Phil and Linda Green of Kaua‘i Organic Farm, East Kaua‘i SWCD Cooperator of the Year 2006, with EKSWCD Chairman Ted Inouye

Each year the Soil and Water Conservation Districts select an exceptional farmer or rancher for their use of responsible conservation and management practices. This year, Phil Green was chosen as the East Kaua‘i Cooperator of the Year. Phil Green operates Kaua‘i Organic Farms, a 45 acre organic ginger farm in the Waiakalua area near Kīlauea. Ginger is his main crop but he also has several acres of orchard where he grows noni and tropical fruit. Since Phil is an organic farmer, he uses no chemical herbicides, pesticides or fertilizers. Instead he relies on cultural practices and other techniques to control weeds and pests and provide nutrients to the soil. Phil uses a crop rotation method to help break pest cycles and assist with his pest management. He plants about eight acres per year, leaving the remaining fields fallow, but covered to prevent erosion. He has been working with the EKSWCD to implement the use of pest resistant cover crops and green manures that will not only help improve soil quality by adding nutrients and organic matter, but also help keep his crops pest free.

Phil practices a number of conservation techniques to preserve soil and water quality on his farm. He uses windbreaks and mulching to help prevent erosion, conserve soil moisture and protect his crops from wind damage. Except for the farm roads, nearly all of Kaua‘i Organic Farms has some type of vegetation on the ground. Phil uses field borders to prevent erosion, trap sediment and prevent runoff by improving infiltration. Sometime in the summer of 2007, he will also be installing vegetative barriers of vetiver grass in erosion-prone areas where concentrated flows discharged from the highway affect his property and potentially his crops. The vegetative barriers will help to alleviate problems associated with this additional flow. The EKSWCD would like to commend Phil on his conservation efforts by presenting him with the East Kaua‘i Cooperator of the Year Award.