Category Archives: Food Security

Family of Farms, Food Security, Geothermal, Peak Oil, Sustainability

The Renaissance of Agriculture in Hawaii

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I was part of a panel discussion of the Hawaii Venture Capital Association, which presents a monthly professional meeting at the Plaza Club in Pioneer Plaza in Honolulu.

The topic was “The Renaissance of Agriculture in Hawaii.” Panel members were Darren Demaya of Kai Market at the Sheraton Hotel; Claire Sullivan of Whole Foods; Andres Albano of CB Richard Ellis; Kyle Datta of Ulupono Initiative, and myself.

Someone told me they thought the attendance at this event was exceptional. I thought, “Everyone likes to eat.”

Gubernatorial Candidate Neil Abercrombie sat with Kyle Datta and I before the event started. He told us that his style of operating is to ask the folks who know a subject to give their opinions on what should be done and how to do it. He said, I rely on you guys to get it done; you’re the experts.

At the end of this post is the speech I gave, as written. But, as always, I started winging it from the start.

I began by saying that I have the answer to the problem. After I let that sit for a few moments, I told them what it is:

“Food security is about farmers farming, and if farmers make money, farmers will farm.”

That’s all there is to it, I told them; it isn’t rocket science.

I told the group that my Ag and energy blog is called hahaha.hamakuasprings.com, and that it represents three generations of the Ha family. I told them that I just got an email from Gordon Vredenberg, my buddy from 7th grade who lives on the mainland now. He told me, “I ran across your blog, and boy, things have changed. There was a time that if someone repeated your last name twice in a row, there would be a scrap right there.” The audience laughed.

I repeated my phrase, “If the farmer makes money, the farmer will farm,” several times in my talk. I could tell it stuck.

Later, when someone asked what the future of agriculture might look like, I answered, “If the farmer…”

The audience cracked up. They knew the rest of the sentence: “…makes money, the farmer will farm.” It was a fun event.

But on a serious note, it was heartwarming to hear Darren Demaya and Claire Sullivan talk about their commitment to using locally grown produce. This helps “farmers make money.” Kyle Datta gave a high-level vision of how we are going to achieve food security.

Andres Albano presented a perspective that very few of us get to see. I didn’t know they were the ones responsible for marketing the entire C. Brewer land sale, which involved tens of thousands of acres. He described the value of the sugar infrastructure for food production, especially the water system. Of course, he is right.

After the panel discussion, people came over to talk. One person asked what I thought of large-scale, mechanized agriculture. I said that in the “new economy” it will be more important to have resiliency and redundancy, and so I prefer small- and medium-sized farming entities all over the state, instead of one giant industrial farm that might need to source foreign labor. It might cost a little more, but it will be a lot safer for all of us.

Lots of the conversation revolved around “If the farmer makes money, the farmer will farm.” I said that if the discussion strays and becomes a couple of steps removed from that basic thought, no sense waste the time. People really get that.

Here’s the talk I gave:

Renaissance of Agriculture

We farm 600 fee simple acres just outside of Hilo. We have 60 workers, and our primary products used to be bananas and hydroponic vegetables. Now they include sweet potatoes, sweet corn, taro, beans, etc. and will include more things. We have deep soil, three streams and three springs, and we are putting in a hydroelectric generator soon.

We are a family operation of three generations of Has. That is why our blog is called hahaha.hamakuasprings.com. We have been farming for more than 30 years.

Several years ago, we noticed our farm input costs rising, and realized it was due to oil.  We always try to position our company 5 to 10 years in the future, so in 2007 I went to the Peak Oil Conference in Houston to learn about oil. I learned that oil is finite, that the world is using 2 to 3 times more than we were finding and at some point we were going to find that we cannot produce more and then we will start down the backside of the oil supply curve. Sooner or later, we are going to face a new economy of higher oil prices.

Based on the idea that food security involves farmers farming and if the farmers make money the farmers will farm, we set out on a two-part Ag security plan for ourselves.

On a larger scale: We are promoting geothermal, the cheapest form of electricity base power. It would give folks discretionary income, so they could support local retailers and local farmers. That effort is ongoing.

And on our farm: We decided to transform our 600-acre fee simple farm from a one-entity production model to the “Family of Farms” model.

First thing we did back in 2007 was to pass legislation authorizing a special renewable energy farm loan program. It offers 3 percent, long term financing and is what we are using to help to finance our hydro project.

In June 2008, when oil price spiked and gas prices hit their peak, some of my workers asked to borrow money for gas to come to work. That was scary and clearly unsustainable.

We immediately decided to restructure our business to be relevant to the new economy. We knew that if farmers made money, farmers would farm and we wanted to add value for our retail customers. We began to implement our Family of Farms model. We decided to bring in area farmers to help keep the land in production.

To help farmers make money we:

  • Offer low-rent land, cheap water, deep soil, and plastic covered houses to grow crops
  • If farmers made money then we could make money by distributing
  • It would give all of us economic reasons to stay together.
  • Strengthen our brand by showing citizens that we are moving toward food security, giving them reason to support our brand.
  • Add value for our retail customers, who are interested in shortening their supply lines in the new economy.

Results we hope for:

  • Match our labor needs to the community.
  • Farmers from the nearby community. They have their own houses.
  • More productivity from our lands.
  • Profitability is reason for us to stick together.
  • More and varied food calories for the community.

Also, we are working with the USDA on a larger, zero waste program for the Hamakua Coast. We are working on renewable fuel projects that are appropriately scaled:

  • Biodigester for rendering plant down the coast. End products might be fertilizer, compost, etc.
  • Heterotrophic algae oil project that would get its carbon from our and others’ waste Ag products. Residual product to be animal/fish food.

To recap:

Considering the new economy is how we became directly involved in bringing the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) to Hawai‘i. It will help us transition and prepare our people on the Big Island for the new economy.

That is also why we are so involved in sourcing cheap geothermal for electrical base power. We are sitting on the largest battery in the world. The folks on the lowest rung of the economic ladder will get their lights turned off first if we choose expensive electricity. Too often they are Hawaiians. As oil prices rise, we become relatively more competitive to the rest of the world and our standard of living will rise relative to the rest of the world. Doing this will strengthen the aloha spirit.

The Family of Farms model brings us closer to our communities, while giving area farmers the opportunity to make money – because if the farmers make money, the farmers will farm. And for our workers we are actively planting ulu, bamboo, tilapia, etc. Since we have a difficult time raising our workers’ pay, we give them food from what we grow.

In the new economy, we will need stronger communities, we need to make more friends and stay closer to our families.

Not, no can. CAN!

Current Affairs, Food Security, Government

Farmers Not In Favor of Pasha Entering Inter-Island Barge Service

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From the Star-Advertiser article:

Pasha gets PUC approval for interisland shipping
By Star-Advertiser staff

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Sep 21, 2010

The Public Utilities Commission has authorized Pasha [Hawaii Transport Lines LLC] to operate between Honolulu, Kahului, Hilo, Nawiliwili, Barbers Point and Pearl Harbor through Dec. 31, 2013. The commission will then evaluate the effects of the service and make a final decision on the company’s request to operate in the market permanently.

Young Bros. argued that Pasha will only serve the biggest ports and the most lucrative lines such as autos, heavy equipment and construction materials. Young Bros. also said that Pasha will “cherry-pick” the most lucrative routes and could harm local farmers and cattle ranchers who receive discounts subsidized by higher rates on other goods…. Read more

I think that allowing Pasha to operate in the inter-island barge service, without forcing them to provide the same services that Young Brothers provides, will jeopardize Hawai‘i’s food security.

Young Brothers gives locally grown products a 30 percent discount. They are not forced to do it; they worked with farmers to come up with that rate. And Young Brothers services the ports at Moloka‘i, as well as Lana‘i. Pasha will not be servicing those ports, nor moving agricultural products.

Farmers know that food security involves farmers farming. And that if farmers make money, farmers will farm. Young Brothers helps farmers to make money.

It is clear to us that if Young Brothers’ profitability is at stake, they will be forced to rethink the farmers’ discount. That is not good for farmers.

Farmers are not in favor of allowing Pasha to unfairly compete with Young Brothers.

Biofuel, Community, Eating Locally, Food Security, Mauna Kea, Renewable Energy Sources, Schools, Science, Water

It Takes A Community

It’s been a busy few days.

Last Wednesday evening, Don Thomas, a geologist from UH Hilo, accompanied me to a meeting of the Keaukaha Community Association where he described two drilling projects. The first was a 3,000 ft. or so pilot hole sunk by the Hilo breakwater. It was a test to see if the concept of drilling to acquire a profile of the land was feasible. The second was a much deeper hole on the National Guard side of the Hilo airport. This was a part of a National Science Foundation-funded study. It was meant to gather information on the formation of the Big Island by studying the layers of lava as the hole was drilled deeper and deeper.

The background as I understand it: In eartlier days, only the Kohala Mountain range, Hualalai and Mauna Kea protruded above the ocean. Then Mauna Loa erupted and the Hilo side of Mauna Kea was covered by Mauna Loa’s lava.

Core samples showed that there was Mauna Loa lava atop soil from Mauna Kea, much like the kind of material you see on the Hilo/Hamakua coast. Then, as the drill went deeper, they found fresh water at 160 lbs. of pressure in the Mauna Kea lava, way below the surface of the ocean. This is what’s called an artesian well, and is when you get water shooting out under pressure from the surface of the land. That means that this water is under pressure from water that is pushing against it.

As I understand it, drill deep enough and water will just shoot out of the ground. I’ll ask Don what all this means and report back here.

I saw Luana Kawelu at the Keaukaha Community Association meeting Wednesday night. Kumu Lehua calls her one of the “Gang of Three” (with Patrick Kahawaiola‘a) — the folks who together help to make Keaukaha Elementary School the excellent school that it is. She is also the driving force behind the Merrie Monarch Festival. She has never let marketing and dreams of bigger and better things cloud her judgment. She just focuses on the pono thing. I cannot imagine how the Merrie Monarch Festival could be done better. “Pono” is way good enough.

Thursday, I flew to Maui to visit supermarkets as part of my marketing involvement with the new organic farm at Kapalua called WeFarm@Kapalua. This organic farm is on former Maui Pineapple Company lands and consists of approximately 158 acres. David Cole, the former CEO of Maui Land and Pine, started the organic farm awhile ago. When MLP got out of pineapple, the Ulupono Initiative submitted a bid to take over the former organic farm. From the Ulupono Initiative website:

Ulupono Sustainable Agriculture Development LLC, a subsidiary of the Ulupono Initiative, announced today that it would be assuming operations of Kapalua Farms, an organic farming and agriculture research facility located near the entry of the Kapalua Resort in West Maui.  Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc., owners of the 158-acre agricultural parcel, successfully reached an agreement with Ulupono earlier this month, with the transition of the property already underway.
 
“We are pleased to partner with Ulupono Sustainable Agriculture Development as they assume operations of Kapalua Farms,” said Warren H. Haruki, chairman and interim CEO of Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc.  “Our desire was to find an operational partner that would be able to continue organic farming operations and to maintain Kapalua Farms as a community resource, employer, and provider.  Ulupono is an exemplary organization committed to preserving our agricultural land, and we look forward to working together.”

I am especially pleased to be working with the Ulupono Initiative and WeFarm@Kapalua because I watched Jeff Alvord put this initiative together over the last several years. Jeff would call when he was in town and we would talk about the larger picture of a sustainable Hawai‘i. I knew from early on that the Omidyar Group had the best interest of Hawai‘i at heart. I’m very happy to be closely involved with this new organic farming initiative.

Later, when I made my way to the Maui airport, I ran into Stevie Whalen, the President of the Hawai‘i Ag Research Center, which is the modern-day iteration of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association’s research arm.

Founded in 1895, the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association (HSPA), dedicated to improving the sugar industry in
Hawaii, has become an internationally recognized research center. Its name change in 1996 to Hawaii Agriculture Research Center (HARC) reflects its expanding scope to encompass research in forestry, coffee, forage, vegetable crops, tropical fruits, and many other diversified crops in addition to sugarcane. HARC is a private, non-profit 501c5 organization.

HARC specializes in horticultural crop research including agronomy and plant nutrition, plant physiology, breeding, genetic engineering and tissue culture, and control of diseases and pests through integrated pest management. HARC also performs pesticide registration work; training in areas such as pesticide application and environmental compliance; ground water monitoring; and technical
literature searches.

Stevie was on Maui to help provide research info about new biocrop possibilities that could possibly be the base feedstock that would provide the U.S. Navy the kind of second and third generation fuel that it could use to fly its jet planes and run its ships. Liquid transportation fuel is very important for us living in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It will take a huge research effort to develop high-yielding bio feedstock. It will not just happen miraculously, out of the blue. I have the utmost confidence in Stevie and her HARC crew, as well as Andy Hashimoto and the CTAHR crew.

Stevie told me that it’s becoming evident that biofuel production will need to use the added value of co-products to make it an economically viable form of energy. There is no doubt that we want to develop a biofuel that will eventually be cost-competitive with fossil fuels. I am very aware that much more work needs to be done.

Then, on the plane back to Hilo, I ended up sitting next to Arnold Hara, extension entomologist for UH Manoa. He was on Maui as part of a project to intensively inspect imported produce coming from the mainland and foreign countries. He was very concerned about the amount of invasive species insects that are being found on imported organic produce. He called imported organic produce “dirty.” He meant that there are lots of hitchhikers on organic produce. It is very worrisome.

I’ll call him tomorrow and ask what varieties of organic produce we should grow to replace imported organic produce. I’m very happy to be associated with WeFarm@Kapalua, where we can help to protect Hawai‘i from invasive species.

Eating Locally, Food Security

Michelle Galimba On Food Security

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I talk about Food Security as depending on farmers farming. And how many times I have written here: “If the farmer makes money, the farmer going farm.”

In her blog Ehulepo, Michelle Galimba of Kuahiwi Ranch in Ka‘u discusses Food Security in a stark, and different, way:

We are frustrated that we are preyed upon by our own society. That none of our businesses quite “pencil out.” That we bear the burden of a system that has evolved into nonsense, ignorance, and frivolity. These are bitter words and it pains me to say them. But they are true, I think….

Read more of her interesting and thought-provoking blog post Where To Begin? here.

So what happens if the farmers no make money? Or if the next generation does not want to farm?

My son-in-law Kimo, who is the farm manager at Hamakua Springs, called me from Waimea this morning. He said, “Did you know that the large vegetable farm on the way to Waimea is no longer in production? A subdivision is going in.”

I thought, “It’s sad to see. But I am very happy for them and I do not fault the farmer in any way!”

Read Michelle’s post and then let us know what you think.

Food Security, Geothermal, Peak Oil

How Geothermal = Food Security

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Our “food security” is about farmers here in Hawai‘i farming. We know that Hawai‘i imports more than 80 percent of its food, and has only a seven-day supply of food on island at any one time.

Being more food secure means growing much more of our food here. How do we make that happen?

If farmers make money, the farmers will farm.

The cost of electricity cost is directly related to farmers farming or not. Farmers are price takers, not price makers. So as electricity costs go up for consumers, wholesalers and retailers, farmers’ prices necessarily go down and so do their profits.

We all know that world oil supplies will be declining and that petroleum prices are likely to be very high in the next few years, making fossil fuel-produced electricity rise very high in price.

Do you know what the most energy-intensive part is regarding getting our food? Surprisingly, it’s not the “on farm” energy usage. It’s the energy needed for the stop-and-go transportation of getting food to your home,  the cost of refrigeration during that journey and the cost to refrigerate your food once it’s at your home.

So what will help with food security?  Cheap electricity. On the Big Island, that means geothermal electricity.

Produced locally, it is the cheapest form of electricity here. For more than 15 years it has operated without subsidies, and it even earns money for the state of Hawai‘i—currently more than $3 million a year.

Cheap electricity will lower wholesaler and retailer operating costs and therefore leave more discretionary income in the pockets of consumers, and they will be able to buy local produce. It will result in less pressure on farmers to lower their prices beyond what is reasonable, and they will make decent livings and continue to farm. And we will have increased food security out here in the middle of the ocean.

If farmers make money, the farmers will farm!

Eating Locally, Education, Food Security, Government, Schools

Update on Punahou Class’ ‘Project Citizen’

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Do you remember the 8th grade class at Punahou School in Honolulu, which wrote to Richard about its class project?

From the email Richard received back in November:

My name is L.T. [name removed]. I’m a 14 year old. I’m a 8th grade Punahou School student. Wanda Adams from the Honolulu Advertiser, recommended you to me to answer some questions on a project my class is doing. The project is called project citizen, we choose a problem in our community, research the problem, and then as a class act on the problem. The problem my class chose is that many local farms are struggling because Hawaii is too dependent on imports from the mainland and around the world. Wanda Adams told me that you know a lot about this topic. I have some questions for you about this it if you won’t mind answering….

Richard recently emailed again to see how they’re doing. Here’s their exchange.

Hi L.:

How is your class doing with project citizen? I have told a fair number of folks about what your class is doing. Reaction is overwhelmingly favorable. People find it inspiring.

Aloha,
Richard

Dear Richard,  

So far, my class has made a lot of progress. My class has come up with a public policy of trying to urge the State to not have an excise tax for Hawaii’s local farmers. And our civic action (something my class is going to do) is hand out wristbands to people to remind them to buy local and, have them sign a contract to pledge that they will try to buy local as much as possible.

My class has contacted a few of Hawaii’s Senate members and House of representatives members to try to get them to pass SB1179, a bill that is similar to our public policy which we want to have as a bill in the 2010 Legislative Secession. SB1179, (National Farm to School program) is a bill that relates to our class project. If passed the National Farm to School program will be taught in all of Hawaii’s public schools, and will teach students about how important local farming is, it will encourage students to eat a healthy diet, and it will have the public school cafeterias provide as much local foods to the children for meals that are bought from local farmers.

If you would want to know more about this bill, here’s the link. I hope this bill or our proposed public policy bill will get passed through Hawaii’s Legislature this year.

Thanks,
L.

Big Island, Community, Food Security, Sustainability

Michelle Galimba & Kuahiwi Ranch

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Richard told me he is very impressed with what Michelle Galimba and her family are doing in Ka‘u, and so I thought I’d give her a call and learn a little more.

Michelle galimbaMichelle (left) and her family

I learned that Michelle grew up on dairy farms in Ka‘u and then lived in Haleiwa on O‘ahu, where her dad worked for Meadow Gold Dairies. These days, she and her family own and run a cattle ranch in Na‘alehu.“There’s a little bit of irony in the name,” she told me about their Kuahiwi Ranch. “Kuahiwi means ‘mountain,’ but the other meaning is ‘back country,’ like ‘the sticks.’”

To some people, Ka‘u has that sort of back country reputation. Michelle says she thinks people in Ka‘u are starting to rethink values, though, such as of its traditional culture, and that the lifestyle of Ka‘u is becoming more and more relevant.

“If we can find success stories for people in Ka‘u,” she says, “I think that goes a long way in changing other people’s perceptions and also our own, for ourselves.”

She mentions the coffee industry that’s recently sprung up in Ka‘u. “My friend Chris [Manfredi] started talking with the coffee farmers and thought their coffee was really good. He entered it into this international competition and it did really, really well. People were just so thrilled.”

She is one of the organizers of this year’s Ka‘u Coffee Festival, which will be May 1st and 2nd.

“There’s starting to be a stable of agriculture products in Ka‘u that are premium and interesting and something people can be proud of,” she says. “It’s what I’m hoping for with our beef. That we can get other ranchers involved with it and build up this market for it.”

Kuahiwi Ranch started in 1993, about the time the sugar plantations were going out and sugar cane lands were becoming available. It’s operated by Michelle’s parents, her youngest brother and herself, with age-appropriate help from her daughter and her brother’s three children (who range in age from 8 to 13).

They raise cattle for beef on 10,000 acres between Wood Valley and Waiohinu. Their cattle are free range and grass fed, and the cattles’ diet is also supplemented with grain.

“It’s a little different from grass-fed beef,” she explains. “If you just feed the cattle grass, the tenderness varies. Our beef is a little bit more expensive, but it’s more consistently tender.”

From the Kuahiwi Ranch website:

With the growing public interest in eating local and sustainable food systems, Kuahiwi Ranch decided to offer the public the best beef we know how to produce — beef that is tender, mild-flavored, and of consistent quality, but also raised naturally and humanely.

Our cattle always have plenty of room to roam and green grass to eat, but they are also given access to a grain ration for approximately 90 days.  This grain ration consists of three natural ingredients — corn, barley, molasses, that’s it.  It’s kind of like granola.

Since the late ‘70s, most Hawai‘i ranchers ship their cattle to mainland feed lots, which has been the most economically efficient model. In the last three or four years, says Michelle, as corn and transportation prices have risen, things have changed and it’s become more viable to keep cattle here.

There is little infrastructure here, though, to process the beef, and until recently there wasn’t a market locally for grass-fed beef.

She says you cannot get local beef at any supermarket on O‘ahu, and that this is a focus for Kuahiwi Ranch right now. “But everything is set up to come over in a container from the mainland,” she says. “It’s what everybody’s used to working with.”

“It’s an ongoing struggle on all kinds of fronts, and in the industry as a whole, to get it to work,” she says. “On the other hand, there’s a lot of enthusiasm – from chefs and people at the farmers’ markets. That’s kind of what keeps us going.”

Here on the Big Island you can buy their beef at KTA, where it’s sold under the “Kulana Natural” and “Mountain Apple” labels. She also sells their product, under the Kuahiwi Ranch name, at the Na‘alehu Farmers’ Market on Wednesdays and at the Volcano Farmers Market on Sundays.

Somewhere in the midst of all that dairy farm living and cattle raising, Michelle went to UC Berkeley and got a PhD in comparative literature. It’s a little jarring in its dissonance from what she does now – the ranch’s marketing as well as its accounting, though she says her favorite thing is to get on her horse and drive the cattle – until she is asked about her thesis, which was about an 11th century Chinese poet named Su Shi.

“He was this academic superstar,” she says, “and in China if you were really good in literature you rose through politics really quickly. He became the premier, running the whole country, but then he was exiled to, like, Ka‘u.” She laughs.

“He wrote a lot of poems about having to grow his own food and how rewarding that was,” she says.

I get the impression that Michele and Su Shi would have gotten along.

Community, Food Security, Geothermal, Peak Oil, Renewable Energy Sources, Schools, Sustainability

Surviving Without Sacrificing Values

A couple years ago I gave a speech to the graduating class of the Hawai‘i Community College. I talked about survival. I told them stories that my Pop told me when I was a small kid. And how they could make short-term decisions without sacrificing their long-term core values. It was very well received and it was good fun.

That was in May, 2007. That October, I went to the Association for the Study of Peak Oil (ASPO) conference in Houston. There I learned that world oil supplies are depleting faster than new discoveries are coming online. And that there are fewer giant oil fields being discovered, and that the world’s population was increasing at the rate of 70 million new people a year.

This was important information and, although not complete, it was enough to make me start to position our farm for five and 10 years in the future. If we were wrong? No harm, no foul. If we were right, we would be survivors.

After that conference, I could think of three things that would help the Big Island move in that direction, too.

The first was to let people know they were not alone. The E Malama ‘Aina sustainability Festival would help do that.

The second thing was to help get the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) sited on Mauna Kea. This would help to lift up and educate our keiki and future generations. And, it would provide a safe, steady income and stabilize our economy.

The third was to get as much geothermal energy as possible into HELCO as base power. It is the cheapest source of renewable energy and the discretionary income saved would benefit the low income folks, since they were the ones who would get their lights turned off first. It would also benefit the island’s small businesses, because their customers would have money to spend. That is what I mean when I go around saying: “If the most defenseless among us are safe, we are all safe.”

All of these things could be done without sacrificing our core values. We just need to do the right things, local style. We need to take our time and go talk story. If the folks believe that we have their and their keikis’ well-being foremost in our minds, then we can all go do this together.  It’s not rocket science!

By the way, I went to the ASPO conference again last month in Denver – yet again, the only person from Hawai‘i to attend. After that conference, I am more convinced than ever that we are moving in the right direction.

It’s the same as what I told the graduating HCC students – about survival, and about making short-term decisions without sacrificing our long-term, core values.

Eating Locally, Food Security, Schools

Punahou Students Get Involved in Food Security

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Richard just got an email from an 8th grader at Punahou School on O‘ahu. He told me, “Isn’t this wonderful? Intelligent questions. She is asking what their class can do. The kids are trying to save us!”

Her email started like this:

Dear Richard Ha,

My name is L.T. [name removed]. I’m a 14 year old. I’m a 8th grade Punahou School student. Wanda Adams from the Honolulu Advertiser, recommended you to me to answer some questions on a project my class is doing. The project is called project citizen, we choose a problem in our community, research the problem, and then as a class act on the problem. The problem my class chose is that many local farms are struggling because Hawaii is too dependent on imports from the mainland and around the world. Wanda Adams told me that you know a lot about this topic. I have some questions for you about this it if you won’t mind answering….

Richard responded with this:

Aloha L.:

Thanks for your note. As a farmer, I am very encouraged that our young people are aware of the fact that many farmers are struggling, and that you are willing to do something to help. Thank you!

And here is the question and answer part:

Do you have any new information on this problem?

Yes, supermarket produce sales are declining. People have less discretionary income. And they are frequently choosing the cheapest produce they can find. And lots of the time it comes from foreign countries.

How serious is this problem in our community?

Very.

How widespread is the problem in our state or nation?

It is very widespread.

Why is this a problem that should be handled by government?

I don’t know that this is a problem for government to solve.

Should anyone else take responsibilty for solving the problem? Why?

I think it is consumers who can solve the problem. Retailers are very sensitive to their customers wants and needs.

Which of the following do you think is true?

There is no law or policy for dealing with the problem. True
The law for dealing with the problem is not adequate.
The law for dealing with the problem is adequate, but it is not adequate.

What levels of government or government agencies, if any, are responsible for dealing with the problem? What are they doing about the problem?

What are the disagreements about this policy or ways of dealing with it exist in our community?

If consumers would express their support for locally grown food and back it up with action, the retailers would stock more locally grown produce.

Who are the major individuals, groups, or organizations expressing opinions on the problem?

The Hawaii Farm Bureau, Slow Food Hawaii, local chefs, Kanu Hawaii, and there are others. I think that retailers would react positively if they knew that people cared about this subject.

Why are they interested in the problem?

They all realize that food security starts with farmers. And if farmers make money, farmers will farm.

What positions are they taking?

They are all supporting locally grown food. Retailers, however, respond to the wishes of their customers.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of their position?

There are advantages such as keeping money circulating in our economy, protecting ourselves in case of shipping interruptions—it really has to do with survival. We are vulnerable out here in the middle of the ocean. So we should encourage food production from Hawaii. It is wise of us to prepare for the worse and hope for the best.

How can we get information on their positions?

Let me know if you and your friends are interested and I will give you contact information.

How are they trying to influence government to adopt their positions on the problem?

If enough people express their opinions, the politicians and the government will respond.

If my class develops a policy to deal with this problem, how might we influence our government to adopt our policy?

If you can organize a ground swell of support, and are willing to put some time into the effort, you can change Hawaii.

Speaking for farmers: We thank you for asking. We’ve been trying to call attention to this problem. But farmers need to spend their time farming. I think that you might get more results than we can. Beyond this, we are very encouraged that you have this on your radar. And, as representatives of your generation, we are very hopeful for the future of Hawaii.

Mahalo, Richard