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POSTED: Monday, November 24, 2008

Nick Torres came to Hawaii two years ago without a job, but within a month, he was working at Aloun Farms as supervisor of its plant nursery.

               

     

 

 

Who: Nick Torres Title: Nursery supervisor         Job: Supervises the plant nursery for Aloun Farms

Torres previously had been a farmer in the Philippines, where he also obtained a degree in agriculture from Central Luzon State University. He said he moved here after 22 years of trying to gain residence in the United States because “;it is a privilege to be here and live here,”; and “;America is a very popular and peaceful country.”;

At Aloun Farms, Torres has put his agricultural education to good use, supervising a staff of four who oversee the germination and early growth of numerous farm products for Hawaii's largest diversified farming operation. They also conduct trial studies on the plants, in a constant effort to improve their quality.

Established in the late 1970s by Laotian immigrant Aloun Sou, initially on five acres in Lualualei Valley, Aloun Farms now tills about 3,000 acres of leased land in West Oahu, growing all manner of fruits, vegetables and herbs, including Thai watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumber, string beans, green onion, sweet onion, cabbage, zucchini, squash, daikon, pak choy, apple banana and even Halloween-quality pumpkins.

Including Torres, the company employs about 180 full-time workers, and distributes its produce statewide through most major food wholesalers and retailers.

Torres, 61, moved to Hawaii with his wife, Magdalena. They have two adult sons who live in the Philippines and an adult daughter who lives in Hawaii.

Torres said that starting in January, Magdalena will be doing a little nursery work of her own, helping their daughter take care of their two grandchildren.

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Mark Coleman: What is your work title at Aloun Farms?

Nick Torres: Nursery supervisor—I'm in charge of the plant nursery. We are growing seedlings there. Then after 20 days of seedlings, they will be transplanted to the farm fields.

Q: Is the nursery like a big greenhouse, or is it open-air?

A: It's open-air.

Q: How do you protect the seedlings from the weather?

A: The weather here is not so bad.

Q: What kinds of plants are in the nursery?

A: We have green onion, cabbage, zucchini, bok choy, won bok, bell pepper, and many others.

Q: Do you conduct experiments on the plants?

A: We conduct trials on the adaptability of different varieties of crops.

Q: How many people do you supervise?

A: We are only four in the nursery.

Q: Do you ever go out into the fields to plant or harvest or whatever?

A: I go to the fields just to supervise the plantings of the seedlings and monitor the trials.

Q: What's the worst thing that can happen to plants you're trying to grow?

A: When there is continuous rain. Like (for the last four days), there has been rain, so with that, the germination of the seeds is affected.

Q: What do you guys do if it rains? Do you get the day off?

Q: Yes, if it's raining, it's a day off from the usual work. But then usually we can do other work.

Q: What about bugs, like aphids and ants? Or fungus? Do you do research on how to kill or control them?

A: We are trying out control. We have chemicals that we spray on the soils, to prevent the fungus.

Q: What about ants and aphids?

A: Yeah, we also spray insecticide to control the ants.

Q: Do you have any suggestions for how I could make the ants back off at my house?

A Here on Aloun Farms, we have a different department for the controlling of pests, so I might give wrong information.

Q: Do you have to keep records of your work?

A: Yes, I keep the records.

Q: What kind of records do you have to keep?

A: I'm preparing a schedule for the feeding of all plants grown at Aloun. Then on these schedules, I try to follow it strictly, these schedules.

Part of my work is to compute the number of days of feeding of seedlings in the nursery and these schedules of planting in soil.

Q: What are some of the typical tools of your trade.

A: At the nursery we have seeding machines, that put the seeds into the trays.

Q: How big is Aloun Farms?

A: Aloun Farms is around, more or less, about 3,000 acres.

Q: Is it all in the Ewa area?

A: Part of it is Ewa; one location is in Kunia.

Q: What is growing on the farm right now, during this season?

A: Mostly on the fields, we're starting the planting of seed onions.

Q: When did you join the company?

A: I started Jan. 29, 2007

Q: What was your previous job?

A: This is my first job in Hawaii. I got the job after one month of staying in Hawaii.

Q: What brought you to Hawaii?

A: Because of petitioning by my wife's sister.

Q: How did you learn to be a nursery supervisor?

A: Because of my educational background. I'm a graduate of agriculture in the Philippines.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: It is challenging to work in the nursery because I handle various plants.

I like to handle the plant seedlings, because sometimes there are problems I encounter and I have to think for a solution.