Big Island grower
gets ‘good boss’
recognition

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By Rod Thompson
rthompson@starbulletin.com

HILO >> Big Island banana grower Richard Ha is a good farmer and a good boss, says The Food Alliance of Portland, Ore.

Last month the alliance honored Ha and his wife June in Portland for "outstanding human resource practices."

Alliance certification director Jonathan Moscatello said Ha provides employees with a profit-sharing plan, a benefit that is "virtually unheard of in agriculture."

Ha also provides full health insurance, grievance procedures, an anti-discrimination policy, and a retirement plan.

Ha replied that his philosophy derives from his service as a first lieutenant in Vietnam.

"There was no help from next door," he said. "If anybody got hurt, there was no option about leaving anybody behind."

The Food Alliance supports farmers who "produce food in environmentally and socially responsible ways."

In 1993, Ha's bananas were given "ECO-OK" approval by the New York-based Rainforest Alliance.

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The Food Alliance