| Farm
at a Glance
Richard Ha
Mauna Kea Banana Farm &
Kea’au Plantation
Hilo, Hawaii
Summary of Operation
• 800-acre banana plantation
• Pest management, smart use
of water, low inputs
Problems Addressed
Banana diseases.
A fungus devastated Hawaii’s banana industry in
mid-1950s, convincing nearly all growers to shift production
to pineapples and sugar cane. For the next two decades,
these tropical islands imported most of their bananas
from South America and Australia, like the rest of America.
For U.S. growers to raise healthy bananas, most rely
on synthetic fungicides and nematicides.
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| Excerpted
from:
The New American Farmer: Profiles of Agricultural
Innovation
By the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education
(SARE) program
© 2003, Beltsville MD. Used by permission. Pp.
131 to 133
For complete text or to order: www.sare.org/newfarmer
To contact SARE:
Phone (301) 504-6425
Fax (301) 504-5207
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In
the 1970s, pioneers like Richard Ha began experimenting with commercial
banana-growing again. Acknowledging a need for synthetics to combat
virulent fungi and nematodes in the super-wet climate on his island,
Ha nonetheless has tried to implement as many sustainable practices
as possible to minimize erosion, cut back on water use and, above
all, reduce dependence on chemicals.
Ha’s father, Richard Sr., was a successful poultry farmer, managing
egg production from as many as 35,000 layers, and selling the mature
birds as stewing hens. Richard Jr. grew up helping with all facets
of the operation, but never really thought about being a farmer himself.
Then, when he was in college, his father offered to set aside 25 acres
for his son to use as an agricultural experiment of his choosing.
“I could already see that competition was making the
business really difficult for my father,” Ha says. “There
were all kinds of problems with the disposal of manure, so I decided
to see what else I could do that might be more sustainable and make
a little money.”
Using the plentiful chicken manure he had at his disposal, Ha improved
the soil on his 25 acres and started planting banana plants with a
resistance to the killing fungus from the 1950s.
“It
was really a shoestring operation back then,” he recalls. “I
knew a lot of grocers from making egg deliveries for my father, and
I started going around and asking them to save the cardboard boxes
they got their bananas in so I could re-use them.”
Hampered by a shortage of up-to-date knowledge about the best methods
for cultivating bananas in Hawaii’s warm but exceedingly wet
climate, Ha set out to experiment, document and learn from his mistakes.
“It was all I could do at the time,” he says.
Focal Point of Operation —
Sustainable banana production
Between his two farms — one north of Hilo and one south —
Ha and his crew of 70 produce and ship an average of 7,000 boxes
of bananas per week, each box weighing slightly more than 40 pounds.
The work is labor intensive and demanding because bananas are so
delicate, Ha notes. No machines can reach up regularly and brush
twigs, leaves and other detritus from developing “hands”
of bananas so as much sunlight as possible reaches the individual
fruits. The same goes for wrapping each hand with plastic as it
reaches the final stage of maturity. The hands are still harvested
by individuals, who must bring them slowly from the fields on padded
carts to minimize bruising.
At the central packing houses, the bananas are washed, broken down
into the bunches familiar to grocery store buyers, and packed into
sturdy boxes for shipment. The growing season stretches year-round,
and tending the fields is nearly as demanding as the care of the
fruit itself.
Economics and Profitability
Ha reports that the average market price in 2000 for bananas was
32 cents per pound. His business, as noted above, ships an average
280,000 pounds of bananas each week, translating to an average weekly
gross income of nearly $90,000.
That seemingly staggering sum is not all that princely when compared
to the costs of raising bananas. Ha’s company has only been
able to activate its profit-sharing plan in the past two years,
even though it has been policy for almost two decades. That’s
because Ha pays the salaries of 70 full-time employees, as well
as the costs to lease the land on which his bananas are planted
and processed. He also pays for inputs, taxes, equipment, etc.
“It’s a tough business,” Ha says. “And
after paying all the bills there weren’t a lot of profits
left.”
He hopes that his success in the past two years is a sign of even
greater profits to come, but insists that the business cannot expand
beyond its current structure of his two stepchildren and a son-in-law
helping him manage it. “We’ve reached the limit of what
the family can comfortably manage,” he says. “To keep
making a profit we’ve got to do a better job with what we
have.”
Environmental Benefits
His efforts are proving that bananas can be grown — and a
successful business can be built — without the profligate
use of chemicals, extensive erosion, and considerable amounts of
water that are standard in commercial banana-growing operations.
Hilo is by far the rainiest city in the United States, Ha says,
with an average annual rainfall twice that, for example, of Seattle’s.
And that presents a double-edged sword to a banana grower.
Bananas need lots of water — the plant and its fruit consist
of 90 percent water — so 127 inches of the stuff annually
is a boon. But funguses and nematodes thrive in such moist conditions,
too. Ha knows well how quickly they can destroy healthy bananas.
Caterpillars, which love to eat bananas, tend to proliferate in
the wet, warm climate as well.
Ha says he has been forced through the years to combat these pests
with conventional chemicals, but that he has also experimented and
found ways to lessen his dependence on them. For example, he has
learned that he can cut the frequency and severity of “leaf-cutter”
caterpillar infestations by boosting the population of predatory
wasps. He lines his groves with flowers to attract the wasps to
nest in his groves.
Ha also discourages moths and other flying pests by removing the
flowers at the end of each banana fruit before maturity. That’s
not a common practice in the industry because it’s so labor
intensive. It’s easier to spray pesticides.
Cultivating fewer plants per acre than the industry norm also has
proven beneficial. Despite recording lower yields, Ha allows grass
to grow along the rows and between plants to greatly reduce erosion
as well as to provide a “sponge effect” that holds fertilizers,
insecticides and fungicides near the plants for longer periods instead
of allowing them to leach quickly into the water table. Ha says
the reduced yield tends to be balanced by an equally reduced need
for expensive inputs.
Additionally, though it would appear to be unnecessary in such a
thoroughly wet climate, Ha is initiating efforts to recycle water.
Lots of it is needed during the packing process both for washing
and for transport, and Ha is certain he can save money by recycling
most of the water he uses instead of channeling it into the sewer
system. Each year, they capture about 700,000 gallons of rainwater
from the roof of one of their buildings in one of two on-site reservoirs.
They use the water to wash and sluice the bananas to the packing
rooms.
Finally, while Ha follows the industry practice of wrapping bananas
in plastic while they are still on the tree to stabilize color and
stave off last-minute damage from pests, he does not follow the
industry standard of using bags laced with the pesticide Dursban.
His bags are pesticide-free.
These efforts have earned Ha’s farms an “Eco-OK”
distinction from the Rainforest Alliance.
Community and Quality of Life Benefits
Ha enjoys being a pioneer — both of the re-established Hawaiian
banana industry and of more sustainable methods for growing bananas.
He believes the Hawaiian climate, particularly on his island, is
ideally suited to growing good-tasting bananas with a minimum of
synthetic inputs, and is proud of the proof he’s provided
to support that belief.
Ha and his wife, June, have traveled a good portion of the world
to see how others grow bananas, and they are proud to have been
joined in the business by both their children and a son-in-law.
He employs 70 full-timers from the community and provides them
with health and dental benefits. He eliminated using the pesticide
Dursban partly because of worker safety.
“My workers have to apply those bags by hand, and I couldn’t
see having them work with that powder falling down on them all day,”
Ha says.
Transition Advice
“I think I could fill a museum with things that didn’t
work,” Ha says. “But that doesn’t mean I should
not have tried them, especially when nobody around me could give
me any real knowledgeable advice.”
He says patience has been his greatest guide, and “taking
the long-term view” is always necessary. Such an attitude
caused him to change the way he thought about himself after a time,
too. He said he considered himself a businessman exclusively when
he started growing bananas, and that his initial interest in sustainable
methods sprang from a belief that they could save him money and
time. That has proven true, but his interest in these methods and
watching them at work has had the effect of making him feel more
like a farmer than a businessman.
“Now I care as much about doing things that help my soil and
my water as I do about the business end,” he said.
The Future
Hawaiian banana growers were encouraged a couple of years ago when
the USDA approved, for the first time, the export of their bananas
to the other 49 states. Ha expanded his operation by another 300
acres to take advantage of the opportunity, and will soon be shipping
to the mainland and to Japan.
He is also in the process of changing most of his production from
the Williams variety of bananas — the most commonly grown
— to a variety known as the Apple banana. Though more delicate,
Ha says this variety is sweeter and has a more complex flavor that
appeals to many consumers.
These bananas have been selected, in fact, by the catalogue distributor
of gourmet products, Harry and David, to be included in their holiday
fruit baskets — an event Ha expects to increase both his company’s
profile and profits.
He said he will also be entering the market for other tropical fruits
by testing his ability to raise and market papayas, and he plans
on establishing a nursery for decorative plants. |
