Hawaiian King, sugar cane, one of the early coffee farms along the historic Kona Coffee Belt.  We are now the steward’s of this enchanting land, and when people look back in 100 years, we want them to look at these 40 acres of beautiful old coffee trees, the natural surroundings and wildlife interspersed, and see a piece of Hawaii at its best!

Our family farm is a work in progress.  We’re working to extend to our farming practices the thing we practice personally, and our goal is to keep learning more. 

Here are some highlights of our farm's practices and goals that support ecology:  

  1. Our house is fully "solar self-sustaining", and this is our goal for Arianna Farms ‘Ono Kona Coffee.
     

  2. On the farm, we already mulch all organic material the usual way, just like we’ve done at our home for many years.  At our house, we’re trialing an innovative, new mulching system which properly oxygenates so that you get an incredible organic fertilizing material.  Solar energy to power the electric pump. I held the organic material in my hand, and it's much better than what you usually get with traditional mulching (turning) methods.   Our plan is to build a huge multi-bin system for the farm, and then spread this product on our fields.
     

  3. Being bird friendly in coffee growing is a big issue in other areas of the world, but it hasn't been one in Kona.  We’d like to see this change.  The special thing in Hawaii is that some types of birds are only here, so protecting their habitat is critical to their survival.  When developing a coffee farm, the standard practice is to remove all existing vegetation and other trees to eek out every possible place to plant a coffee tree.  Then, the bird habitat disappears forever.  When we first started planting, we listened to a consultant’s advice to completely clear (though we kept the tall trees).  Fortunately we learned more about the being “bird friendly” before we cleared more, so that in addition to keeping the tall trees, we’re maintaining sections of foliage berms to maintain a habitat for birds.  In a more proactive way, we’re now investigating selecting trees that would be preferable habitat.  When we hear the birds, especially in the morning and at sunset, we know we're doing the right thing.
     

  4. The foliage berms, and engineered swales in the land, let's us maximize our use of natural water (rainfall). The old Hawaiians used to call these methods maintaining the watershed.  Plus, we keep our beautiful, rich soil where it should be, instead of washing down below, which happened a few years back, and we worked with our workers to dig it out of the swales and bring it back up as topsoil.  That was a major endeavor, and the lack of soil was a setback.  Water is such a precious resource in Hawaii .  We can learn a lot from the early Hawaiians who lived in tune with the land.
     

  5. You read on our home page that we kept our 'Old Hawaiian' grove, instead of cutting it down as we were recommended to do... I think we might be about the only farm that grows three varietals of Kona coffee, which we like, since we think of coffee like wine... great to try different varietals and different farms, just like we all enjoy different vineyards and varietals.  I wish all us farmers could work more together on this... there's room at the table for everyone when you think of it this way!

We really care about the health and well-being of the men and women who work on our farm--we have weekly Safety Meetings, which include reviewing safety information and instructions for equipment, the latest recommendations from OSHA, and proper body mechanics.  When we were working on the farm a few years back, pulling lava out of the recently punched holes, planting while bending, etc., we learned how easy it is to totally ignore using good body mechanics -- and how bad this was to do, because what a sore backs we had! Sometimes it's just a matter of being conscious of knowing what to do, and being told to slow down and move right.   Most of the time workers are told to go fast, fast, fast.  We’d rather have people take the time to move the right way --- it can make all the difference in preventing injury and ensuring a worker's health and longevity in the business.  

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