Monday, October 17, 2016

Musings: Get a Clue

I was reading a Washington Post article the other day about the effect of stress on pregnancy:

Studies have shown that when women experience stress, anxiety and depression, it affects them as well as the developing baby. According to the March of Dimes, prolonged exposure to high levels of stress can cause health problems, such as high blood pressure or heart disease, and may increase the chances of having a premature baby.

I couldn't help but wonder how the intense fear-mongering about chemicals and pesticides affected some of the women who were pregnant during the Bill 2491 process and its aftermath.

And then I wondered how any person in good conscience could continue to stoke those fears even though all the studies conducted to date — including those by the anti-GMO groups — have shown that pesticide drift from the seed fields is non-existent to negligible, and none of the claims about purported birth defects have been substantiated.

A comment posted yesterday perfectly expresses the wrong-thinking that is so prevalent around agriculture and food production, especially among well-fed westerners:

Best way to feed billions is to inspire billions to grow food- not to depend upon foreign corporations, many of whom profit immensely off of pesticides and herbicides and other kinds of poisons. Best way is to revitalize traditional and cultural methods of seed saving and agriculture that are proven to work well, and other methods not driven by profit. "Feed billions" is a propaganda term straight out of the mouths of these corporations, which value profit first over all else. If everyone in Hawaiʻi planted one breadfruit tree (1.4 million trees), then we would be well on our way to feeding ourselves.
First, it's apparent this person has no understanding at all of how “traditional and cultural methods of of seed saving and agriculture” are actually playing out in developing nations. As one example, consider sub-Saharan Africa, where drought regularly wipes out maize crops, leaving farmers with no food to eat, no seed to save and no crops to sell to pay for things like an education for their children.

In recent years, through the introduction of drought-tolerant hybrids, farmers have been able to grow enough to feed themselves and make a profit, which is helping them escape poverty. It's been possible through a public-private partnership that involves Monsanto, African NGOs and deep-pocket philanthropy by Gates, Warren Buffett and USAID. Africans control the seeds.

There isn't one nation on Earth where people aren't counting on others to grow at least some of their food for them. The idea that each person can become food self-sufficient is unrealistic, especially in Hawaii, with the bulk of the population lives in Honolulu. While breadfruit is great, much of what is currently grown goes to waste because many people have no taste for it. 

There's a reason why farmers comprise just 1 percent of the population in the U.S., and that's because the other 99 percent either don't want to farm, or live in cities where they're unable to produce their own food.

The same is true throughout the world, where young people are leaving rural communities for cities. They're leaving because they can't make sufficient profit from what are often tiny farms to support themselves and their families. They're leaving because climate change is affecting the arrival and intensity of the monsoons, provoking prolonged droughts, drying up streams, increasing the salinity of the soil. They're leaving because of war and civil unrest. They're leaving because they're seeking better opportunities.

They're also leaving because it's getting harder and harder to pursue “traditional” agriculture. Rural farmers aren't keeping so much livestock, so they have less manure for fertilizer. It's also difficult to find, and afford, laborers willing to weed and harvest manually.
Additionally, it's inaccurate to assume that “traditional and indigenous” methods of farming are inherently sustainable and environmentally friendly. Consider the work of World Food Prize Laureate Bram Govaerts, who helped frame the Mexican government’s major initiative known as the Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture:

His component is “Take It to the Farmer," which “focuses on integrating technological innovation into small-scale farming systems for maize and wheat crops, while minimizing detrimental impacts on the environment. Under this extension-style program, farmers on over 94,000 hectares switched to sustainable systems using MasAgro technologies, while farmers on another 600,000 hectares are receiving training and information to improve their techniques and practices.

Using cell phone technology and social media, YouTube videos and educational events, his work has led to impressive achievements in the adoption of his integrated technologies by farmers, policy changes at the governmental level, and institutional alignment for the implementation of conservation agriculture.”

His research and field application in conservation and sustainable agriculture has focused on the benefits of improving long-term soil quality in both irrigated and rain-fed regions through leaving surface residues on the land and reducing tillage activities while diversifying crops. Evidence gathered during his research has shown that when farmers used this method, crop yields increased on average in the rain fed areas by 30 to 40 percent and production costs fell by 10 percent in irrigated systems, resulting in a positive impact on household income.  

“Feed billions” is a term of compassion expressed by the countless scientists — both public and private sector — around the world who are sincerely working to improve food systems in many different ways. I've never heard anyone involved in biotech claim that it alone will feed billions. It is invariably presented as one plant-breeding tool in the toolbox.

The real irony is that anti-GMO lobbying has led to such a rigorous approval process for biotech that only the big corporations can afford to play. Activists are actually working to give big corporations more control over food development.

I do agree that it's important to inspire people to farm. But you're not going to inspire many to willingly assume a life of povery and drudgery by insisting they employ only “traditional and indigenous” agricultural methods.  As Dr. Govaerts noted:

“The best recognition of Dr. Borlaug’s legacy is to be conscious and shout out loud that farming is the future. It is our moral duty as researchers to bring pride back to the fields by harnessing the existing innovations of farmers and other value chain actors and fostering capacity and application of science and technology.”
It's fine if people want to hold erroneous, simplistic beliefs. The problems arise when they try to turn these misguided views into policies, and work to stifle technological advances in agriculture, and limit farmers' choices and prevent farmers and researchers from gaining access to innovation.

We're facing some serious challenges in the world, especially around agriculture. While I understand that many would love to turn back the clock to a time they imagined was more ideal, that's not going to happen, either through edict or choice.

70 comments:

  1. Yes um master, Joan be a good puppet

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  2. Yes, Mr/Mrs. Commenter.... I just want to eat breadfruit all day everyday......

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  3. A good example of what Joan is talking about is taro cultivation in Hawaii. Despite all the talk about increasing interest in growing taro using traditional methods the fact is that taro production is in decline and has been for decades.Its a crop that presently can't be mechanized and we see the result. Not that I'm opposed to traditional farming methods, I'm just opposed to having to do it alone while others sit on the sidelines and comment on how wonderful that kind of life is.

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  4. 10/17 @ 7:10am, I am assuming you disagree with the sources and scientists that Joan has cited. Do you have (credible) sources and scientists to counter what she wrote, or are you going to sling poop and then just run away like an immature child?

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  5. The BEST, Joan, absolutely the best local commentary out there.

    Important, thoughtful, well-researched, timely, and courageous.

    Thank you so much.

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  6. I have french fried breadfruit. It was "ok".

    Every other recipe we tried I can always taste a bitterness that causes my mouth to pucker leaving a coating of bitterness that I can't wash away.

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  7. As sugar was going down, G&R, a family company that's been farming on Kauai for 145 years, tried growing dry land taro on a commercial basis ("commercial" means profitable) and failed. The sources of our taro/poi are part-time farmers who have incomes from day jobs and are into it culturally. BTW - They use chemical herbicides to control the otherwise choking weeds in their patches.

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  8. Ditto, spot on, for once I have nothing add; except, @7:10 should google search asshat

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  9. Corporations are in business to make a profit and never answer the question "How are we going to make a profit off billions of people that can't afford to buy our GMO food?" What is profit? One takes more than one gives. That's what profit is. Fit that reality in your GMO toolbox.

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  10. 10:35 I believe you have discovered the flaw in capitalism. It is like a cancer that converts needs (food) into wants (I don't "like" breadfruit I "like" steak. All advertising is a lie because if you really needed it you would already have it or be dead.

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  11. @10:35 What about the corporations that are producing and selling organic food? Are they answering the question, "How are we going to make a profit off the billions of people who can't afford to buy our organic food, our organic farming supplements, our organic seeds? Who can't afford to go through the organic certification process?"

    I dare say, the folks selling organics are making far more profit than those selling GMO food.

    Fit that reality into your anti-GMO toolbox.

    And 10:44, perhaps 10:35 should spend a bit more identifying the flaws in his/her thinking before moving on to a complex topic like capitalism.

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  12. 10:49 "10:35 should spend a bit more identifying the flaws in his/her thinking before moving on to a complex topic like capitalism."

    What flaws? You make assertions without explanation.

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  13. Joan "Activists are actually working to give big corporations more control over food development."

    If that is true why are you bashing activists all the time."Unwitting useful tools" are part of every corporate toolbox.

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  14. There is a lot of brain power going into Taro growing. Particularly in North Carolina. Florida and Australia. Hawaii is conceded as having the best mechanization and stock, although Dr Del a Pena has been warning us for years that we may need GMO to deal with some of the parasites. Here is a fascinating report from Australia which interestingly, see the chip market as being unlimited in growth in the immediate future. The taro chip and the sweet potato chip was, of course, invented in Hawaii during WWII when potatoes were simply unavailable to the manufacturers on Oahu, Maui, and the Big Island. Invented by Atabara of Hilo, soon all the companies were putting out product.
    https://hortintl.cals.ncsu.edu/articles/taro-production-mechanization-and-industry-development
    You will need to download.

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  15. @12:33 I don't support giving big corporations power over the food supply. I'd like to see a more level playing field, where public sector scientists can get biotech crops to market. So far, there are just two: the Hawaii transgenic papaya, and Bt brinjal.

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  16. 12:48 By "public sector scientists" do you mean their work is in the public domain? If not what is a public sector scientist?

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  17. @1:18 Public sector scientists are working for universities and other publicly-funded institutions around the globe. Because they aren't looking to make a profit, they are able to work on some of the smaller, indigenous crops, such as pulses (legumes), mustard, cowpeas, cassava, etc., that will not give the multinational corporations the return on investment they need to pursue research and develop of improved varieties.

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  18. @1:18
    But the universities and the institutions surely will take all the royalties from the patients generated from said research.....

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  19. @1:40
    That hasn't been the case with the biotech crops they've developed thus far.

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  20. 1:29 So Cornell being a private and not publicly funded university would not have any public sector scientists working there?

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  21. @1:18 So if they are not looking for a profit are their work product in the public domain or not?

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  22. @2:01 -- Wrong again. Cornell is a land grant university, just like UH, and has many scientists working on public-interest research in many different fields.

    @2:08 -- It varies. On some research projects, the scientists hold the patents. On others, they release it. There is no one size fits all.

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  23. @2:14 Wrong again you arrogant, smug know-it-all. Cornell is not "just like UH". UH is a "public" land grant university while Cornell is a "private" land grant university. I know you will ignore and not print this because you overblown ego cannot allow you to be wrong. BTW there are only two other "private" land grant colleges in the country MIT and the University of Delaware.

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  24. @3:03 -- Looks like you were wrong again....

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  25. @3:11 If I'm wrong tell me and everyone else why.

    "Cornell is one of three private land grant universities in the nation and the only one in New York."
    https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cornell_University&oldid=744663804

    The University of Hawaiʻi system, (formally the University of Hawaiʻi and popularly known as U.H.), is a public, co-educational college and university system
    https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=University_of_Hawaii&oldid=743457307

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  26. @3:17 You were wrong when you wrote:

    I know you will ignore and not print this because you overblown ego cannot allow you to be wrong.

    And yes, I realize Cornell is private and UH is public. When I said "just like UH" I was referencing that they are both land grant universities.

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  27. topic is Get A Clue.

    Fitting!
    Funny!
    keep it going. just to irritate the rest of us readers.

    distract us from the "pesticides are poison person."

    Freaking Monday.

    BTW, the population living in town houses, condo's don't have land to plant their tree. land with 6,000 sq. ft would rather have something else the ulu. Oahu, everything east has no chance. they to busy to F A R M.

    Good one Ms. Joan!

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  28. @3:21 The fact they are both "land grant universities" is beside the point. The sky is blue at both UH and Cornell. So what? Public or private makes a difference when it comes to your definition of "public sector scientists" and whether their products "intellectual property" is in the public domain or not. Please clarify:-)

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  29. Wow Joan, you sure did attract a lot of anti's with this one.

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  30. Ulu is a very difficult urban tree, much better for wetter areas with water. It is a messy one. (Not to mention I hate it, no matter how often my mother tried it on me). For smaller urban lots, dwarf mango (a hybrid with two varieties on the same tree,eg), lime, dwarf lemon or tangerine, and a small avocado are much better bets. A orchard variety star fruit is the king of near house or lot line trees. It gets about 20 feet high of easily trimmed height with thin roots, trunk(s) and branches. There is almost no foliage fall and all is biodegraded so quickly there is nothing to rake. The orchard variety fruit is better than anything you remember as a child - heavy, large and sweet.
    As my grand mother said, everyone needs to have a papaya. First the one, then six months later the other. And a chili pepper. All of these make wonderful urban contributions to food and for friendly neighbors.
    My sister has a relatively small urban lot, and in addition to her small vegetable garden has orange, lime, tangerine, avocado,papaya, and smaller fruiting shrubs. All the trees are dwarfs, to some extent (dwarf trees can come in different sizes with different capabilities, but all fruit like crazy).

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  31. Aloha
    The best way that I like bread fruit or Ulu is to core out the center fill with brown sugar and butter and wrap in Ti leaf or tin foil and put on the coals of a camp fire. Taste great.
    Chips are also good.
    Odie Dill

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  32. Here is an excerpt from the excellent article at the following link (http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/08/09/487094806/productive-protein-rich-breadfruit-could-help-the-worlds-hungry-tropics)- "On a muggy morning on Kauai's south coast, ethnobotanist Diane Ragone inspects a dimpled bright green orb, the size of a cantaloupe. She deems the fruit mature, at its starchy peak. Perfect for frying or stewing.

    "You can eat breadfruit at any stage," says Ragone, who heads the National Tropical Botanical Garden's Breadfruit Institute. "When it's small and green, it tastes like an artichoke. When it's starchy and mature, it's the equivalent of a potato. When it's soft and ripe, it's dessert."

    A traditional staple in Hawaii, breadfruit is sometimes called the tree potato, for its potato-like consistency when cooked. Except breadfruit has higher-quality protein and packs a healthy dose of vitamins and minerals.

    That's why Ragone has spent years trying to cultivate this nutrient-rich staple for poorer, tropical parts of the world, where the majority of the world's hungriest people live."

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  33. Captain Bly was transporting the Ulu to the Caribbean when he got sidetracked. That darn Clark Gable and his Pitcairn men. And look what happened to Pitcairn.
    The Ulu was once going to be the food to feed the slaves. Hasn't ever been an accepted staple, since ol' Polynesian times. And even those Hawaiians had the equally delicious savory choices of Ulu, Taro or Uala. Yum yum. A long walk from Spam Masubi.
    Ulu is good once in a while. That's it.
    In this society when you can go to Safeway and get a choice of 312 cheeses, 97 deodorants, 155 types of naval beans and 793 types of Spam...our society is hard-pressed to become a 9 choices for dinner world.
    UH has more scientists working on macadamia or guava flavored Spam than it does on GMOs.
    But Jumpin' Bags of Catfish Joan, you sure scurried up a bunch of fine toothed comments on the difference between a public/private land grant. Who woulda thunk?

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  34. 4:25, I'm 3:36. I got a lot of those too. I'm still in the red after 20 years on this land.

    But sticking to the topic. The person of the topic doesn't have a clue. And (sorry), the breadfruit idea still don't cut it.

    The style you describe supplements our food consumption, but not all of us likes a cluttered property to take care of.

    So! Let's get the subject person to revise his / her idea to be less of a looser supporter and more of a realistic food supporter / supplier.

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  35. This is Hawaiʻi. Ulu is an important canoe plant. Modern chefs are creating wonderful recipes for its preparation. Always good to help preserve a culture by preserving its most valuable foods. Ulu is making a gigantic comeback from obscurity. Learn how to grow, cook and prepare. The possibilities are endless. Ulu, you rock!

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  36. Nice to hear Diane Ragone mentioned in a comment. She is an amazing woman who has done so much on Kauaʻi and around the world to educate and promote the growing and consumption of breadfruit. Mahalo nui loa e Diane!

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  37. The National Tropical Botanical Garden holds Breadfruit Cookoffs in Hana, Maui and at the south shore Visitor Center on Kauai. These events promote the use of breadfruit as food and encourage people to grow and use this nutritious and versatile fruit in their daily diet.

    Contestants prepare dishes in four categories: appetizers, soups and salads, main dishes, and desserts. More than 100 innovative and delicious dishes have been created. Enjoy Recipes from these cookoffs, the Na Lima Kokua Cookbook, and other recipes.

    Appetizers
    Soups & Salads
    Main Dishes
    Desserts
    Here is the link for 66 of these outstanding recipes. Do not be afraid to experiment and create on your own!...... http://ntbg.org/breadfruit/resources/display/cat/7/

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  38. I've been living off Purina Monkey Chow and water for years. Works out to 50 cents a meal! No dishes or pots and pans required; no electricity for the fridge, freezer, stove, microwave. Not to mention the time saved – no shopping, no cooking, no dish washing. You can order it online here http://www.mazuri.com/apes.aspx
    Now I have more time to blog.Monkey Chow could feed the world and is GMO free!

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  39. Anonymous (October 17, 2016 at 12:33 PM) said...

    Joan "Activists are actually working to give big corporations more control over food development."

    If that is true why are you bashing activists all the time."Unwitting useful tools" are part of every corporate toolbox.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    That’s because all the activists are succeeding in doing is making all food more expensive for everybody!!! Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

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  40. Man cannot live on cornbread alone Matthew 4:4 Monkey Chow is the devil's excrement. Repent!

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  41. I tried eating Gravy Train dog food for a month and it made my poop smell funny kine.

    http://www.gravytraindog.com/

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  42. The Monkey Chow idea didn't sound too appetizing, but I went to the web site anyway.

    That site is owned by Land-O-Lakes which makes the butter I usually buy. It is a $4B co-op which was started in Minnesota.

    Which, of course, reminded me of Bongard's Cheese, which makes a unique cheese that my sister really likes. It is another dairy co-op in MN.

    These both have hundreds of members.

    Are there any "big" co-ops on Kauai? ("Big" arbitrarily being defined as having 20 or more farmer members.) In other words, Kauai Roots Co-op and the one in Kailua don't "count".

    Speaking of Jerry Ornellas, East Kauai Water Coop has a pretty extensive web site which includes a nice map of the system and membership applications. This isn't quite what I was looking for because it doesn't market a product (like cheese).

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  43. Ulu French Toast.....Yummy!

    Take a ripe soft ulu, core it, and skin it. Then cut it into soft 3"x2" chunks and fry it up on both sides in gmo oil until it turns gold, then put them on paper towels to damp the oil off. Then mash each piece down with a cup and dip them into a beaten egg with gmo vanilla extract and gmo cinnamon and fry them again after putting some gmo butter in the oil. Then damp again with a paper towel when they are done and sprinkle a little powdered sugar and serve.

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  44. Why would you ever use non-gmo powdered sugar for french toast?

    For shame!

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    Replies
    1. Burger King serves French toast without GMO powered sugar but everything else is GMO on their menu.

      Big Bad Corporations fooled us again with their capitalistic agendas.

      Say No to powdered sugar.

      Delete
  45. A genetically modified grass could help minimize cow belches, which contain a potent greenhouse gas.

    http://www.seeker.com/super-grass-could-reduce-cow-burps-2050795323.html



    Oh the delicious conflict....

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  46. There is no food shortage and we do not need GMOs. All we need is for gluttonous Americans to get off their fat asses and quit hogging all the food. Put down that pork-on-a-fork chubby. The US makes up only five per cent of the world's population, yet it accounts for almost a third of the world’s weight due to obesity. You greedy capitalist mofos are the problem. We don't need no fancy smancy GMO scientists to solve a problem caused by greedy American aholes.

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  47. @12:48 "So far, there are just two: the Hawaii transgenic papaya, and Bt brinjal."

    Uh-oh wrong again there are at least 3. The Rainbow, SunUp and Bt Brinjal.

    And regarding "public sector scientists" In September 1997 the federal regula­tory agencies completed their review and approved the transgenic papayas for production and sale. PAC success­fully negotiated use licenses with Monsanto Company, Asgrow Seed Company, Cambia Biosystems L.L.C., and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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  48. Yes, 11:40, Cornell and its public sector scientists ensured that Hawaii papaya growers control the seeds that were developed to benefit them.

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  49. Bread fruit is as nasty as noni juice. Who eats and drinks that shit?

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  50. Ah yes, 12:39....typical haole who don't know nothing

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  51. I wonder how many people on this blog have diabetes? Cancer? In there families. It's all fun sucking down and eating all that crap until it's not. Load a breadfruit up with all the ingredients that are in foods today and you will be a breadfruit addict too.

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  52. @12:39 et al "Bread fruit is as nasty as noni juice. Who eats and drinks that shit?"

    Curb your privilege.

    "You may talk o’ gin and beer
    When you’re quartered safe out ’ere,
    An’ you’re sent to penny-fights an’ Aldershot it;
    But when it comes to slaughter
    You will do your work on water,
    An’ you’ll lick the bloomin’ boots of ’im that’s got it. "
    - Rudyard Kipling

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  53. To anonymous not posted. I've tried to answer your questions about Cornell and the work of public sector scientists — and yes, as a land grant university, even a private one, it most assuredly does have public sector researchers — in a honest and good faith way. Not for you, because I knew you just had an ax to grind, but for others who read the comments.

    If you want to continue the discussion, you're going to need to start using a name and eliminate the abusive rhetoric. Because I don't debate trolls.

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  54. Your powdered sugar probably IS genetically engineered. The Hawaii Sugar Planters Assn (HSPA) engineered new varieties to combat insect infestation and to increase yields for decades before sugar finally went out here. Unfortunately, the one thing it couldn't do is to help Hawaii sugar growers keep up with the upwardly spiraling costs this anti-business State has engendered.

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  55. Great response Joan. There are a lot people that have no respect for themselves so they stoop really low and be argumentative. Poor souls. Hope they find themselves soon.

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  56. Hawaii had less ulu variety than any other major pacific archipelago, with a single species. Every one of the other Polynesian and pacific groups on high islands had multiple varieties. The thing about the Hawaiian is they were excellent agronomists. With 90 varieties of banana (most starchy (( plantain)), the banana women were allowed to eat), 100 varieties of taro (for every micro climate) sweet potato (that must have been a voyage. likely exchanged moa for it), and multiple varieties of yams, and cassava, the Hawaiian seem to have lost interest in the ulu. The Hawaiian were among the most starch rich civilization in early history. Cook and Vancouver marveled at the abundance. In fact the glue and wood seem to play a more important part than the fruit of the beautiful ulu tree.
    J

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  57. @9:13 You know nothing about taro/poi farmers, there is no farmer using herbicides in their patches as compared to U.S. Fish & Wildlife spraying directly into their ponds that can be seen from the over look. I've seen the ponds all brown from the spraying and the taro farmers patches never look like that.

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  58. @10:01 This is 9:13 and I am a kalo farmer have been my whole life and I use herbicides all the time and Fish and Wildlife have never sprayed into my loi.

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  59. LOL! Thanks 6:51 AM, but I am the real 9:13 AM. My close friend is one of the Waimea Valley taro farmers and he told me that he and others use herbicides to control the weeds. They didn't have that vehicle in the old days, but they had their spouses and children to work the patches and remove the weeds. Not that way today. As I said, most have day jobs. sorry if this destroys your fictitious paradigm 10:01 PM, but that the reality. Enjoy your poi!

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  60. I went on a class trip with my daughters class to Haraguchi Rice Mill in Hanalei and saw a shed full of fertilizers and pesticides. It is right out in the open. They are not hiding the fact that they use them.

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  61. @7:21 "LOL! Thanks 6:51 AM, but I am the real 9:13 AM. My close friend is one of the Waimea Valley taro farmers and he told me that he and others use herbicides to control the weeds. They didn't have that vehicle in the old days, but they had their spouses and children to work the patches and remove the weeds. Not that way today. As I said, most have day jobs. sorry if this destroys your fictitious paradigm 10:01 PM, but that the reality. Enjoy your poi!"

    Nice try 7:21 but I am the real 9:13 and I do have a day job and take care of my loi.

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  62. to be or not to be????????????? will the real............stand up. We need to laugh, it makes for a better day. One of friends used this blower like thingie that dispersed his fertilizer far into his taro patch. I guess so it made the job easier. ever tried tossing fertilizer 20 to 30 yards, your arms would fall off. lol

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  63. (most starchy (( plantain)), the banana women were allowed to eat)

    I wonder what Debra K., being one of the most vocal supporters of Hawaiian sovereignty, would think about that?

    This Intuit Supreme Court Case before the Canadian court may have an affect Hawaiian Sovereignty. Of course, like the North Dakota issue, it is all about oil.

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  64. Blah blah blah, l farm, I want to make a profit! Of course corporations want to make profit, but they can't do it without farmers also making a profit. How stupid is that that the farmer goes broke because he bought seed from one of the corporate seed companies. Lets see what the seed sales will be like next year with only destitute farmers.
    Herbicides, pesticides? It'so easy hoeing weeds all day getting paid next to nothing why not many people are doing it I'll never uderstand.

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  65. My My My
    Speaking of Farming and what not, Civil Beat listed all of the applicants for the Weed Farmacies.
    Lots of Kauai people INCLUDING
    Derik Kawakami--
    Tim Bynum and a few of his Ass Biting Buddies
    Winnie who sued Britt..........Now we know the rest of the story. 2 Hawaii Life realty owners go for dope dealing...one get it the other don't like it and, so why not? sue your Buddy.......Hawaii Life Realty-real integrity.

    A good long list of who's who in Hawaii and why our State and County is run by the insiders, for the insiders..........all of us rest, pay for it.
    I have lost faith in politics,....and now even more BS AS OUR ASSHAT COUNCIL members are going to take 2 million of our dollars to fund a Lihue project, that no body wants, will take roads away and turn Lihue into JoAnn Yukimura, GAry Hooser and Moron Chock's cute little San Francisco...........gag me with Tim Bynum's roach clip ......what a world. Now I'll roll a real illegal dripping Fattie and take all of 6 hits (enough to produce the Ozone High)

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  66. @10:02 "AS OUR ASSHAT COUNCIL members are going to take 2 million of our dollars to fund a Lihue project, that no body wants, will take roads away and turn Lihue into JoAnn Yukimura, GAry Hooser and Moron Chock's cute little San Francisco.."

    That would be wonderful to turn downtown Lihue into a paradise for pedestrians and cyclists. I bet Glenn Mickens and all you other motorheads will be getting their Marijuana cards to handle the stress of having to get out of their gas guzzlers and breathe clean air!

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    Replies
    1. Yeah because in Lihue you can't smell the defecation and urination all over that area.

      The businesses want the bottle neck that area because they think they gonna get people to stop and go into their rag tag operations.

      These county dummies think that they can make Rice St like Kapaa town. But don't realize that most of the people are tourists.

      But shhhh don't tell these fucktards that because uncle, aunty, cousin, Bradah and titah needs the jobs associated with the fleecing of fraudulent grant dollas.

      Delete

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