BUSINESS BRIEFS
Papaya production at 3.3M pounds
Advertiser Staff
Hawai'i papaya production rose to an estimated 3.3 million pounds in October, up 21 percent from September and 51 percent from October 2006.
Cumulative sales for the first 10 months of 2007 totaled 23.9 million pounds, 10 percent higher than the comparable period in 2006, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service.
Harvested area totaled 1,375 acres, up 4 percent from the same time last year.
Papaya growers received 37 cents a pound for fresh fruit in October, unchanged from September, but down from 38 cents a pound in October 2006.
"October weather was beneficial for papaya orchard growth and development," the NASS said in a news release.
"Young orchards continued to make favorable progress. Mature trees had full fruit columns and harvesting was active."
TARO FOR POI TOTALS 980,000 POUNDS
Hawai'i taro production for poi totaled 980,000 pounds in the third quarter of this year, up 20 percent from the second quarter but down 13 percent from the third quarter of 2006, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service.
Production increased steadily during the three-month period, rising from 320,000 pounds in July to 325,000 pounds in August to 335,000 pounds in September. Taro production through the first nine months of the year has averaged 306,111 pounds per month.
Weather conditions during the July-August period were mostly dry, the NASS said
Taro production in 2006 totaled 4.4 million pounds, below the five-year average of 4.8 million pounds per year, the NASS said.
PHISHERS TARGET KAUA'I CREDIT UNION
Members of the Kauai Community Federal Credit union are being targeted by phishing e-mails that attempt to get people to disclose financial account information.
The credit union is one of several in Hawai'i whose members periodically have been the subject of such scams since August. The latest e-mail supposedly alerts members that their account has temporarily been frozen and asks people to complete an account update so the credit union can unlock the account.
"The information provided will be treated in confidence and stored in our secure database," says the bogus e-mail, which was sent out Sunday morning.
Credit unions, banks and other financial institutions typically warn people that they never ask for account information via e-mails.
MERRIMAN OPENING MAUI EATERY
Three-time James Beard Awards finalist Peter Merriman will open a restaurant at the Kapalua Resort on Maui as he expands from his Big Island base of operations.
Kapalua said the chef will open Merriman's Kapalua, a fine dining restaurant specializing in locally grown, raised and caught foods, in an oceanfront site.
Merriman has been nominated for the Beard awards for Best Chef, Pacific Northwest and Hawai'i, and is considered a founder of the Hawai'i Regional Cuisine movement.
The chef last week said he will be opening a Merriman's on Kaua'i in 2009. The 120-seat restaurant will be at Kukui'ula Village in Koloa.
Merriman has been involved in a number of ventures since opening a namesake restaurant in Waimea on the Big Island in 1988.
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