Tag Archives: Maria Gallo

Sustainability

Western Region Meeting – Part 2 & Lake Tahoe

Richard Ha writes:

Last time I wrote about the first session of the Western Region meeting of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, which I attended at Lake Tahoe as a Council for Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching (CARET) delegate.

The remaining sessions focused on the four major areas that comprise the Western Agenda – fire, water, invasive species, and endangered species.

Maria Gallo, director of UH Manoa’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, is proposing adding the important subjects of nutrition and obesity to the Western Agenda, and I support that idea.

I like that we are taking a systems approach to this. The world has become incredibly interconnected, but too often we look at things in their independent silos. My friend, Charlie Hall, is a systems ecologist. He looks at things from an interconnected, ecological point of view.

The main issue we discussed was whether we would take the time to create one cohesive comprehensive paper that incorporates all four parts of the Western Agenda, or whether we would focus on one important issue and build the comprehensive paper along the way.

We CARET members wanted to get moving right away. We are action-oriented and want to have something we are working on before our winter meeting in Washington, D.C. We decided to get behind “fire” and push it hard as soon as we can.

The plan is very complex and involves multiple stakeholders who have been in the fight for varying lengths of time and to different degrees. We are not interested in who gets credit so much as in moving this project forward. Fire season will start soon and we will see multiple fires throughout the West. We all know this. We need to move, and move now.

Hawai‘i is going to be a major contributor in this work on the Western Agenda, especially in the area of endangered species, invasive species, and water issues. I am happy to be in the middle of it.

While this important work was going on, June and I took some time to see South Lake Tahoe and San Francisco closer up.

Here’s Lake Tahoe from our room, overlooking the Summer Concert series stage area.

View of lake

We went on a paddle wheeler on the lake.

We saw sandy beaches, warm weather, and many homes built right into the landscape. They introduced a proposal that new developments cannot reflect sunlight into the lake.

We also sat at San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf and I had ceviche and raw oysters, while June had a sourdough break bowl with Dungeness crab cocktails. There were seagulls all around. We’re having a fun time.

Education, Government

Mac Nuts in Washington D.C.

Richard Ha writes: 

Before I left for Washington, D.C. last week, I picked up some assorted macadamia nuts to take with me. As I met different people, I passed out the mac nuts. It’s not Washington style to bring gifts like that, but they were very well received.

I was in Washington as a CARET delegate representing Hawai‘i. CARET is the Council for Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching. Maria Gallo, dean of the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa’s College of Tropical Agricultural & Human Resources (CTAHR) asked me to be a delegate, and I spent my time in Washington learning more about CARET and meeting with our Congress people and members of their staff. 

CARET has an interesting history dating back to before the Civil War, when the federal government gave states land to develop educational opportunities for regular people. Before that, there were only private schools. But the new land-grant colleges were a place where the rubbah slippah folk could learn trades. The 1862 Act establishing them was signed by President Abraham Lincoln, and it’s how America became so good at agriculture.

What is a Land-Grant College?

WHAT: A land-grant college or university is an institution that has been designated by its state legislature or Congress to receive the benefits of the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890. The original mission of these institutions, as set forth in the first Morrill Act, was to teach agriculture, military tactics, and the mechanic arts as well as classical studies so members of the working classes could obtain a liberal, practical education.

Over the years, land-grant status has implied several types of federal support. The first Morrill Act provided grants in the form of federal lands to each state for the establishment of a public institution to fulfill the act’s provisions. At different times money was appropriated through legislation such as the second Morrill Act and the Bankhead-Jones Act, although the funding provisions of these acts are no longer in effect.

A key component of the land-grant system is the agricultural experiment station program created by the Hatch Act of 1887. The Hatch Act authorized direct payment of federal grant funds to each state to establish an agricultural experiment station in connection with the land-grant institution there. The amount of this appropriation varies from year to year and is determined for each state through a formula based on the number of small farmers there. A major portion of the federal funds must be matched by the state…. Read the rest

What CARET does now is act as a grass roots organization and advocates for national agricultural policy in the federal budget. There are also smaller sectors within the whole; I will meet as part of the group representing the West this summer, and we will try to fit whatever we are advocating for into the bigger picture. It is very collaborative.

Hanabusa

Maria Gallo, Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa and me

Previous CARET delegates, industry members and our Congressional delegation helped get federal funding to deal with the coffee berry borer that threatens our coffee industry here.

I put out there that what we need help with in Hawai‘i now corresponds exactly with the mission of CARET: we need research, education and outreach–straight information so that people can make good and informed decisions about the challenges we are facing now.

Mazie hirono

Maria Gallo, Congresswoman Mazie Hirono and me

There has been a suggestion by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) which provides federal funding, that we look into setting up “Centers for Excellence” in different sections of the country. We’re thinking that it would be great to have a Center for Excellence in Hawai‘i that focuses on invasive and endangered species.

I enjoyed working with Dean Gallo on this trip. She is open and collaborative and easy to talk with, and her compass points in the same direct as mine: she too is looking down the road to future generations. She is inclusive of everybody and doesn’t pit farmers against other farmers. We are both concerned about how we ensure more food security for everybody here. I am glad to be working with her and as a CARET delegate.

First time I saw snow falling. The view from my hotel balcony

I wore long pants on this trip, and I had a jacket with me but the first time I walked out of the hotel to go walk in the snow, I said, “Holy smokes!” I think it was 14 degrees on my coldest day there, and that cold goes right through your clothes. It was the first time I experienced that.

Dr. Gallo's friend from Alaska asked her if I would like to borrow his coat. It was heavy and warm. I guess he knows how to buy a good coat, living in Alaska.

Before I returned it to him, I filled up the pockets with the same macadamia nuts I was giving to the Congress people and their staffers. There were some chili peppah-flavored mac nuts, and spam flavored and wasabi ones. And I stuffed a bunch of those little blue triangular packages of regular mac nuts in there, too. He said he made out better on the deal than I did.

Aquaponics, Food Security, Government

Anti-GMO Bill 79, Farmers & Science

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Richard Ha writes:

Hawai‘i County Councilmember Margaret Wille is planning to
resubmit an anti-GMO bill – because, she says, her fellow council members generally recognize there is a need to restrict any further introduction of GMOs here on the Big Island.

And yet, after talking to the other council members, farmers don’t think Councilmember Wille is correct about that.

Note, too, that she has not bothered to meet with the farmer
groups affected – those who produce most of the food grown here on the island – and we can only assume she does not want their input.

In an earlier note, Wille indicated that if GMO crops were allowed, that would be the end of organic, natural farming and permaculture farming.

Actually, the reason organic farming does not produce more food is actually because its cost of production is very high. This would not change with Councilmember Wille’s bill.

The result of her bill passing would actually be more expensive food for the Big Island’s people.

One of the basic reasons Bill 79 is not fair to conventional farming is because farmers on other islands would be allowed to use new biotech seeds for nutrition improvement, disease prevention, heat tolerance and other labor and cost saving methods, while Big Island farmers would not be able to do so.

Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus is an example of a very serious tomato
disease. If farmers on other islands are allowed biotech solutions to such diseases, while Big Island farmers are not, that could be the difference between Big Island tomato farmers surviving or not.

It could also be the difference between whether conventional farmers continue farming, or do not. Yet Councilperson Wille has chosen to not even meet with farmers.

In this morning’s Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Maria Gallo
wrote an excellent commentary on genetically modified foods. She is Dean of the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources and Director of Research and the Tropical Extension Service at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa. She writes from a knowledgeable, scientific background.

Not all genetically modified foods the same and a blanket ban on them would be misguided

By Maria Gallo

For years, I taught a course on genetically modified organisms.

First, we covered the biology behind GMOs so that students had the science background. Then we described agricultural systems so that they understood the challenges facing food production.

Next, we reviewed the applications of GMOs so that they knew the products being used along with their benefits and risks. And last, we discussed the controversy surrounding GMOs.

The objective was to develop students’ critical thinking skills so that they could make informed decisions…. Read the rest (subscription required)

Gallo points out that the GM technique itself is not harmful, and that, in fact, new GM traits aim to do things like reduce how much water crops use, through drought tolerance; to reduce saturated fats and allergens in foods, and to increase disease-fighting nutrients in food. She warns that a blanket ban on GMOs in Hawai‘i, when we are already in a position of so little food self-sufficiency, would be short sighted.

In yesterday’s Hawai‘i Tribune-Herald, Michael Shintaku had a letter to the editor along these same lines. He points out that “Supporters of this bill were surprised that so many farmers rose in opposition,” and says, “Please talk to a farmer before supporting these bills.” He makes some excellent points. From his letter:

“Bill 79 and efforts like it are terrible mistakes. It is fear-based legislation that comes from the misunderstanding that biotechnology is too dangerous to use…. Biotechnology is young, and we haven’t even gotten to the good stuff yet.”

“Bill 79 would condemn all biotechnological solutions based on irrational fear….There is no credible argument on this point in the scientific community. This issue is pretty much settled.”

He asks that we “Please allow Big Island farmers, who are among our best friends and neighbors, to use the best technology available.”