How bad is farming real produce in hawaii ? (Hilo: condo, buying)

[HiloDiver]

An interesting link a friend shared today: Top 10 Worst GMO Foods for Your GMO Foods List

HI papayas rank #5.

[OpenD]

My problem is that they are basically saying GMO papayas are bad because they said so. There's no research to support that conclusion.

For myself, given a choice between GMO papayas or no papayas, I'm going with the GMO.

Years from now, if they unexpectedly discover some actual issue with the GMO papayas, them I'm sure my own ashes will long since have been sprinkled on Hilo Bay, but y'all can gather and raise a glass and say, "Dang, he was wrong." Okole maluna!

[OpenD]

Here's a balanced article about GMO Papayas, and Dr. Dennis Gonsalves, the man who developed them in a tiny little project at U of H.

A couple of high points...

If the GMO Papaya had not been introduced in 1999, it's likely there would be no papaya industry left at all on the Big Island due to the extensive spread of the ring spot virus, which spoils the way the fruit looks, making it unsaleable. Despite keeping commercial cultivation afloat with the new Rainbow and Sunset varieties, the farmers still took a tremendous financial hit because their key market, Japan, would not permit them to be imported. The US, Canada, and China would buy them, but the most lucrative market remained off limits for years. Finally last fall, after very extensive testing, Japan concluded that GMO papayas are perfectly safe to eat, and they issued permission to import.

The genetic mechanism for protecting the fruit from the virus is ingenious, and is very different from the kinds of gross manipulation used by Monsanto to make crops resistant to weed killer, for example. In essence, it simply vaccinates the plants from the virus so that infection cannot take hold.

Since papayas are one of the most nutritious fruits available, and are delicious and easy to digest and inexpensive (at least locally), I will personally continue eating them with great gusto, and absolutely no concern.

Is Genetic Engineering Always a Bad Thing? ~ Jennifer Mo | elephant journal

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Originally Posted by manekiNEK0

Can't argue with that!

Are there any fruit trees in particular that wouldn't do so well in Puna? I am really wanting to try Moro oranges, avocado, carambola and some others.

There is a lot of fruit that wouldn't do well in Hawaii. One example: peaches need chill hours and they dislike being wet, so don't grow well when there is lots of rain and constant warm weather.

Anything that needs chill hours is going to be difficult. Even the very few low chill hours varieties need some chill hours.

Lots of varieties of fruit don't like wet feet. So they are difficult to grow where there is constant rain with constantly wet soil.

We have some debate about pistachios. Temperatures are right, but it is a desert plant. Same with Pomegranates. I wait to see who has success with them.

Commercially, it is difficult to compete with countries who have low labor costs. Agriculture involves a lot of labor. Crops that don't involve a lot of man hours (mechanically harvested) tend to be lower priced, so it is necessary to grow hundreds, perhaps thousands of acres in order to make a living.

[mangodog]

If eating Local Papayas are GMO'd to death then I am a gonner.... I not only eat that Golden Orange fruit but I also swallow a helping of the glossy black seeds as well... It all comes out so smooth and contributes to my healthy digestion as well. If I had more time, I would make a salade dressing out of the peppery seeds . Please dont tell me I cannot enjoy Local Hawaiian Papayas !

[mangodog]

No one mentions Persimmons... they do well enough in Maui.... Just be sure that they are ripened properly. Delicious.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by mangodog

No one mentions Persimmons... they do well enough in Maui.... Just be sure that they are ripened properly. Delicious.

One kind do well, yes. You have to be sure to plant the right ones.

Most kinds of persimmons... like the ones the Italians like, and the ones planted throughout the mainland midwest... in Brown County Indiana Leaf-Peeping season is also Persimmon Pudding season... those common persimmons require a hard frost in order to turn sweet.

[cagary]

Originally Posted by mangodog

No one mentions Persimmons... they do well enough in Maui.... Just be sure that they are ripened properly. Delicious.

But they grow in "up country" Maui which is between 2000' and 3000'. The coast is too warm at night. Both Hachiya persimmons (the kind you have to allow to get very soft before you eat them) and Fuyu (the kind you can eat hard like an apple) grow well there.

No reason they could not be grown on the Big Island. One just needs good soil at at least 2000' in altitude.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

Commercially, it is difficult to compete with countries who have low labor costs. Agriculture involves a lot of labor. Crops that don't involve a lot of man hours (mechanically harvested) tend to be lower priced, so it is necessary to grow hundreds, perhaps thousands of acres in order to make a living.

More and more, it's coming down to a choice between a lot of cheap labor, or a lot of capital to invest in technology. And farm are becoming smaller... the size a single family can manage... or much larger, where the cost of expensive processing equipment, like these robotic lettuce weeders, can be managed effectively for maximum productivity, and Return on Investment.

These are pretty fascinating machines. Lettuce is the largest (legal) agricultural crop in California, and much of the cultivation is still manual, often by migratory workers from south of the border. And it's backbreaking work. But the robotics vision system is already better at telling weeds from good lettuce than the workers are, and it will get better.

I don't see anything like this as likely for Hawai'i... not that much flat ground, eh?

Robots to tend lettuce fields, saving farmers’ backs* - FutureTech on NBCNews.com

[mangodog]

Persimmons - Let me say this about a favorite fruit.... Bad people have offered unripe persimmons to their "friends" and knowingly creating a very bad memory for that poor soul. When a ripe persimmon is eaten, it is pure joy !