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  • Hawaii's Milk Industry

    {br}Hawaii milk production continues to fall{br}Pacific.bizjournals.com - Sep 3 2004 18:36:2 GMT{br}{br}This article was posted automatically. Comments are welcome!

  • #2
    Re: Hawaii milk production continues to fall

    "You may find it hard to swallow,
    but more of the milk you drink is
    being shipped to Hawaii from the mainland."

    If people are so worried about where milk is coming from
    via mainland cows, simple solution to that....
    switch to rice or soy milk, seriously.

    Do you know hard it is to retrieve milk
    from rice cows & soy cows?
    Aches & Pains
    (through out our lives) knows no time!!.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Hawaii milk production continues to fall

      I do know that $4.19 for a half-gallon of Foremost at Safeway seems outrageous, when my friends on the mainland pay about that much for a full gallon.
      http://www.linkmeister.com/wordpress/

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      • #4
        Re: Hawaii milk production continues to fall

        So milk joins the growing list of basic commodities that - although we posess the expertise and materials to produce them - are cheaper to simply import from the Mainland. Everyone saves, businesses thrive, but the next time our shipping routes are cut off, boy are we going to be in a world of hurt.
        Milk that is shipped from the mainland can be up to 10 days old by the time you drink it.
        And this sucks. It's a balancing act already buying milk in gallons to save just a few cents per ounce, but now we have to get through it all in a shorter period of time... lest we end up with a big plastic jug of clumpy yogurt instead.

        Of course, this paves the way for something Hawaii is beginning to excel at: specialty, or boutique, produce and other goods. "Pay a whole lot extra, and we'll give you something that's 'special' (by virtue of not being imported)!" A couple of years from now, we'll still be able to buy Hawaii-made milk, but it'll come from "Akamai Lahaina Estates" packaged in a fancy glass thingie and cost $18 for a half gallon.

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        • #5
          Re: Hawaii milk production continues to fall

          Originally posted by pzarquon
          So milk joins the growing list of basic commodities that - although we posess the expertise and materials to produce them - are cheaper to simply import from the Mainland. Everyone saves, businesses thrive, but the next time our shipping routes are cut off, boy are we going to be in a world of hurt.
          And this sucks. It's a balancing act already buying milk in gallons to save just a few cents per ounce, but now we have to get through it all in a shorter period of time... lest we end up with a big plastic jug of clumpy yogurt instead.

          Of course, this paves the way for something Hawaii is beginning to excel at: specialty, or boutique, produce and other goods. "Pay a whole lot extra, and we'll give you something that's 'special' (by virtue of not being imported)!" A couple of years from now, we'll still be able to buy Hawaii-made milk, but it'll come from "Akamai Lahaina Estates" packaged in a fancy glass thingie and cost $18 for a half gallon.
          That's why if you guys want to preserve local agriculture, you have to bite da bullet and go spend da kala to support da local growers! It's very frustrating for some of us ex-pats to see you guys go down da WalMart route...we've been there already, done that, bought the tacky t-shirt and now we wonder how we're ever going to get back to a simpler time when we knew where everything we put in our opu came from! You guys still have time to turn it around...please, please don't let more mainland stuff become plentiful over there...stuff raised and grown locally is much more nutritious and you're helping keep farmlands from falling into the hands of the developers who will just turn that land into condomania! Maui Pine (Steve Case is the majority share holder now) can't make money canning pineapple; all the pineapple that's sold under the Maui Gold label is "boutique" stuff that sells for up to $4.98/lb up here. The local mac farmers now have to compete with cheaper product being grown in places like Australia (where it originally came from), Costa Rica and the Philippines (learned this the other day when we toured the Purdy Macadamia Nut Farm on Moloka'i). If you don't support your local farmers, pretty soon everything will be shipped in and eventually the costs will start to go up because the grocery chains like Safeway won't have any competition.

          Please don't make the same mistakes that the Mainland has made...You'll end up having to go through the same kinds of things to get to where we are now up here...a backlash against agribusiness and "manufactured" and cloned food and back to organic food--locally grown--which costs more, but is much better nutritionally. But once the 'aina turns the corner and no longer supports local agriculture, you won't have the real estate left to convert back into farms. At least up here, we have a little more open space to try to reclaim for food production.



          Miulang

          P.S. Because of a long standing drought in Kula, you're going to be paying more for your Kula onions and lettuce and local strawberries for awhile longer. Just read in the Maui News yesterday while waiting for our plane to leave that the farmers have resigned themselves to doing voluntary rationing, but they don't get any breaks of any kind for conserving. They are partly suffering because there are too many people living upcountry who are not farmers and taking away water that could be used to raise crops.
          Last edited by Miulang; September 10, 2004, 07:01 PM.
          "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

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          • #6
            Re: Hawaii milk production continues to fall

            Well sometime next month (October) there's this event that will be held nationally and in Hawaii where lactating women all over the country will attempt a Guiness Book world record of the most women breastfeeding at the same time.

            I think for that one day there should be a sharp INCREASE in milk production at least in Hawaii.
            Attached Files
            Life is what you make of it...so please read the instructions carefully.

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            • #7
              Re: Hawaii milk production continues to fall

              I just read that Foremosts milk processing facility in Kaimuki will be permanently shut down.It was evidently not feasible to update the 1950ish facility.
              Check out my blog on Kona issues :
              The Kona Blog

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              • #8
                Re: Hawaii milk production continues to fall

                The Honolulu Advertiser has an article on the shutdown. Sad. Only eight months ago Foremost was bought by new investors, who reportedly put $2 million into upgrading the factory. Ultimately the price tag to maintain it was too high.

                Apparently total milk production isn't expected to drop much, since Meadow Gold was already handling stuff for Foremost - same milk, two labels. It'll just all be Meadow Gold now.

                I hope Meadow Gold is managing. I noticed that they shut down their processing plant on Keeaumoku/Young streets a while ago... I imagine they just consolidated operations at their other properties nearby (on Sheridan and Cedar streets, close to the Keeaumoku superblock).

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Hawaii milk production continues to fall

                  I hope my FAV. milk on island never goes away! It is the Viva One-Percent Acidopholus milk. We buy four half-gallon paper cartons of that just about every Saturday. The very idea of getting at least a little of what is good about yogurt right in our milk, and not even tasting it, even though I personally like yogurt a lot, rocks.
                  Stop being lost in thought where our problems thrive.~

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                  • #10
                    Re: Hawaii milk production continues to fall

                    Isn't Meadow Gold a California (or at least a mainland) corporation? I think that's what I read on the side of one of their yummy passion orange yogurt cartons a couple or weeks ago...

                    Miulang
                    "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Hawaii milk production continues to fall

                      I thought Meadow Gold was a local company... The "About Meadow Gold" page at their Lanimoo.com site doesn't say anything about corporate ownership, but then again, its official PR is careful to say "Meadow Gold Hawaii," not just "Meadow Gold."

                      Turns out "Meadow Gold" is apparently a national brand, and Hawaii is just one of its many markets. The corporate parent is Southern Foods Group in Dallas, TX. You learn something new every day!

                      Here's the Star-Bulletin article on the Foremost shutdown. It offers more details, hinting at the possibility that the company is calling it quits simply because it can, rather than being forced to by the condition of its facility.
                      Milk inspector Peter Oshiro said the storage tanks in question were small, displayed only exterior corrosion and were still usable and that Foremost had plenty of other storage capacity anyway. "I never saw anything integral to stopping production of the plant," Oshiro said. "It sounds like they just wanted out."
                      And the new owners are apparently looking to take legal action against the previous owners for failing to disclose problems.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Hawaii milk production continues to fall

                        Originally posted by pzarquon
                        And the new owners are apparently looking to take legal action against the previous owners for failing to disclose problems.
                        Well, this is where my libertarian leanings show up. If you didn't do your due diligence properly, you got nobody to blame but yourselves.
                        http://www.linkmeister.com/wordpress/

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Hawaii milk production continues to fall

                          Originally posted by pzarquon
                          I thought Meadow Gold was a local company... The "About Meadow Gold" page at their Lanimoo.com site doesn't say anything about corporate ownership, but then again, its official PR is careful to say "Meadow Gold Hawaii," not just "Meadow Gold."

                          Turns out "Meadow Gold" is apparently a national brand, and Hawaii is just one of its many markets. The corporate parent is Southern Foods Group in Dallas, TX. You learn something new every day!

                          Here's the Star-Bulletin article on the Foremost shutdown. It offers more details, hinting at the possibility that the company is calling it quits simply because it can, rather than being forced to by the condition of its facility.
                          And the new owners are apparently looking to take legal action against the previous owners for failing to disclose problems.
                          Heeheehee! Here we go! Go to that Southern Foods link and discover that it's owned by a company called Suiza Foods. Go to www.suizafoods.com and discover that its main American presence is a company called Dean Foods. Dean Foods manufacturers soy and organic milk, dairy foods and pickles. Notice that the ubercorporation (Suiza--http://www.suizafoods.com/aboutus/aboutus.asp) is in SPAIN! Haha! Soon we will all be sending all our American dollars abroad!

                          Oh wait! That last statement isn't totally true because tada! American ubercompanies like Wal-Mart will balance out the trade deficit by bringing in cash from the rest of the world. Oh wait. Wal-Mart is privately held, isn't it? nevermind.

                          Miulang
                          Last edited by Miulang; September 14, 2004, 04:40 PM.
                          "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Hawaii milk production continues to fall

                            Can anyone tell me what Milk suppliers are available in Hawaii (local and national) and which of those are hormone free milks? I heard that all Hawaii milk suppliers had hormone free milk but I see that we are losing a producer...Are any national brands hormone free?

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                            • #15
                              Re: Hawaii milk production continues to fall

                              Originally posted by Chris2
                              Can anyone tell me what Milk suppliers are available in Hawaii (local and national) and which of those are hormone free milks? I heard that all Hawaii milk suppliers had hormone free milk but I see that we are losing a producer...Are any national brands hormone free?
                              I think you may have to find one of those hippie stores that sell granola and organic foods. Hopefully somebody in Hawaii is selling BST-free milk. I don't know about Hawaii, but here on the Mainland, we can get either soymilk or BST-free milk in our SBUX lattes.

                              Miulang
                              "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

                              Comment

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