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End of the Year Review


Ah! This is my last assignment of my high school career and as such I want to thank HPA, Dr. Bill, and the Elab community for their continual support and the freedom to create my own curriculum-- and good luck to the rising seniors, juniors, etc. who will inherit our informally designated office chairs as they create tangible forms of their dreams as holograms and other star warsesque inventions.

Parker Ranch Climate Study (Paniolo Grass Fed Beef Project)
I began my project with the intention of studying climate patterns by examining Parker Ranch's extensive environmental data dating from approximately 1902-1973. I chose this study because I'm interested in environmental science and after commuting to Waimea for four years, fell in love with the less-than-predictable weather here. But while I was sifting through and archiving decades of data from Carter's daily diaries (which can be accessed here: http://energylab.hpa.edu/public/college/arianna_datta/), I began to learn more about the history of the ranch and became fascinated with it's impact on Waimea and the culture of ranching. Archiving the diaries was a large source of my challenges as his handwriting, albeit beautiful cursive, proved difficult for me to read and I was uncertain of the best method of documenting his data and how to properly preserve it. I transitioned from high quality photo scans which took too long to iphone photos and from folders on my hpa google docs which I quickly realized would disappear after my HPA career to folders on the energy lab server. Because I had the freedom and flexibility to create my own curriculum (thank you Dr. Bill!), I was able to bend my focus to the grass-fed beef program at Parker Ranch and hypothesizing what the future face of local ranching may look like. I've been interested in local food for a few years now as evidenced by my previous independent, a case study on food miles in Waimea. I began by familiarizing myself with the history. I read Bergin's Loyal To The Land and Brennan's The Parker Ranch of Hawaii: A Saga of a Ranch and Dynasty. For the intended purpose of a paper and to get a deeper understanding of the history of Parker Ranch's feed program both past and present I interviewed Jimmy Greenwell, Dutch Kupyer, and Jason Von Tassel all of whom had very different but optimistic perspectives. My intended goal at this point was to write a research paper (outline found here: http://physics.hpa.edu/users/datta_ariana/weblog/ee7c9/21rst_Century_Ranching_Draft_3.html) but quickly realized that should have been categorized as a dream rather than a goal as I was well into the second semester of my senior year. I managed to collect a fair amount of research on the recent history of the ranch and hope future Elab rats will take my scraps and turn it into something worth reading. All of my research, links to articles, data, documents, archives, etc. can either be found on this weblog or links to their hosts. This project leaves a foundation from which others may work from. My project was intended to preserve Waimea's past and conceptualize what Waimea's future may hold. I want there to be a easily accessible and engaging written document on Parker Ranch's importance to Waimea and it's current history. Sydney Bonham, a rising senior will take over this project in the upcoming fall as part of her digital journalism independent study and Laney Von Tassel will take over the research aspect (pending).

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Presentation

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Presentation Paragraph

I began my project with the intention of studying climate patterns by examining Parker Ranch's extensive environmental data dating from 1902-1973. But while I was sifting through and archiving decades of data from Carter's daily diaries, I began to learn more about the history of the ranch and became fascinated with it's impact on Waimea and the culture of ranching. Because I had the freedom and flexibility to create my own curriculum I was able to bend my focus to the grass-feed beef program at Parker Ranch and projecting what the future face of local ranching may look like. To get a better understanding of the history of Parker Ranch's feed program both past and present I interviewed Jimmy Greenwell, Dutch Kupyer, and Jason Von Tassel all of whom had very different but optimistic perspectives. This project is intended to preserve Waimea's past and conceptualize what Waimea's future may hold. Sydney Bonham, a rising senior will take over this project in the upcoming fall.

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5/8/15 Week 32

This week has been slow as it is also AP week and a week before graduation! I've finished my work on this project for the year and have almost finished settling it's take over. Next week I hope to wrap things up neatly. Today I updated the tags on my weblog accordingly. I didn't put all my daily updates under the paniolo tag, just days of significance / data/ etc. Hope it proves helpful for someone next year!

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5/6/15

Today I studied for my APAH exam (ahh!!!)

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5/4/15

Today I met with Laney to discuss potential future projects

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5.1.15 / Week 31

Today I found a junior to take over the writing portion of this project! Sydney Bonham will be working on a digital journalism independent and will collect my data and turn it into a piece. I'll be working with her over the next week to help her transition. I'll also be meeting with Laney Monday to go over her portion of the project.

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4.27.15

Today I almost finalized the flash drive for next term! Hopefully I will finish that next class and solidify who is taking over.

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Week 30

This week I tried to tie lose ends and prepare for the next stage of this project. Next week I hope to finalize who will be taking over this project and begin that process.

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4.24.15

Today tried to organize a flash drive all of all the data / research I have collected this year for whoever takes over the project.

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4.22.15

Today I touched base with Laney and made tentative plans to meet with her next week to discuss the project! I also started reaching out to current Juniors about the writing portion...but no hooks yet.

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4.20.15

I voiced my concerns to Dr. Bill who had some great suggestions! He agreed with continuing the project next year with current HPA students, specifically he mentioned Laney Van Tassell, a current freshman and daughter of Jason Van Tassell. Today I emailed Braithwaite for any suggestions of Juniors who may be interested in writing what I've already collected.

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Week 29

This week I worked on the "future" portion of the paper. I'm still just making outline notes and only have 32 days of school left! This worries me. I've clearly made a research heavy course outline and should have left more time for writing/analysis. I am debating leaving this project as research/notes and letting a future student create a comprehensive history. I'll talk to Bill this week and hear his thoughts on my new approach.

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Jimmy's Interview Overview

  • "I think we are going a little full circle which isn't all bad and is kind of interesting."
  • "The question was always do you ship the cattle to the corn or the corn to the cattle?" (1960s)
  • "It was around 1990 when Parker decided it made more sense to ship the cows to the corn."
  • "With the localvore movement and all this interest in sustainability now and the push in the cattle industry and those who have been promoting grass fed have been successful in advocating, you now have a lot more interest in the option of keeping cattle home."
  • "Because of this, more cattle are being kept home, more are getting onboard of this movement and believe this is the wave of the future, and that they can solve the problems that have classically have frustrated grass fed beef producers (which are consistency issues of quality and quantity)."
  • "If you're ever going to develop a market for something you have to be sure that the product you have is consistent. They want it year round and they want that same eating experience."
  • "(About Paniolo Project) I think it's a commendable idea but I don't personally feel that we have been with it long enough at a high enough volume to really prove to ourselves that it can work."

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Parker Visions

a. Leadership Vision

a. CEO Vision (Dutch)

Challenges:

  • Rise in population + decrease in land= stress on productivity
  • Local= less production
  • Tipping point? Cant feed the masses
  • Resource management does not equate efficiency
Preparations:

  • Grass fed beef is the right choice for the ranch in economic terms: energy/feed/land/water costs
  • Local better utilizes resources
  • Thesis: resource management- next waves- need for new ideas - ability to use capital to work system - integrated system
  • Think on a system basis: food/energy/water
  • Predict: Output decreases--fewer cattle
  • Raise in employment and labor intensive work
Predictions:

  • Parker's social role is different because large land owner in a small community
  • Goal 2015: label + retailer
  • Parker are investors (looking at the long term) vs traders (short term outlook)
  • "Playing poker with mother nature"
  • Progressive approach to cultivating resources
  • Future with Waimea and Kohala
  • Priority: Partnership
  • "I hate pretending we can do everything on our own"

b. Board Vision (Jimmy)

c. Management Vision (Jason)

Challenges:

  • Energy- be as efficient as we can +welfare
  • "How do we market from ox tail to filet mignon, there's a whole animal there that needs to be marketed"

Preparations:

  • "Resilience is a matter of being flexible"
  • "Parker Ranch has a history of 160+ years and I think that's where the resiliency shows. We do what it takes to stay in the business."
  • Diversification is important
  • "I don't think we should go one solid direction either way with all our animals"
  • "We need to look to alternatives to a 100% grassed finished business"
  • For grass fed: Match the animals to the resources: genetically (smaller frame cow more efficient), animal to land ratio and evaluate ratio land/resources/animal twice a year
  • Consistent experience: available/price/taste
Predictions:

  • "We will see peaks and valleys in the market over time because thats the way the beef market works"
  • Demand from the consumer has been strong and (think) will continue
  • Safety in having multiple markets
  • We can expect beef prices to lower
  • Positive community feedback about local beef
  • "We try to be try thoughtful about how we effect other players by what we do in the community"
  • "We want to support the beef industry and the food market here in Hawaii and we feel like there is value in the product that balances out whether we keep them here or ship them to the mainland"


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Week 28

This week I struggled to filter research and data. There is so much out there about ranching, Hawaii, cattle, Parker Ranch, etc. Choosing what to keep/discard is tricky business! I'm beginning to compile data on a flash drive, my computer, and bits and pieces on the weblog. Next week I hope to write a portion of my paper! (fingers crossed).

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4.10.15

d. Climate Change and drought (2000-2015)

i. Production uncertainty

ii. Persistent changes in rainfall [charts]

(Parker Ranch)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/04/hawaii-beef-industry-drought_n_1938199.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003

"Hawaii's Beef Industry Crushed By Drought Just As Locally Grown Meat Finally Catches On" McAvoy, Audrey

"Ranchers have cut back in part because of a multiyear drought covering parts of the islands. This year (2012), the U.S. Department of Agriculture declared drought disasters for all four counties in Hawaii. Kauai became the latest to be declared a drought zone, last week."

Cultural: http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Jul/06/ln/FP707060349.html

Rainfall history: http://physics.hpa.edu/users/datta_ariana/weblog/c4191/91_101314.html

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4.8.15

Filtered through some research… Trying to decide what to take and what to leave. Below is an interesting USDA article.

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Hawaii Farm Facts

Download file "USDA Hawaii Farm Facts.pdf" Attached is the USDA's Hawaii Farm Facts pdf that I am using for reference. Another copy can be found in my elab server college folder.

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