WAIKAPU - Maui's most famous vegetable, the onion, will be at the second annual Maui County Agricultural Festival on Saturday, along with the people who grow it, but not in huge numbers.
It's a little early for Maui onions. That's part of the story behind the festival, which is not simply a celebration, holiday and feast at Maui Tropical Plantation. The sponsoring Maui County Farm Bureau wants residents and visitors to understand how onions and fruits and flowers and landscape plants work on Maui.
Doug MacCluer, who used to farm for Maui Pineapple Co., tells that story through the medium of potatoes. One year, he planted two fields of Red Rose and White Rose potatoes on a Maui Pine field, and the crop was "beautiful; they did very, very well in Kula." But he couldn't sell them.
"The consumer didn't support local products, and we ended up importing potatoes from California, Washington, Oregon and, of course, Idaho. If we can get the consumer to support us, we will have more open space and more viability for our industry."
For Bobby Ito, president of the Maui Onion Growers Association, the lesson is similar but the details are different.
April and May are when the onion crop really comes
in. For a brief period, thanks to Maui's climate, Maui
onions have the national market almost to themselves, before the same varieties are harvested in places like Texas and Georgia. Sweet onions enjoy a premium price year round, and Maui growers had a meeting last week to discuss whether their sales will suffer from the recession as people cut back on expenses.
"It's a good question," Ito said, but the farmers don't know the answer. "With the economy the way it is, we may have to sell it for a lower price."
But he said he'd like shoppers to understand that when Maui onion prices are high (sometimes $7 a pound), "we don't see that, we might get less than a buck a pound."
MacCluer is one of the many volunteers behind the festival. He's setting up the orchard display with citrus, bananas, avocados, mangoes, longans and rarer plants that do so well here like calamansi and jaboticaba at the Victory Garden display. He said the payoff to the effort will be if Maui residents understand what agriculture contributes to the island and some of the problems it faces.
Farmers also need to understand their own problems, said Paul Singleton, a soil scientist and researcher for the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at the Kula Experiment Station.
"To have agriculture grow and expand, we need to be more productive. It's real simple," he said.
Lately, he's been working with anthurium and palm growers on the Big Island. By proper feeding and handling, the time to bring a palm to market can be cut by 30 percent, he said.
That's vital, because Hawaii farmers are competing in a global market, often against businesses that are bigger and enjoy lower costs because of economies of scale. He cites Howard Takishita of Howard's Nurseries in Kula as a "visionary" who has adopted the highest-quality automated equipment, which allows him to compete with much larger outside nurseries.
Howard's wife, Sandy, said she and her husband wouldn't be able to be at the festival personally, but some of their fruit trees will be in MacCluer's display orchard. The Takishitas are busy preparing for the Easter lily rush, a specialty of the nursery.
The festival offers:
Barnyard Games with horse and mule wagon rides.
Music with Willie K, the Baldwin High School Band, Cody Pueo Pata, Halau Hula Ka Malama Mahilani and the FLL Robotics Teams.
Ask the Farm Doctor advice forum, free soil testing, with free DNA activity kits.
Sustainable Institute of Maui composting instruction.
Food booths, featuring all-natural Maui Cattle Co. beef, Upcountry Kula Caesar salad, Hawaiian plates, Maui Taro burgers, Roselani ice cream and Maui coffee.
Books on farming and gardening from Barnes & Noble (with 10 percent of profits to the farm bureau's youth program).
A line of Maui County Farm Bureau logo clothing done in conjunction with Maui Thing apparel.
Paniolo Hall of Fame exhibit.
Robotics demonstration.
Instruction in Hawaiian words relating to farming.
Taste education (requires ticket), where more than 15 food stations will offer samples of Hawaiian regional cuisine, hosted by Peter Merriman, one of the chefs who pioneered in creating the concept, which emphasizes local ingredients.
Contributors will include Mark Ellman, Mala's Ocean Tavern; Philip Wang, Merriman's Kapalua; Alex Stanislaw, The Plantation House Restaurant; Tom Muromoto, Kaanapali Beach Hotel; Keoki McKee, Hotel Hana-Maui; Ivan Pahk, Sansei Restaurants; Ryan Luckey, Pineapple Grill; Joey Macadangdang, Roy's Restaurants; Elaine Rothermal, A.K.'s Cafe; Jennifer Nguyen, A Saigon Cafe; Flatbread Co.; Maui Culinary Academy at Maui Community College; Ono Organic Farm; Kapalua Farm; Shishido Farm; Waipoli Farm; Kahanu Aina Sprouts; Kumulani Farm; Mamaki Tea Co.; Maui Mountain Home Grown Coffee; Kaupo Ranch; Haleakala Ranch; Ulupalakua Ranch; Hana Ranch; Otani Farm; Watanabe Vegetable Processing; Evonuk Farms; and the Maui Farmers Exchange.
The taste education sampling will be from noon to 2 p.m. Tickets are $25 for adults, $12 for children 7 to 18, under 6 free. Visit www.mauicountyfarmbureau.
org to purchase tickets.
And, of course, there will be a farmers market.
Harry Eagar can be reached at heagar@mauinews.com.
