Kona Coffee Calendar Girls

Photo: Susan Dabritz, seapics.com, Special to West Hawaii Today

The Kona Coffee Farmers Association has produced a new calendar to help raise funds for their legislative lobbying activities. West Hawaii Today reports here that a group of women who are also Kona coffee farmers were inspired by the movie, Calendar Girls. Like the movie, they are baring it all for a good cause, to raise awareness on the importance of protecting the Kona Coffee brand through labeling requirements.

This year, only SB2905 made it past the crossover, but was deferred in the House Committee on Agriculture. The bill directed the Department of Agriculture to conduct a study on stricter regulations on Kona coffee blends.

The calendar will be available at this weekend's Coffee Fest Hawaii, June 6-8, and through the KCFA website.

Here's what Mary Lou Moss, Miss July, had to say:

"I don't understand why the Legislature doesn't want to protect one of its specialty crops," Moss said. The battle for passing a legislative bill that would protect the labeling laws has been in place for several years. Moss said the legislature has argued that enforcing the labeling laws and requiring blenders to include at least 70 percent Kona coffee in the blend would hurt the blenders and upset the coffee industry.

In recent sessions, the legislature has acknowledged the blends degrade the Kona Coffee name and causes consumer fraud and confusion. There has recently been a proposal to do a study, but Moss said she feels it is a stall tactic and is frustrated because the blenders are so influential to the legislature.