June and I were invited to the Governor’s office yesterday to witness the signing of Bill 2261, a renewable energy Farm Loan Bill which I helped shepherd through the legislature.

In her remarks, Governor Lingle pointed out that the goal for Hawaii is to be 70% fossil fuel free by 2030. She also mentioned working with contacts in Israel to see if there is a way we can take advantage of Israel’s effort to be 100% converted to electric vehicles in three years. These are two huge initiatives. I am glad we are doing this.

There were several bills being signed, and four of us were invited to speak.  David Murdock, President of Dole Corporation, complained that the bill to streamline the process for his 400 MW project on Lana‘i, although helpful, does not go far enough.

He wants the Governor to declare an emergency. He believes that the airlines are on the verge of bankruptcy, that very few people will be flying in the near future and that Hawai‘i’s future will be bleak if we don’t do something now.

I happen to believe he is right. Office of Hawaiian Affairs administrator Clyde Namau‘u writes in the July edition of the OHA newspaper Ka Wai Ola that we are bracing for a rough ride and that “grants to community organizations could also shrink.” The most defenseless among us will be the first to feel the effects of the wrenching downturn in the economy.

There is a heartbreaking letter to the editor in today’s Hawai‘i Tribune-Herald titled “What Is Happening?” Abigail Fojas writes: “I know a few single moms who were laid off, asking me if I know anyone who will hire them because they can’t make the rent next month, and unemployment won’t keep them in their homes. These women have like three kids and no husband. These are driven people who have worked most of their lives.”

But though I believe  Mr. Murdock is right, I just don’t see that people are ready to act, especially since the TV stations and the news media don’t even think the passage of these bills was newsworthy.

I was so busy thinking about my own speech that I did not hear the other two speakers. At the last minute I was mentally changing my speech around. I wanted to describe how this bill came to be, how Dwight Takamine’s dad Yoshito introduced it at the Farm Bureau convention and to talk a little bit about what Hamakua Springs is going to do. Next thing I knew I was up. This is what I said:

Thanks to the Legislature, Senate Ag Committee Chairperson Jill Tokuda and House Ag Committee Chairperson Clift Tsuji, who introduced the bill into their respective chambers and the Ag Committees of both Houses. Special thanks to Sandy Kunimoto, the Director of the Hawaii State Department of Agriculture, and especially the personnel in the Farm Loan Department, Dean Matsukawa and Mark Yamaki in particular. They were the ones who put the bill together.

This bill went through the entire process without one dissenting vote. I guess everyone likes to eat.

I was the only person from Hawai‘i who attended the Peak Oil conference in Houston this past October. It was clear that world oil supply was not able to keep up with demand. And it was clear that fuel prices were going to be rising with no end in sight.

Rising energy costs affect farmers very quickly. You can call farming the canary in the coal mine. Fertilizer, chemicals, irrigation, packing, cooling and transportation costs are all petroleum related.

Returning home, it was apparent that since we import most of our food, we need to do something to help farmers grow more food. The question was: “How will we feed Hawai‘i’s people?”

The answer is not complicated. “If the farmer makes money, the farmer will farm.”

This renewable energy farm bill is a Farm Loan Program that will allow Hawai‘i’s farmers to make low-cost loans for projects such as hydroelectric, solar, wind and bio fuels. This will help farmers big and small, on all islands, at all elevations, wet side-dry side, conventional/organic, high elevation and low. All farmers will benefit.

As an example of how this bill can benefit farmers, take our case. Hamakua Springs farms 600 acres of diversified crops, including bananas, and hydroponic vegetables such as tomatoes, Japanese cucumbers, green onions, lettuces as well as others. We are planning to do aquaculture soon. There are 80-something workers, together with three generations of us, who operate Hamakua Springs Country Farms.

Hamakua Springs is located in Pepe‘ekeo, 10 miles north of Hilo. As everyone knows, Hilo rains. One hundred forty inches of rain fall in an average year. We have three streams running through the property, as well as a flume that used to feed the sugar mill.

The renewable energy Farm Loan Bill will allow us to finance the borrowing of water from the flume in an 18-inch pipe, which we run downhill to a turbine that spins and makes electricity. We will then return the water that we are borrowing back to the flume.

Our monthly electric bill has gone from $9,000 a short time ago to $15,000 now. And there is no end in sight. But with this alternate energy farm bill, our monthly payments to make the hydroelectric plant will be less than half of the present electric bill.

After we install the hydroelectric project, we will have excess electricity. We are thinking of allowing our workers to plug their hybrid electric cars as an extra benefit for working for the farm. We are also thinking of using the banana waste to feed fish. We plan to take the ammonia from the fish waste, run it through a biofilter and send the usable fertilizer downstream to hydroponic vegetables. Then, we’ll pump the water back to the top with the excess electricity from our hydroelectric plant.

By temperature control we can fool plants into thinking its summer when it is winter. Chilling the plants in the summer will fool the plants into producing in the winter, when supplies are short. Small berries come to mind.

This is just one example. We could have hundreds of farmers taking advantage of this Farm Loan Program and implementing clever ideas we had no idea can be done.

Farmers are very resourceful and innovative people. This bill will help farmers grow more food. As we said before, “If the farmer can make money, the farmers will farm.

Help Hawai‘i’s farmers and feed Hawaii’s people. Buy local. We can do this!

I think it went over well. The governor said she liked that we’re proactive and many others told me that they liked the remarks as well.