A statewide Hawaii Agtourism Association is in the initial planning stages.

• Agtourism video now available
• Current news
• Meeting reports
• Why an association?
• Background
• Get involved

Agtourism video now available at no cost
To get a free DVD of the new agtourism video, contact Diane Sands at 808-640-6153 or by email, diane_sands@yahoo.com

Current News
Organizing toward the official launch of the Hawaii Agritourism Association is moving at a quick pace. Currently, a core group of interested members are meeting monthly to develop by-laws, non-profit status, and other fundamental infrastructure.

Meeting Reports

Several association meetings have taken place this year. The meeting notes (also called "group memory") are listed here, where available.

To attend meetings by videoconference:
Some meetings have been broadcast as a videoconference over Polycom to Maui, Oahu and Kauai, if one or more people would like to participate in one of these locations, rather than coming to Kona. However, it is essential to arrange this in advance, with either Kent Fleming (989-3416 or fleming@hawaii.edu) or Diane Sands (640-6153 or diane_sands@yahoo.com.).

Meeting Notes (group memories)

• 8/09/07
• 7/12/07
• 6/28/07
• 4/09/07
• 2/08/07 minutes and subcommittee minutes
• 1/12/07, initial meeting held at Agtourism Conference

Supporting documents:
Information on meeting and how to request Polycam broadcast
Issues that drive agtourism, discussed at February 2007 meeting
Agtourism definition
Funding (nonprofit vs. for profit)
County Bill 148
Two articles on Kona Joe lawsuit affecting agtourism operations:Honolulu Advertiser, and Big Island Weekly
A copy of a Washington state law allowing Washington farmers to operate like Kona Joe

Why an association?

The development of a Hawaii Agtourism Association is an important growth step to support Hawaii's growing agtourism industry. Among other things, an association could address the following:

• The need for the agtourism community to have a unified voice to represent the industry's interest as agtourism zoning regulations are being developed.An organization has more credibility and effectiveness than a number of disparate individuals commenting on various aspects of proposed policy.
• One timely issue that requires feedback is the proposed Hawaii County Council amendment to the zoning laws as they relate to agtourism, detailed in Bill 148 (available to download as a PDF.)
• While farmers and ranchers normally work within commodity groups, agtourism thrives as a regional cross-commodity network of entreprenuers. Working within an association improves cross-communication among those in agriculture, tourism and culinary endeavors who have a common interest in the development of agtourism.
• While agtourism clearly increases profitability and reduces marketing risk, it can also expose one to greater legal risks. Agtourism operators working as an association can have access to group rates for adequate liability insurance coverage.
• An agtourism association could have a paid executive secretary to provide coordinated, current information for media, for state and county government agencies, for those wanting to create an agtourism attraction, and for any others in tourism or agriculture with questions about agtourism in Hawaii.
• Working together as an association opens up better funding opportunities, such as grants and strategic alliances.

Background

At the 5th Biennial “Agtourism in Hawaii” Conference (Kona, 12 January 2007), attendees explored the possible need for a Hawaii Agtourism Association. Dr. Donna Ching, Extension Specialist in the University of Hawaii’s College of Tropical Agriculture & Human Resources (CTAHR), facilitated a lively discussion. The “group memory” of this session is available as a PDF download.

At the conclusion of this exploratory session, it was decided that those who were particularly interested in forming as association should reconvene on Thursday 8 February at the Kona Extension Office. About 35 people met on February 8th, and the group memory from this follow-up session, also facilitated by Donna Ching, is available as a PDF download.

To get involved

To get involved, attend a meeting or contact Diane Sands at 808-640-6153 or by email, diane_sands@yahoo.com.