CBB in Hawai'i

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04-03-2015 02:04 PM
BrianSpears
New Contributor II

Hello all,

I am a GIS student and coffee writer.

I am working on a new map that the coffee owners and workers can use in the field to get a up to date map of the CBB and see the progression of it in real time

How can i get the farmers and workers to use it and get the department of ag to use this?

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5 Replies
RobertBorchert
Frequent Contributor III

Develop a price point first.  people don't want you selling them something without knowing a price.

What is a coffee writer?

What is CBB?  Don't they make swim bikini's?

If your going to build a map for a specific purpose such as for Coffee Farmers you need to talk to the owners and find out what they want.  Get them invested in the product.

Same holds true for many industries.  Some of my clients I can create the best online product ever.  But they won't use it, they want a paper map book.

And before you talk to them come up with some gee wizz bang things you can show them.

A few years ago I made a geodatabase for Hawaii.  I know you have a LOT of free high quality data available.

Maybe you could gather some elevation data and show them runoff areas.  But then again if they have been farming the same location for a number of years they are going to know these things.

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BrianSpears
New Contributor II

CBB is Coffee Berry Borer and responsible for hurting the coffee of Hawai'i

I have the farms and owners with it now and have been showing them and now i have the university of Hawai'i hilo students that want to help

as for coffee writer, I review coffee for people and interviews with the people who are responsible for your cup of coffee

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DanielAmrine
Occasional Contributor

Have you collected any data so far?

This is for information only:

Coffee borer beetle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

But tracking the spread of infested plants is a GREAT project for GIS....but you have to define the rate of infestation as well as physically count and track the number of insects.

I have wanted to do a similar project on the Varroa Mite:

Varroa destructor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia  it is a serious problem for Honey Bees.

the value of this kind of map is obvious and I would think the coffee industry in Hawaii would see that. The issue is on the implementation and how you track the beetles.

another idea would be "micro" GPS trackers...but I don't think they're small enough and light enough to put on a beetle.

Great Post!

Dan

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BrianSpears
New Contributor II

I am doing it by farm and by year starting in 2010 at the start

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RobertBorchert
Frequent Contributor III

Sounds like a good project.

If you can get older data I would suggest going back as far as possible and try to show the progression through the years of the spread.

A local Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in my area does a similar type of thing showing the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in the state for White Tail Deer.  They have been charting CWD for about 20 years and can show maps over time of the spread.

The DNR also tracks the spread of Eurasian Milfoil arcross the lakes and it is a serious problem.

Data such as this I think would be more valuable to coffee farms that are not infested at this time and to the local governments.  A lot of revenue comes in from the farms so it would be of interest to the deparmtent of Agriculture as well.  Those farms that aready have a problem are going to tell you that you are preaching to the choir.  Those that do not have a problem are going to show more concern if you can show the progression of the CBB towards them.

On a side note. I love Hawaii Coffee.  My son in law was stationed there for 3 years on Ohau and we have been there a few times. ( which is why I made a database of Ohau and a nice selection of maps).  We found there are 2 places to buy coffee.  Where the sellers expect tourists to be and grocery stores where the locals shop.