 Aloha and welcome to another episode of Hawaii Food and Farmer series. I'm your co-host, Justine Espiritu. This is my co-host, Matthew Johnson. Thank you Think Tech Hawaii for giving us this space to talk to folks that are part of our local food system. We like to bring on farmers that are growing food, distributors that are taking it around the island, and also feature institutions that are taking a special interest in programs that are focused on our local food system. Great thanks Justine and so as always please remember that we're here every Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m. and please join the conversation. You can either tweet in at Think Tech H.I. and you can actually even call in at the number shown below. We actually had our first caller last week and we didn't even know what to do. So very exciting. So please, please jump into the conversation. So with us today we actually a lot of times we talk to like smaller farms but this time we actually have kind of like a larger well-known ranch. So we have Taylor and Isis from Kualoa Ranch. Thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you for having us. And even though Kualoa Ranch I'll let you guys talk a little bit more about it but you know it's been around for a very long time and it's well known in Hawaii and Oahu and actually around the world but really kind of some of the work that you guys are doing is relatively new for the ranch. So that's why we wanted to hear from you guys today. So thank you for joining us. Oh thanks for having us. To get started Taylor why don't you kind of start off just introduce yourself and give us a little background. How did you get to be a Kualoa Ranch? Sure so again Taylor Kellerman is my name and I actually am from the Windward side of Oahu. So being at the ranch is kind of a dream job if you will. I got my start like a lot of people backyard gardening but then ended up going to University of Hawaii at Hilo. Okay. Got my degree in tropical ag and then worked for the pineapple industry for a very long time worked in vegetables as well and then worked over and worked for the seed industry for about eight years and then just over a year ago got the opportunity to come back home and work for the ranch. So it's been really really cool ever since. And then what is your your title what are you doing again at Kualoa? My title is Director of Diversified Agriculture and Land Stewardship. Okay. So that kind of encompasses all of our diversified agriculture our livestock our aquaculture operations as well as our conservation and then just to kind of top it off I cover the landscaping as well. Okay so great yeah awesome and I just tell you I know that you're someone who I've known for a few years now we always would kind of see each other at different events or I was like you know kind of like sort of knew each other but not really. So it's great to kind of get to know you a little bit more and now we've been buying some product from you guys so but yeah what how did you get to Kualoa ranch? So my start was I was always into botany and you know mostly into any botanical you know growing any kind of plants and things like that when I was young and then as I got to university that would seem like the only thing of interest I was was that and I went to a big ag college in in northern California so I pursued mostly ornamental horticulture at that time and so but I was working on the university farm which is about 500 acres of orchard crops mostly like peaches, nectarines, you know ammonds, a lot of nuts, walnuts and then I came out here in 1992 my grandfather lived here and and just really got involved in the ornamental horticulture industry nurseries and and did a lot of managing of landscape nurseries and things like that and then started about 2008 really got involved in in more of the tropical ag program of growing a lot of fruit and and vegetables I always kind of had had a backyard garden like like Taylor's saying you know and did that for myself but wanted to do it on a bigger scale and first kind of wanted to help others learn how to do it and so it was kind of helping other people set up their own backyard gardens and things and then um ended up I had this golden opportunity where cool I was looking for someone to start their diversified ag program and I came over there and was able to to get that job and and I've just been the best job ever since so been there for about four years now and it's just been been great right on that sounds like a perfect job for you yeah I love it yeah so maybe you can kind of talk about you know if you guys are growing food what's kind of your daily kind of activities or is it something that's just how you're using the land or is it kind of developed into programs for the employees or for the guests to kind of be a part of or do you can kind of explain yeah you know the thing about how how we're set up at cool law is it's unique but I think it's going to be a good model for Hawaii's ag future because when you think about it you look at the cost of everything real estate and labor and everything you know it's it's a tough business as it is and then you throw that and it makes it even harder so what a lot of people have done is kind of what we're doing which is turn to what we already have in existence which is the visitor industry so can you somehow you know mold the two together and what I think that we've done a good job with is doing that but still keeping a production minded um drive towards what we do so in in all of our agriculture and basically all of our food production is very important to us to produce a lot and to be able to feed community and to be able to not just kind of show people and say this is what we do but in reality there's not really a lot coming out of it yeah so a lot of my day-to-day is working with uh people like ISIS just to kind of look at how you would just a normal farm how you would in regards to what's the most productive way to do this what's the best way for land utilization what's the best crops to look at test trials even things like that but then kind of pulling back and seeing okay well how can we incorporate this and make this interesting to our visitor industry so that we can help support it economically with that side as well so because that may be how Kualoa is more well known is a lot of the I guess activities happening on the ranch so you guys have the history of being a lot of the set for a lot of Hollywood movies yeah like what Jurassic Park King Kong I think there's been 25 Hollywood movies coming out yeah and they also have some of the other rides so it's neat to see how you're saying that you guys want to actually have the you know sustained agriculture happening but not just as a hey everybody look over here there's you know ISIS the farmer and just kind of doing your farming action but it's actually a real productive farm and it's almost kind of like because I know a lot of other farms are trying to figure out how to incorporate act tourism into their operations it's almost like you guys are kind of going the other direction is that kind of a I mean correct me if I'm wrong but I think a lot of it was you know it's always been a cattle ranch yeah it's been a cattle ranch since 1850 so that's been kind of a mainstay and I know throughout his throughout the ranch history they've tried different ventures so so the diversified ag models not models not totally new however I think our approach to it and you know ISIS is taking a very cool approach where you know you can kind of tell them all the different things that we're doing but all the different types of bags that are really make for a great I would almost say like a backdrop to other things that we're trying to show our visitors you know so some people come on to see movie sets or they'll come on to try and adventure but then they get to go and see some of our other areas and it's a nice way to educate it's a nice way to provide a backdrop but then it's also a great way to produce food and have a viable economic model so and that's always been the biggest thing for when we were doing farmers markets and things when we're out there actually selling our products that we we grow or we produce on the ranch is everyone really it's always shocked like oh we didn't know you did this at that point we thought it was just tours or movies and you know things like that so yeah so it's like it's great to always see that you know new you know attitude that people are realizing that we're actually productive ranch and we're trying to even grow more and more and that's that's really our goal is to try and and utilize a lot of the areas to produce more food for the community so you're looking to keep expanding the amount of amount of land that you're growing yeah yeah we're continually expanding and you guys have like a it's a cool little grown brand is that the brand that you're using so it's kind of a new approach where you know we have our oysters and are in shrimp we do Pacific white shrimp we have isises which is things like vegetables orchard crops potted ornamentals cut flowers things like that then you've got our livestock and while they're all important to our overall business plan they've all kind of come up independently so we tried to look at okay what's a well-rounded way where we can just take everything we do and make it recognizable by one brand so we kind of rolled it out during the farm fair and it seemed to be you know received well but ties this point you know it's every time somebody came up to our booth and said I didn't know you guys did all this yeah okay we reached another person so yeah and seem to hear that all these things kind of happened independently and then now you have got really neat suite of different products that are available because obviously the beef so you guys are you have the the hamburgers that are available at the ranch can you get the beef like can you get it anywhere else outside of the ranch right now so right now we harvest eight animals a month and you know the the burgers at the ranch are all our grass-fed beef you know it's uh and we also do prime cuts you know your normal steaks that are available off out of our visitor center you can order them online we don't deliver but you can you know order them and then you can come pick them up that just kind of ensures your order but recently Paniolo's cafe in Caigula they carry our beef and then most recently Isis has been doing a great job with our our laying hands so we have a culo loco moco at Mogi's bread and breakfast oh wow so it's uh it's one of our grass-fed beef patties with a culo farm fresh egg so and do you guys have your own cafe on site as we do right now the only thing that you know we do a fairly robust number of people through there so keeping up with the quantity of the toughest things so right now the burgers and um are the main things that we sell out of the cafe that could be linked directly back to they do sometimes they'll do specials with our shrimp right you know other other products but but majority it's just the the grass-fed the burgers so we're doing yeah Isis can you talk a little bit about the the the part that you're doing like they come talk to stuff that you're growing yeah how many acres you guys own because you've been there four years no four years so was there this kind of growing happening before you I think you said no there was when I first started there there was it was almost like um an area where it's kind of like a botanical garden where we had maybe about 20 different types of uh fruit tropical fruit trees there um a great variety of things that were more for for show than production and so we've been kind of turning it more to production with those and then um I kind of when I first started I contacted a lot of chefs and just said you know what do you guys need that other farmers aren't growing you know what can we kind of work on and so I was kind of in a position where I could kind of experiment with different types of crops to see what we could grow here what would work and um and then fulfill that that niche that you know wasn't being met at the time and so of course all the chefs gave me long lists of things saying can you grow this you know so um so that's where kind of we were doing a lot with our heirloom vegetables and things like that where um we've had some good success with with those things like heirloom um okra and eggplant and then we've done a variety of different like you know carrots and and radishes and beets and you know just uh beans and so we do we just kind of trying always trying different things we even did artichoke that came out successful too and artichoke and people are telling me you cannot grow artichoke here and it it did well so you know it's like um yeah so it's been it's been really fun doing that and then we've also started doing some of the more traditional um orchard crops like papaya and apple banana and those those types of things um things that we kind of needed for the ranch as well as um you know there is a market still for those things you know that I found and and that's kind of where we we really branched out our on our diversification of the ag and then we also have a three acre shade house that um it used to be um an orchid uh farm that that was kind of sublease to um some farmers at that time and and so they have since retired and so the the the shade house has come back to us and so in there I've been doing some ornamentals like bromeliads and theoreums some orchids um and then we also kind of diverted some of the area to doing some crops inside there that were like we start a lot of our our um we do our prepping areas where we start a lot of our seed there and then take it out and plant down the field as well we started about almost two acres of cacao inside there as well so and it's doing really well so and we we got new areas we're constantly trying to do different things and and one of the areas we have ava we're doing a lot of ava in there too and and uh you know we're trying to really um do a lot more with traditional crops um so we're doing a lot of ulu right now calo um and and a lot of you know banana and just trying to we you know i've been really involved with the breadfruit institute in kawaii and doing uh uh ulu distributions and those um have been really successful where we're giving out ulu trees to the community and things so so it's been really enjoyable awesome it's cool to see or hear about the two different angles you know food production to sell to the community as well as then taking a this kind of mission of specific crops so we're going to take a quick break and then we're going to get right back for a very healthy summer watch viva hawaii we are here live on mondays at 3 p.m and we bring guests like our best health coach Elena Maganto eat well and follow her tips viva la comida saludable hi i'm Ethan Allen host of likeable science here on thinktech hawaii.com i hope you'll join me every friday at 2 p.m to discover what's likeable about science you're watching thinktech hawaii hawaii's leading digital media platform for civic engagement raising public awareness on tech energy diversification and globalism great content for hawaii from thinktech aloha i'm shantel sevill the host of the savichick show you can watch the show every wednesday at 11 a.m honolulu time and enjoy how to be inspired and powered if you're a woman or girl everyone is welcome but it's really dedicated to you and we look forward to seeing you you can also find us on thinktech hawaii.com see you soon aloha aloha welcome back to hawaii food and farmer series i'm here every day every thursday at 4 p.m i'm your co-host justine spiritu and i'm your co-host Matthew Johnson and as always you can join the conversation through twitter at atthinktech.hi and you can also call in on the hotline uh the number show below great uh so today we're talking to taylor and isis from kula ranch i was just saying during the break we didn't actually give you guys an opportunity to give a little bit of the history of kula ranch can you talk a little bit about that sure so kula ranch uh i would say started with garret p jut who is very famous in white history because he was the first one to create a medical journal in the wine language so he became befriended very quickly and was you know a confidant and an advisor to the monarchy at that time and uh you know kula ranch is actually three different valleys uh or so you've got hockey pool kula which are most famous for in kava which is where all the movies tend to be filmed and while kula was the first acquisition the other two valleys came in the next generation of judge and now the whole place is run by or owned by the morgan family john morgan being the uh president and ceo and he you know he is the the neat the neat part about john is that he's created this empire if you will of you know of uh of visitor industry yet totally dedicated agriculture in fact most of the meetings that i have with him are around when are we going to open up new areas when are we going to try these new things so it's uh the opportunities that we get to just try things um i think wouldn't exist otherwise unless you had such a supportive uh management yeah it's amazing you're saying you're able to try out artichoke i'm sure most places would be like we're not trying that because that's not a crop that seems viable for hawaii but and here you go saying you had success with it so that's fantastic it seems like such a great spot for you guys to have that freedom to really go out and and try different things and see what you can do it's fantastic yeah so then you said the department that you guys are working for is relatively new does that kind of represent more of that that push to to move along faster in that direction of producing things it does and it's kind of like a new span on an old uh initiative where eggs always been key ranching wise so the cattle is really it's just evolved from uh really now we're a grass-fed beef operation which you know before more of a cow cow sort of situation like other places uh aquaculture everybody knows our oysters the oysters are grown in the 800 year old fish pond so this is the only place in hawaii that's growing oysters is that correct or no there's others that grow oysters um we are the only place on the walkway that's certified to retail them okay yeah oysters being a raw product it it requires a certain amount of due diligence with department of health everything like that understandably so yeah yeah so and then you look at that and then you look at uh you know when you look at isis and all of in all of his i think the drives that have diverse what i was always there but the level that he's taking it to and all the different crops that we're doing that's that's definitely a new initiative so think of it as kind of like old ideals but with a new driver and new span i need the right the right team in place to be able to do it as well yeah um and we kind of mentioned briefly about ag tourism because a lot of the other farms that we've had before we were on the show and all worked with as well they're trying to figure out how to incorporate ag tourism into their operations um i know like cuckoo farms um kyle was one of the first probably smaller family-sized farm to really kind of figure out all the red tape and kind of get their cafe up and going um is that something are you guys a a resource for small farms and is that some of the conversations you have with some of the other farmers in the community of different things that that they can do yeah i always encourage you know um other small farms to try and incorporate that into their model you know and it's it's something that can really help add to their revenue to become successful here is to to bring people onto the farm and and do some kind of tourism whether it's it's workshops or just having you know schools come like the way how um cuckoo farms really they really hit that market with the schools coming in and it's really it's a great thing for to educate others where the food actually comes from so yeah it's something that you know we you know personally try and and encourage others to to do that that same thing so it's it's it's something you know i feel yeah we actually i look to kyle a lot because the way that they have their operation there with the cafe is just amazing i mean the way they've set it up and then you know we have a lot of scenarios that we're running over in our heads of how can we expand our offerings how can we continue the model that we got going and they're they're a great inspiration and yeah they do a great job so absolutely yeah well it seems like you guys are doing a lot already so what is kind of the longer vision or how do you see it still evolving or or growing just more more land and more finding more markets for your products or still experimenting with adding on new products you know i would say i'm going to give a practical approach and then you can give the approach that you think is realistic because that's where that's where we work well together like how about this and he goes you know i you look at what we do i look at it as like a three siloed approach right we create products for people to consume that's that's a main goal for it you know we want to feed community that's one also we also act as a backdrop for a larger business which we've talked about earlier which is the agrit the agriturism portion but we also do a lot for what we like to call brand recognition so when you look at our oysters when you look at our grass-fed beef when you look at these things that are specific to kooloa you know isis grows a terrific apple banana you know the trick is how do we get people to go oh you know kooloas bananas are unreal just like they do with our oysters and our and our beef and and other things so that what we're trying to figure out is what's you know what's the next thing you know you've got the kakao going which i know have a lot of potential but it's long range right you know so trying to like pick your your next kind of like niche product yeah and the unique thing about kooloa is that we have all these different things you know with the with the livestock with the aquaculture and then the diversified ag that um you know i really see us kind of going more to a direct you know farm to table kind of approach where we can offer majority of what you're eating is is grown right there at the ranch and so kind of going in that direction that that's a real important direction i think that we're we're headed towards as well that's not something that happens already with the events that i mean i know there's like a lot of weddings that take place there is there that catering option well we do have some events like the outstanding in the field has been there um annually for the last three three years they've been doing that and that's been a great event and so we're trying to do what is that outstanding in the field that's a national um event that goes all around the country where it's an outside company it's not part of kooloa and they just come to different farms and they set up and they take a local chef from the area and then that chef will try and take as much um product from the farm itself or from the close within like the hawp and and serve everything from there so um gooch has been the main chef been doing it for us and i think um they did last year over the last year they just did that at small kind farm right um it's similar this is a good different it's a it's a same idea but different yeah yeah i think they did at kahumana maybe um one time because they do it usually here and then they do it on the west side as well when they're in hawaii but if you go to outstanding in the field you can see they're all over the country they travel all over and do this okay yeah and you know we we're lucky where we have beauty and yeah resource so you know his points is right on the money where it's it's if we can look at how we we can invite people in to not only enjoy our products but enjoy them at that location yeah you know and you know everybody talks about how the chefs of the new rock stars i'm a firm believer of that so finding that because you know when you look at the traditional egg model it's it's it's a tough tough run in the way for sure so i think that you know moving forward how do we as a state look towards those different avenues and particularly integrate in that sense so so one thing you you mentioned that maybe doesn't get as much notice is a conservation work that you that you do on the ranch and that's kind of falls under your department as well yeah can you talk a little bit about that like what sure that all entails yeah so the ranch itself is four thousand acres total and when you consider our pasture land where about 1500 acres and when you consider ag developed in other areas you're looking about 150 or so so that's a lot of area that's just left in what we call rain shed so in order to conduct rain shed management which includes things like stream restorations native species out planting your invasive species eradication as well as kind of maintaining important cultural areas we employ four people dedicated just to that we call them our stewardship employees and it's a it's a neat situation and i always throw this out there as a promotion because it's it's pretty amazing when you think about it they're completely paid for by the ranch so that's for employees without any sort of assistance from any sort of government body that is just to maintain the environment from what it is but when you consider that we farm in the uplands midlands and then we do aquaculture on the ocean it's within it's in our best interest yeah to be good stewards and to manage our resources properly so it's a big job you know there's a lot to it a lot of moving parts but it's also one of those things that i mean just to think that you know we get to participate in the management of that whole area is trying to preserve pretty cool that now it's three entire valleys i hope wow yeah that's a massive endeavor yep definitely awesome well we're out of time that grabs that up so thank you so much for coming on and it's great to kind of hear about this fixture that's on the island and learn what you guys are kind of doing in food production and land conservation up there thanks for that so thank you guys so much