Orchid farms lose key fight
By Sean Hao and Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writers
WAIKANE — The latest attempt by Hawai'i farmers to block competition from cheap imports has failed.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
The Hawai'i Orchid Growers Association, which represents about 150 members, wanted U.S. courts to ban imports of potted phalaenopsis orchids from Taiwan. But the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. ruled against the Hawai'i growers late last month.
Florist Wendy Lau bought orchids from Olomana Orchids in Waikane last week. She said imports could cut her costs but added that Hawai'i-grown orchids would have value if identified as such.
The growers, fearful that Taiwanese imports will jeopardize the state's $24 million orchid industry, have vowed to continue their fight. However, with free trade efforts creating an increasingly global marketplace, they realize they may be fighting a losing battle.
"It's not dead yet," said Donald Eberly, president for the Hawai'i Orchid Growers Association. "It's on its last legs, but it's not dead."
Phalaenopsis orchids, with their large, hardy flowers, represented just $1.7 million of reported orchid sales statewide in 2003, according to the Hawaii Agricultural Statistics Service.
However, the larger concern is that future imports could jeopardize much of Hawai'i's diversified crops as Asian countries attempt to improve their economies by exporting tropical fruits and flowers. In addition to providing a local food source, farming provides economic opportunities in Hawai'i's rural areas and keeps land free of urban development.
Before January, orchid growers in Taiwan could only export young, bare-root plants to the United States, where they would be potted and grown before being sold as older, more expensive plants. This year the U.S. Department of Agriculture changed the rules, allowing Taiwan farmers to export the more mature, pricier potted orchids directly into the United States.
The Hawai'i orchid growers argue the Taiwan imports could bring plant-eating thrips and other pesky insects. The new pests could force growers to take costly measures to eradicate insects and protect plants.
The USDA said it has procedures in place to mitigate such concerns including restrictions on seeds and parent plants used by Taiwan farmers and a host of requirements aimed at keeping their greenhouses pest free.
"There are very stringent requirements in place," said USDA spokesman Larry Hawkins. "We believe these sufficiently reduce the risk to Hawai'i such that these plants should be allowed to come in."
Apart from environmental concerns, local growers worry they won't be able to compete with Taiwan growers who receive large government subsidies and have lower land and labor costs.
"We're fighting it on the environmental side of it because I think that's the only way you can appeal it," said Peter Neifert, owner of Olomana Orchids in Waikane. "But the real reason in a sense is economics. Hopefully, we can be competitive with them, but we're not sure.
"If you let in phalaenopsis eventually you'll have other crops" coming in from overseas, Neifert said.
The situation faced by Hawai'i's orchid growers isn't unique. Local macadamia growers, for example, will face greater competition from Australia following the the recent signing of a free trade agreement between Washington and Canberra. Papaya growers are already dealing with increased foreign imports.
Even though the window for imports from Taiwan started in January, it will be several years before farmers start feeling the impact.
Consumers may eventually benefit from lower prices. The cost would come in the form of lost jobs in Hawai'i's diversified agriculture sector, which has been a bright spot in an industry that has grappled with significant declines in pineapple and sugar cane.
Farm sales of diversified goods, which is everything except sugar and pineapple rose 2.9 percent in 2003 to $385 million.
"It would benefit my business in that I would be able to get things cheaper from Taiwan or Thailand and have a better mark-up," said Wendy Lau, the owner of Rainbow Balloons & Flowers, who bought half-a dozen orchids last week from Olomana Orchids, including two phalaenopsis. "But it's still not the same as if you bought something from Hawai'i and you sold it as something from Hawai'i.
"That would be a huge factor to someone who is discriminating. It's more special if it comes from here."
Hawai'i's orchid industry can help stave off competition by banding together to identify Hawai'i-grown orchids and distinguish them from cheaper foreign imports, Lau said.
"If they do that and make the tourists more knowledgeable, then I don't think it would hurt anybody."
Reach Sean Hao at shao@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8093.
