On March 14, a Kona low pushed floodwater through Greenwell Farms in Kealakekua. It cut three trenches across one of the family's three South Kona farm sites. Owner Tom Greenwell told Big Island Now it was the most destructive storm the 176-year-old farm had ever seen. "I think we're going to lose half our crop," he said. He also estimated losing about 24,000 trees in the nursery, which he described as "our future planting." Tours stopped while the flood paths through the visitor areas were cleared.
Starting November 9, Greenwell's Seed to Cup Farm Tour runs twice a day at 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. through November 13 on the official schedule for the 55th Kona Coffee Cultural Festival. The festival runs November 6 through 15. It's billed as a celebration of the harvest, and for many of the farms on the program, that harvest is still being saved this year. Every farm gate on the schedule opens onto a crop that has come through a cherry price below the cost of growing it, a spring flood, and a late-summer hurricane.
A Price Set Below the Cost of Picking
The Kona Coffee Farmers Association ran the numbers in its August 2026 newsletter. Cherry opened this season at $1.90 to $2.25 per pound. KCFA puts break-even at $3.11 per pound for a conventional Kona or Ka'ū farm following reasonable management practices.
| Opening cherry price, August 2026 | Production loss per acre at average yields |
|---|---|
| $2.25 per pound | $2,771 |
| $1.90 per pound | $3,893 |
| Break-even per KCFA | $3.11 per pound |
According to KCFA, picking labor alone takes more than half of gross revenue. Breaking even at $2.25 would take 8,508 pounds of cherry per acre, which the association calls "well above what most operations produce." The newsletter says the gap has lasted at least 15 years. It blames coffee berry borer, coffee leaf rust and fertilizer prices, and says farmers have three ways forward: replant for higher yields, get higher cherry prices, or sell roasted coffee instead of cherry. Those are the August opening prices, and the newsletter does not report what farms were paid later in the season.
That last option is visible all over the festival schedule. A farm that roasts its own coffee and sells it by the cup, at a tasting bar or on a tour keeps more of what the coffee is worth than a farm selling raw cherry to a processor. Tour-and-tasting farms are a big part of the festival week, so this is a direct way to understand them.
KCFA also pointed members to a Hawaii Department of Agriculture labeling change. Under state law, covered blends must contain at least 51% Hawai'i-grown coffee starting July 1, 2027. The association has pushed for higher blend ratios for more than 20 years because it believes they raise the market value of Kona coffee.
Three Storms, Three Different Outcomes
The pricing problem was already in place when the weather arrived. March's Kona low hit South Kona hardest. Greenwell estimated about 20% of the crop was lost at its farm below Konawaena High School. The Hawai'i Agricultural Foundation and Hawai'i Farm Bureau Federation reported early statewide estimates of more than $7 million in agricultural losses.
Hurricane Lala hit in August, and this time the damage moved upslope to Hōlualoa. "In the Hōlualoa area, particularly on the mauka side, some farmers are reporting the loss of 20% or more of their coffee trees, mostly caused by larger downed trees," Abigail Munoz, executive director of the Hawaii Coffee Association, told Hawai'i Public Radio. Bruce Corker, who owns Rancho Aloha on the slopes of Hualālai, told HPR that most Hōlualoa properties have tall trees along their borders and many of them blew over. About a dozen of his coffee trees were uprooted, and he is trying to replant some of them.
Damage varied from farm to farm. Bill Myers, president of Heavenly Hawaiian, told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald that Kona's storm damage was not yet significant enough to change his outlook, and the farm was aiming for a good harvest. The same report found Ka'ū hit far harder. Farmer Alla Kostenko said some lots there lost 50 to 60% of their trees.
Then Hurricane Nolo came close. In KCFA's October newsletter, president Mark Petersen wrote that Kona "was spared the worst of it." He said farms had "traded stormwatching for the busy rhythm of picking season," with crews moving fast through full orchards. Back in August, he had written that the start of harvest "always feels like a report card on how well we cared for our trees since last season."
Farm Tours During Peak Picking
Read with all of that in mind, the festival's farm-tour week looks different. These farms open to visitors during the busiest stretch of picking. That includes Hōlualoa, where Lala hit hardest, and Kealakekua, where the March flood did.
- Kona Historical Society's Kona Coffee Living History Farm Tour, Captain Cook. November 6, 10 and 13, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
- Island Sun Coffee, Farming Kona Coffee with Diversified Crops. November 6 to 14, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
- Hala Tree Coffee Farm Tour. November 6 to 13, weekdays only, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
- Greenwell Farms Seed to Cup Farm Tour, Kealakekua. November 9 to 13, 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.
- UCC Hawaii Kona Coffee Picking & Farm Experience, Holualoa. November 9 to 13, tours at 9:30 and 11:00 a.m.
- Buddha's Cup, Tasting Coffee Like Fine Wine, Holualoa. November 9 to 13, 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
- Doutor Coffee "Mauka Meadows" Self-Guided Farm Tour & Coffee Tasting, Holualoa. November 9 to 13, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., last entry at 2:00 p.m.
Four of the seven are in or near Hōlualoa. The UCC tour lets visitors pick cherry themselves. Buddha's Cup frames its tasting like a wine flight. Island Sun's tour is built around diversified crops, one of the ways a Kona farm can earn more than cherry sales alone bring in.
Ali'i Drive Switches From Ironman to Coffee
Down in town, the festival takes over ground that just finished hosting another event. On October 10, the Ironman World Championship brought both the men's and women's races to Kona on the same day. Vincent Luis of France won the men's race, and Taylor Knibb took the women's title, as Big Island Now reported. Race week put the Ironman Village at Hale Hālāwai on Ali'i Drive. About four weeks later, the same pavilion hosts the festival's opening night.
On November 6, the Made in Hawai'i Artisan Market opens there at 2:00 p.m. At 6:00 p.m., the lantern parade walks from Kailua Pier to Hale Hālāwai with lanterns and cultural costumes, and the Multicultural Showcase follows at 7:00 p.m. KCFA told members in August that it plans to walk in that parade.
| Date | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Nov. 6 | Artisan market, lantern parade, Multicultural Showcase | Kailua Pier to Hale Hālāwai |
| Nov. 7 | UCC Miss Kona Coffee Scholarship Competition, 6:00 p.m. | Outrigger Kona Resort & Spa |
| Nov. 8 | KTA Super Stores Kona Coffee Recipe Contest & Big Island Showcase | Outrigger Kona Resort & Spa |
| Nov. 8 | Pickle & Pour Pickleball Tournament, 9:00 a.m. | Holua Racquet & Paddle |
| Nov. 12 | Kona Coffee Latte Art Throw Down, 6:00 p.m. | Kona Coffee & Tea |
| Nov. 12 | Chamber Music Night, 7:00 p.m. | Mokuaikaua Church |
| Nov. 13 | Kona's Got Talent Showcase | Keauhou Shopping Center |
| Nov. 14 | 100% Pure Kona Coffee Half Marathon, 6:00 a.m. | Coconut Grove Marketplace |
| Nov. 14 | Ho'olaule'a, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. | Makae'o Pavilion |
The Ho'olaule'a at Makae'o Pavilion is the day farmers come into town. It includes coffee sampling with the growers, plus cultural performances, a lei contest, an artisan marketplace, demonstrations and food. Admission takes the $10 festival button, which covers family events all ten days and gets reduced rates on ticketed ones. Children 5 and under get in free.
The Older Kona Behind the Crop
The festival program also makes room for the families who built Kona coffee. On November 10 at Aloha Theatre, "Old Time Kona Stories, Volume 1" adapts essays from a collection the Japanese American National Museum and the Kona Japanese Civic Association presented in 1998. Authors' family members and community performers will read and perform them. The next evening, the Kona Hongwanji Buddhist Temple Social Hall hosts the Nani Keao Mele Mele Concert & Okonomiyaki from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m.
On November 7, the Holualoa Coffee and Art Stroll runs from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in Historic Holualoa Village. The Donkey Mill Art Center holds cultural activities and demonstrations that day, and the Holualoa School Legacy Project meets in the elementary school cafeteria. It's the same mauka village Munoz described in August, three months after Lala.
The week ends with judging. The festival's cupping competition has two divisions, Heritage and Creative, scored double-blind on Specialty Coffee Association standards. Entries are capped at 70 and close October 16. The awards ceremony is November 15 from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. at the Buddha's Cup Sanctuary Event Space, and the winning coffees will be poured for sampling.
If you're planning a dinner out around the festival, the Kona Inn Restaurant at the Kona Village Shopping Center on Ali'i Drive held its grand reopening on June 18 under Island Restaurant Group, with a revamped menu and a refreshed dining space.
The coffee farms of Hōlualoa and the South Kona farms along Māmalahoa Highway sit just upslope from Kailua-Kona. If you're curious about life on a working farm property or a mauka home with a few trees of its own, Frank and Nicolaas at Schenk Properties are happy to talk it through over a cup during festival week. Contact Us.
