Tag Archives: Monsanto

Big Island, Community, Current Affairs, Food Security, Government, Peak Oil, Science, Sustainability

Big Island’s Bill 113 (Anti-GMO) Passes

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Richard Ha writes:

There are strong signals all around us that the era of cheap oil is over and we will soon face enormous social consequences – but we choose, instead, to focus on banning biotech solutions to our farming challenges. Where is our common sense?

We say that the Monsantos of the world are evil, and then we turn around and beat up our own small farmers.

Where is King Kamehameha when we need him?

I keep saying it because it’s true and it’s important: If the farmer makes money, the farmer will farm. Bill 113 will, without a doubt, make Big Island farmers less competitive. Bill 113 will make the future of farming even more difficult than it is today.

It is going to have a huge, very negative, impact on our island’s agriculture industry.

People are angry at Monsanto and are willing to punish their own, local, small farmers – their family, friends and neighbors. It’s hard to understand.

I am very disappointed that Bill 113 passed. And I am truly concerned about what it says for our society that people have come to distrust and even fear science.

But coming out of the council room after the vote, I felt so much better when two ladies I had never met told me they respected our point of view, and that we all need to work together.

I told them how much I appreciated them reaching out to say that. The most important thing we will need for an uncertain future is our spirit of aloha.

Biofuel, Food Security

Monsanto Not Coming to Big Island

2 Comments

Richard Ha writes:

Monsanto is coming, Monsanto is coming. Hide the women and children!

Not.

Did you see the letter to the editor from the Monsanto spokesman, Alan Takemoto, in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald last month? He testified to the fact that the reason Monsanto is not on the Big Island is that this island does not have the combination of factors they need, like deep soil, plenty of sunshine, irrigation and flat lands. It’s a practical thing. He wrote that they do not own land or even lease land here.

The Aina Koa Pono biofuel project proves this point. The Ka‘u bio fuel project, which plans to grow crops to make biofuel, needs a huge subsidy or it won’t work. They are even trying to hide the fact that we the people will pay $200/barrel for the biofuel.

So why, again, are we banning all future biotech crops? There was a front page article in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald a few days ago saying that Hawai‘i seniors have the best prospects for quality of life and length of life in the entire nation. And the American Medical Association, at its 2012 annual meeting, said there is no substantial difference between crops that are conventionally bred and those developed from biotechnology. I trust the doctors.

The real problem is this: In a world of finite resources, how are we going to provide our people with affordable food? For this, we need, simply, farmers farming. All kinds of farmers need to contribute. And farmers need to make money so they will keep farming.

Let’s regroup, form a task force of knowledgeable stakeholders, and work toward this goal.

We need to work together in the spirit of aloha.

Community, Family of Farms, Government

We Need Cool Heads

Richard Ha writes:

Kaua‘i is having discussions about large corporate seed companies, GMOs, fear about the safety of our food supply, etc. It’s very similar to the discussions we are having on the Big Island.

Jerry Ornellas wrote a good article for the Kaua‘i newspaper about treating each other with respect—after all, we live on an island!

Jerry is president of the Kaua‘i County Farm Bureau and a good
friend of mine. I’ve known him, as a fellow banana farmer, for more than 30 years.

I listened to the anti-GMO testimony at the Hawai‘i County Council a few days ago. It is very apparent that most of the animosity was directed at the large seed companies, particularly Monsanto. In the heated discussion, small farmers and their families, including their small children, were getting caught in the crossfire.

We all need to take a deep breath and think about what we are trying to accomplish. I think that the goal should be to move the Big Island toward food self-sufficiency.  For this, we need all our farmers. We must try to help all farmers make money. We must not cannibalize from one group to benefit another group.

One huge piece missing from this discussion is the part that finite resources play in this discussion. We do have indigenous resources that could give Hawai‘i a competitive advantage to the rest of the world. We have curtailed throwaway electricity, which could help us all. But we need to have a strategic vision of where we want to go.

Right now, the Council is stumbling from amendment to amendment. It is responding to fear. There is no strategic direction to what we are trying to do.

Our political leaders need to be responsible and lead!