We attended a large, two-part political rally this weekend. The first part was held at ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center in Hilo, and the second at a school cafeteria at Honoka‘a. We were asked to set up a display of our vegetables at both places.

Highlights were:

• Senator Inouye’s powerful support for gubernatorial candidate Neil Abercrombie
• Senator Akaka’s singing of the song “Where I live there are rainbows,” and
• Neil Abercrombie’s emotional speech talking about how our diversity is what unites us, not divides us.

The main people in attendance were Senator Inouye and Senator Akaka, Representative Maizie Hirono, Neil Abercrombie and Lieutenant Governor candidate Brian Schatz. Also present were Senator Russell Kokubun and Representatives Jerry Chang, Faye Hanohano, Clift Tsuji, Cindy Evans and Mark Nakashima.

Mayor Billy Kenoi introduced the speakers at ‘Imiloa, and Senator Dwight Takamine introduced them at Honoka‘a.

Neil Abercrombie has a very quick wit and strikes me as a really good guy. This is Tracy and Kimo with Neil and I.

In the next photo, that’s June and Maizie Hirono. I grumbled at Maizie’s chief of staff, Anne Stewart, about why geothermal was not mentioned in her campaign ad. Anne said it was inadvertent; because the folks who did the ad were separate from the campaign.

This is a picture I’ve wanted to capture for many years. It is of Senator Dan Inouye, President Pro Tem of the United States Senate, and Monty Richards, national officer of the Republican Party. These two men have been partners in the effort to transition Hawai‘i’s agriculture after sugar’s demise in the early 1990s. Monty, a knowledgeable farmer and rancher, worked with Senator Inouye to develop and administer the Regional Economic Transition Assistance Hawaii program (RETAH). They are good friends and often kid each other about belonging to the opposite political party.

They worked together to make the transition happen. And they were successful. Today ag is worth more than it was when the plantations shut down.

Governor candidate Neil Abercrombie and Lt. Governor Candidate Brian Schatz at the Honoka‘a rally. Senator Inouye gave a powerful endorsement of Neil Abercrombie.

Abercrombie gave a rousing and emotional speech about unity, trust and hopefulness. I had never felt so much emotion run through a room after a political speech as I heard then.

It made me feel like we are absolutely going to be successful in getting geothermal on line as the primary base power for the Big Island. At one point, I glanced over at Mayor Kenoi and felt like we were thinking the same thing, at the same time, about geothermal: “Not, no can. CAN!” And it made me feel that it will happen for the right reasons – because it is the right thing to do for the “rubbah slippah folks.”

Hamakua Springs set up a display as part of the festivities at the ‘Imiloa rally, as well as the one at Honoka‘a.

Bob Stanga had a nice assortment of the mushrooms they grow.

Roger Hirako and some of the best of his Kamuela Grown products.

Keeping the kids occupied.

More than a year ago, before Elizabeth Warren was head of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), and before the position as head of the new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection existed, I wrote that she was one of my heroes.

This New York Times opinion piece says: “President Obama should nominate Elizabeth Warren to head the new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, and not only because of her credentials.”

I like her because she is smart and has common sense. The other side, though, is fighting her tooth and nail. Can we rely on their judgment when they bungled things so badly?

Warren is an outspoken critic of America’s credit economy, which she has linked to the continuing rise in bankruptcy among the middle-class. Here is a video of her talk at UC Berkeley.

From my previous post about her:

Her talk covers much more than that, though. [Editor Leslie’s note: I just sat and watched that entire one-hour video, practically without blinking. I didn’t have time to, but it is fascinating and I watched it all the way to the end. I highly recommend it.]

Some of her points: In the 1970s, a married couple with two kids had one parent in the workforce and saved 11 percent of their income. To get into the middle class, their kids needed to get a high school diploma and to be willing to work hard. That 12 years of education that their children needed, to get into the middle class, was free.

Warren says that the most important thing that happened in the first two-thirds of the 20th century was that women entered the work force.

In the 2000’s, a similar married couple with two kids must have two people in the work force – because, she says using numbers adjusted for inflation, median mortgage payments in 2005 are 76 percent higher than they were in 1970. Health insurance – in a healthy family with employee-sponsored health insurance – costs the family 74 percent more. Childcare costs have increased 100 percent, and as compared to the 1970s family a 2000s family has the expense of a second car because of that second person in the workforce, and because of that second income their tax rate is up by 25 percent.

In comparable dollars, the 2005 family is actually spending much less on clothes, food, appliances and cars than the 1970s family did; it’s the non-flexible, big ticket and important expenses that have increased so dramatically and that require that second income.

So a comparable married couple with two kids in 2005 has no savings (compared to the 1970s couple, who saved 11 percent of their earnings), and 15 percent of their income is in credit card debt as they try to keep up.

To launch their kids into the middle class requires 16 years of schooling, and the 2005 family has to pay  for the first two years (preschool) and the last four years (college) themselves.

She also discusses how, compared to the 1970s, hospitals now send people home “quicker and sicker” (their phrase, she says) in order to control costs, and the family is shown how to and expected to care for, say, a post-surgery patient themselves. Which generally requires someone taking time off work.

And there is so much more on that video. It is a real eye-opener.

Governor Linda Lingle came to visit us at the farm a couple of days ago.  The first thing I wanted to be sure of was that Grandma would be there. And I wanted to tell the governor that we could not have done this without June’s help and support.

Kimo and Tracy Pa on the left; June and I on the right. Three generations of us in front of the camera. Our grndson Kapono Pa, the fourth generation, is behind the camera.

In the picture, I think Grandma and the governor have their arms around each other, and June is holding Grandma’s other hand. That made me smile.

First we went to see the tomato packing house workers, and the varieties of tomatoes we grow. I explained that our view of sustainability involves our workers, our community and the environment; and that food security is about farmers farming. “If farmers make money, farmers will farm.”

The Governor loves Hamakua Springs tomatoes

Ted Liu, Director of the Department of Business Economic Development and Tourism, asked me to give the governor an overall view of our farm. I explained that we have approximately 60 workers and that the farm consists of 600 fee simple acres in production. We have an annual rainfall of 140 inches and we have three springs and three streams running through the property. On our farm, we have the equivalent of about one-thirds of the water that flows through the Waiahole ditch to supply the Ewa Plains on O‘ahu. And we are in the process of building a hydro-electric plant, which will provide all the farm’s electricity. It will be able to continuously power fifteen 40-foot Matson reefers.

I explained that we started banana farming by trading banana pulapula for chicken manure and that we have transformed our business many times in our 30 years of business. So transforming ourselves is second nature to us.

When gas prices went up in mid-2008, several of our workers asked to borrow money for gas. That was very worrisome.

So we are transforming ourselves again. Instead of being the only large farmer on 600 acres, we are leasing land to area farmers. In the future, we won’t have many workers that live far away. And we won’t need to worry about workers’ housing.

We are offering area farmers a reasonable rent, and we are intending to provide water and electricity to the farmers at a very reasonable price. We know that if the farmers can make money, the farmers will farm. And if they make money, then we can make money distributing their products and then the retailers will get a steady supply of product to feed Hawai‘i’s people. With cheap electricity from the hydro plant, we can control our, and the farmers’, cooling costs.

We grow tomatoes, bananas, herbs and lettuces. Other farmers grow cucumbers, apple bananas, sweet corn, sweet potatoes and ginger. In addition, we market papaya, lemons, limes, longan, lychee, heart of palms and more.

We went over to look at the tilapia we are experimenting with. We think that in a future of rising oil prices, fish food will not be cheap and transporting frozen fish around the world will be expensive. So we are experimenting with growing fish using free running water, so we won’t need to use electricity for aeration or hormones and antibiotics. We are experimenting with using waste from our farm operations for feed. At some point in the future, this will become economical to do. We have all the natural resources and the vegetable waste to use. We plan to use the fish waste for fertilizer for downstream plants. When the time is right, we can scale up to any size that makes sense.

We went back to the main packing house, where June introduced the governor to some of the farmers, who then had a chance to chat with her. I explained that Kimo Pa is the farm manager, and that he and our daughter Tracy represent the next generation of farmers.

Governor Lingle with Ida Castillo

I told the governor that we are pushing for geothermal by having community meetings and talking to people, as we did early on for the TMT. She agreed that geothermal makes a lot of sense and said she would support us.

She mentioned to Ted Liu that we were “actually doing it.” I took it to mean that she thought we are doing something about Hawai‘i’s food security, rather than just talking about it. It was a nice, pleasant visit that we all enjoyed.

Here are two very significant examples of biological control in action here in Hawai‘i:

Several years ago, the stinging nettle caterpillar was found a couple of miles from where we live in Panaewa.

Its stinging, spiny hairs have a physical effect on human skin similar to that of fiberglass. The spines also release an irritant (a mixture of histamines) produced by a poison gland, which causes the skin to burn and itch. Fruit growers were afraid that, left uncontrolled, this insect could put their workers in danger.

“The detection of nettle caterpillar in Hawai`i quickly set HDOA on a mission to find a natural enemy that would be specific to that particular pest,” said Sandra Lee Kunimoto, Chairperson of the Hawai`i Board of Agriculture.  “Although this pest was not well known in the world, our entomologists were able to find and test a tiny wasp that preys on the stinging caterpillar and nothing else found in Hawai`i.”

Another example was the highly successful biocontrol program for the Erythrina gall wasp, which resulted in the rebounding of the native wiliwili trees.

Both of these accomplishments took a lot of hard work and went largely unnoticed by the general public, but they were very significant and have been very important to Hawai‘i.

Sandy Kunimoto should be proud of the Department of Agriculture’s accomplishments in this area. I am.

A couple weeks ago I went over to the Maui quarantine
inspection facility, which I was told is the best facility in the State for dealing with invasive species.

Kyle Yagi took me around and showed me how the facility works. First, it’s located right next to the commercial air cargo operators. So when air cargo arrives with produce, it travels just a short distance to a place where the air cargo containers are placed in a secure facility.

Giant bug light to attract any flying insects that might have escaped after inspections are completed

If the containers are found to be contaminated, the infested produce goes into an area where the temperature is set below freezing. That ensures that, when the minimum time elapses, all the insects are dead, and then the load is disposed of in the landfill.

It’s being completely frozen until they are sure no insects survive; then they will dispose of it

The Department of Agriculture has told us that it is going to start posting the “frequency of contamination” on its website. Farmers would like to know what imported produce is routinely contaminated, so they can assess whether or not they can produce those products here.

It’s a very impressive facility. It would be good to have one at all the critical points of entry and departure.