Name: Douglas Duarte
Age: 38
Position: President, Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation
First job: Manager, poultry farm
Favorite pastimes: Hunting, landscape design & installation

Uniting farmers on water issues

Big Island coffee farmer Douglas Duarte wants to unify Hawaii's agricultural community and tackle the key issue of water conservation.

"With sufficient water, we can develop large-scale diversified agriculture and increase agricultural self-sufficiency throughout the state," he said.

The 1,800-member Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation will present its ideas to the state Legislature early next year.

Duarte and his wife, Roberta, own a 12-acre coffee farm in Kona. He also is part-owner of Honaunau Coffee Co. and farm manager for Kona Mountain Coffee Inc., one of the largest coffee plantations in Kona.

He also worked for 10 years with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service as soil conservation technician and conservation planner. Duarte is a native of Kauai.

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By Jerry Tune, Star-Bulletin