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Letters for Thursday, March 18, 2009
• Big mahalo to Waimea softball supporters
• The coming food crisis
Big mahalo to Waimea softball supporters
On behalf of the Waimea High School softball team, I would like to send a big mahalo to all of our businesses in Waimea as well as to Mr. Jon Kobayashi and Mr. Bobby Lampitoc for all your support and donations during our 23rd Annual Softball Tournament.
It was a very successful tournament with some of the best high school teams in the state participating in this year’s event. The enjoyment and fellowship experienced by all was evident during our Saturday night dinner as we all enjoyed the talent skits put on by the teams.
Seeing all 10 teams enjoying themselves as well as all parents and supporters was a great feeling of accomplishment for me and my hard working coaching staff.
I would also like to give a special mahalo to my family (Ohana & Friends/Cucu DeCosta) and all parents and supporters of the Waimea High School softball team. Without all of your support and hard work, this tournament would not have turned out as successful as it did.
Again, thank you. And to the Waimea Softball Booster Club — mahalo.
Teddy Perreira, WHS Head Coach
The coming food crisis
I have felt a food crisis tsunami heading toward Kaua‘i for some time now and perhaps other have felt it also.
Importing over 90 percent of the food we consume on Kaua‘i has always put us in a vulnerable position. And now with the increasingly shaky economic environment we could soon feel that vulnerability most acutely, particularly in light of the severe drought and shortage of irrigation water in some of the major vegetable growing valleys in California.
I would assume most of us would tend to turn to the agriculture industry to deal with this crisis, even as we turn to government to resolve an economic meltdown. If government can finally wean itself away from special interests and be truly a government for and of the people it would be reasonable to look to government in such a crisis.
To look to the agricultural industry to effectively deal with the food crisis is another matter, however, since conventional agriculture would need to virtually reinvent itself. Ever since gardeners first ruptured the topsoil mantle using primitive tools an unsustainable agriculture began.
The radical change to sustainable agriculture is slow in coming, though it has begun with the growing of a no-till movement.
There is a partner in no-till agriculture which is yet to be adopted and that is no fertilizing. Fertilizing, along with tilling, depletes soil humus, which is nature’s fertilizer factory.
Nature’s factories are a marvel of efficiency, recycling their emissions into soil humus — an invaluable component of the soil — where it is stored; in contrast to human factories which spew out their emissions into the atmosphere with devastating consequences.
No-fertilizing will soon be forced upon us since the world supply of phosphate will be exhausted in about twenty five years and the crunch has already begun. China announced recently that she will export no more phosphorus even while she is in great need of foreign money to fund her growing economy. And closer to home some gardeners may have noticed that the phosphorous content in popular brands of fertilizer is less than half of what it was a year ago while the price remains the same.
The founder of permaculture, Bill Mollison minces no words when he states that “Next to clean water phosphorous will be one of the inexorable limits to human occupancy on this planet.”
Such a seachange in agriculture from tilling to no-tilling means changing from tractor and rototiller agriculture to hand agriculture (from tractor labor to hand labor), which raises the question — where are all these new gardeners going to come from?
There will be a beauty to such a change as gardening that follows nature will be a way of gardening that considers the needs of all future inhabitants of this planet. For each generation to leave the soil in as good or better condition than it was found should instill in us a feeling of connectedness, not only with each other but with future members of our species. If only we could get this idea across to the government which now is borrowing monies future generations will have to pay back.
The four basic principles of nature that must not be deviated from are: no-tilling, no-fertilizing, 100 percent recycling of organic matter (mulching) and maintaining humus (cover crops in rotation).
There is one exception. I found it necessary to use some organic fertilizers on already degraded soils. However, such fertilizer should be used lightly, otherwise an over-acid condition will result, harming micro-organism workers in the fertilizer factories.
Glenn Hontz (e-mail: hontz@hawaii.edu) has been active through the Food Forum Group in organizing community efforts. You can contact him at I would be glad to share some of my experiences with no-till, no fertilizer gardening with anyone interested.
Jim Rich, christine, innes@adidam.org
• The coming food crisis
Big mahalo to Waimea softball supporters
On behalf of the Waimea High School softball team, I would like to send a big mahalo to all of our businesses in Waimea as well as to Mr. Jon Kobayashi and Mr. Bobby Lampitoc for all your support and donations during our 23rd Annual Softball Tournament.
It was a very successful tournament with some of the best high school teams in the state participating in this year’s event. The enjoyment and fellowship experienced by all was evident during our Saturday night dinner as we all enjoyed the talent skits put on by the teams.
Seeing all 10 teams enjoying themselves as well as all parents and supporters was a great feeling of accomplishment for me and my hard working coaching staff.
I would also like to give a special mahalo to my family (Ohana & Friends/Cucu DeCosta) and all parents and supporters of the Waimea High School softball team. Without all of your support and hard work, this tournament would not have turned out as successful as it did.
Again, thank you. And to the Waimea Softball Booster Club — mahalo.
Teddy Perreira, WHS Head Coach
The coming food crisis
I have felt a food crisis tsunami heading toward Kaua‘i for some time now and perhaps other have felt it also.
Importing over 90 percent of the food we consume on Kaua‘i has always put us in a vulnerable position. And now with the increasingly shaky economic environment we could soon feel that vulnerability most acutely, particularly in light of the severe drought and shortage of irrigation water in some of the major vegetable growing valleys in California.
I would assume most of us would tend to turn to the agriculture industry to deal with this crisis, even as we turn to government to resolve an economic meltdown. If government can finally wean itself away from special interests and be truly a government for and of the people it would be reasonable to look to government in such a crisis.
To look to the agricultural industry to effectively deal with the food crisis is another matter, however, since conventional agriculture would need to virtually reinvent itself. Ever since gardeners first ruptured the topsoil mantle using primitive tools an unsustainable agriculture began.
The radical change to sustainable agriculture is slow in coming, though it has begun with the growing of a no-till movement.
There is a partner in no-till agriculture which is yet to be adopted and that is no fertilizing. Fertilizing, along with tilling, depletes soil humus, which is nature’s fertilizer factory.
Nature’s factories are a marvel of efficiency, recycling their emissions into soil humus — an invaluable component of the soil — where it is stored; in contrast to human factories which spew out their emissions into the atmosphere with devastating consequences.
No-fertilizing will soon be forced upon us since the world supply of phosphate will be exhausted in about twenty five years and the crunch has already begun. China announced recently that she will export no more phosphorus even while she is in great need of foreign money to fund her growing economy. And closer to home some gardeners may have noticed that the phosphorous content in popular brands of fertilizer is less than half of what it was a year ago while the price remains the same.
The founder of permaculture, Bill Mollison minces no words when he states that “Next to clean water phosphorous will be one of the inexorable limits to human occupancy on this planet.”
Such a seachange in agriculture from tilling to no-tilling means changing from tractor and rototiller agriculture to hand agriculture (from tractor labor to hand labor), which raises the question — where are all these new gardeners going to come from?
There will be a beauty to such a change as gardening that follows nature will be a way of gardening that considers the needs of all future inhabitants of this planet. For each generation to leave the soil in as good or better condition than it was found should instill in us a feeling of connectedness, not only with each other but with future members of our species. If only we could get this idea across to the government which now is borrowing monies future generations will have to pay back.
The four basic principles of nature that must not be deviated from are: no-tilling, no-fertilizing, 100 percent recycling of organic matter (mulching) and maintaining humus (cover crops in rotation).
There is one exception. I found it necessary to use some organic fertilizers on already degraded soils. However, such fertilizer should be used lightly, otherwise an over-acid condition will result, harming micro-organism workers in the fertilizer factories.
Glenn Hontz (e-mail: hontz@hawaii.edu) has been active through the Food Forum Group in organizing community efforts. You can contact him at I would be glad to share some of my experiences with no-till, no fertilizer gardening with anyone interested.
Jim Rich, christine, innes@adidam.org
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The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of kauaiworld.com.
PeteAntonson wrote on Mar 19, 2009 9:17 PM:
" Getalife needs to be true to his name. He actually believes the sweaty fatman on the radio when he tells him that the new administration has a secret agenda to deliberately create an economic catastrophe so as to create a populist movement favoring Socialism as a solution. This is way beyond ridiculous. This is what occurs when you confuse entertainment with reality. Next, Getalife will probably tell us that a former Playboy model has discovered the cause of autism. "
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getalife wrote on Mar 19, 2009 5:35 AM:
Actually a disruption in oil supply due to a war with Iran and the closing of the Straits of Hormuz will cause a lack of electricity on the Hawaiian islands and when oil finally returns it will be so expensive people will be unable to afford electricity. I believe this to be a more immanent problem. "