Advocates want more support for Hawaii agriculture

Following the Lahaina fire, local food and agriculture advocates once again hope that Hawaii takes steps to improve its food systems.

Vincent Mina, who is a member of the state’s Board of Agriculture but also runs his family farm Kahanu Aina Greens in Wailuku, said he’s lost about half his business since the Maui fires in August, which have driven out visitors — especially from West Maui.

“The hotels and restaurants on that side of the island, businesses that usually order from us, are not ordering because tourists aren’t here,” said Mina.

Surfing Goat Dairy, in Kula, said it has lost about 90% of its business since the fires.

The recent fires, both on Maui and Hawaii island, have also had a direct impact on farms. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said that about 7,000 acres of agricultural land on the islands was burned Aug. 8-13. Assessments of the damage are still taking place, and there have been reports of damage to infrastructure on agricultural operations.

The state Board of Agriculture recently approved an emergency agricultural loan program for farmers and ranchers affected, either directly or through economic hardship, by the fires. As of Friday there haven’t been any applications for those loans, but the DOA suggested that farms are still assessing the damage and may be waiting for federal aid.

Historic Lahaina is not an agricultural hub, but it was once a more lush and productive area, with Hawaiian fishponds and loi kalo, or taro patches, supported by an abundance of water.

The former capital of the Hawaiian kingdom now has fire-prone grasses and experiences drought because of the longtime diversion of its water to former sugar and pineapple plantations on Maui.

An approach more in line with Native Hawaiian practices and resilient forms of agriculture could help stave off such massive fires, Mina said.

“When you’re cultivating an area and it’s getting irrigated, you don’t get that kind of exposure to wildfire,” Mina said. “Then, you know, you start doing conscious things like burying utilities underground so poles aren’t falling to the ground. You start to have it (without fire-prone) grasses, you have cover crops.”

The state hasn’t usually shared that kind of support for local food systems, said Mina, former president and a founding member of Hawaii Farmers Union United.

Even in the immediate aftermath of the Lahaina fire, Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners, including kalo farmers, and their supporters say efforts that restored the public’s access to stream water, which was being diverted to developers, are being blamed for stalling efforts to douse the fire.

Former state Water Commission Deputy Director M. Kaleo Manuel delayed a request to divert restored water to developer West Maui Land Co., which said it needed that water to fight the Lahaina fire. State Department of Land and Natural Resources Chair Dawn Chang reassigned Manuel, sparking outrage from community members as well as a lawsuit.

Recently elected Gov. Josh Green did eventually allow for the suspension of stream-flow rules so water could be used to fight the fire.

Outside of the Lahaina fire, there has been some praise for Green’s administration, which ended the 20-year struggle to move Act 90 pasture lands under the jurisdiction of the DOA and supported farmers by getting $10 million from the state budget this year to fund repairs for the damaged Kohala Ditch.

“I think the will of this administration for the support of agriculture is there, and I think we’ve broken the inertia on that,” state Sen. Herbert “Tim” Richards III (D, North Hilo-Waimea-North Kona) said in a July interview with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

But the state legislative session didn’t result in significant legislation to support local agriculture and food.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic’s arrival to Hawaii in 2020, which led to record unemployment rates, disruptions in the global food supply chain and ultimately drove up local food insecurity, there was an increasing demand for local agriculture and, overall, a more resilient and self-­sufficient food system.

A number of key bills failed to pass through the legislative session.

That includes House Bill 308, which had been almost universally supported in the state House of Representatives, where it was introduced, in the state Senate.

The bill would have created a sustainable food systems working group within the DOA that would have been tasked with creating a plan to tackle some of the most pressing issues in Hawaii related to food, including food insecurity and inequality, Hawaii’s dependence on imported food and public health, with climate change in mind.

One of the most important outcomes of the bill would have been the gathering of the various stakeholders along what’s been described as a disjointed local food supply chain.

HB 308 was a priority bill for food and agriculture advocates, including state Sen. Mike Gabbard (D, Kapolei ­-Makakilo-Kalaeloa), who chairs the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Environment.

“Instead of the various stakeholders sitting in their silos, discussing various solutions about our agriculture and food problems, this was the actual solution. Get everyone together, come up with a plan, come up with the legislation, then pass it and go for it. It seemed like such a no-brainer,” Gabbard said in an August interview with the Star-Advertiser.

A proposed Hawaii Agricultural Investment Program, which Ulupono Initiative leaders said would have been an important source of funding for important agricultural programs that were lost during the pandemic, met its fate at the end of session; as did a suite of tax credit bills, including an income tax for Hawaii farms, farms that retain workers, and interisland shipping costs for farms, food hubs and distributors.

Priority legislation for the Hawaii Cattlemen’s Council would have funded work to, which has destroyed hundreds of thousands of acres of pasture land and hurt operations for local cattle ranchers, but it died as well.

Overall, views on the state’s support for food and agriculture have been mixed.

For the state Legislature, some are disappointed in the lack of urgency by lawmakers, while others have preached patience.

Mina doesn’t have much faith in the slow movement of individual legislation and sees more potential in the government setting up policies to invite private investments in Hawaii food.

But that will require government leadership, he said.

“Where’s the leadership when it comes to agriculture? That’s what I’d like to know,” Mina said. “I am challenging the government to have a visioning session. If you’re truly supportive of agriculture here in the islands, let’s see the action to get people at the table.”