STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1332

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 205

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Water and Land, to which was referred H.B. No. 205, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATED TO AGRICULTURE,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to update the State's agricultural planning statute to add the growth and development of traditional Hawaiian farming systems and traditional Hawaiian crops, as well as the growth and development of small-scale farms, as agricultural objectives of the State.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs; Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce; Aha Moku Advisory Committee; Ho‘okipa Network – Kauai; Kalihi Palama Hawaiian Civic Club; College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa; The Trust for Public Land; Hawai‘i Alliance for Community-Based Economic Development; Hawai‘i Green Growth; King Kamehameha Hawaiian Civic Club; Ewa Puuloa Hawaiian Civic Club; Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs; Kua‘aina Ulu ‘Auamo; Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii; and thirteen individuals.

 

     Article XI, section 3, of the Constitution of the State of Hawai‘i requires the Legislature to provide standards and criteria to increase Hawai‘i's agricultural self-sufficiency.

 

     Your Committee finds that prioritizing traditional agricultural techniques such as traditional Hawaiian farming is increasingly viewed as good policy.  The United Nations Commission on Trade and Development urges nation states to support the development of sustainable small-scale farms and traditional farming systems to achieve food security, particularly in light of climate change.  Supporting traditional farming is also consistent with the recommendations of the Taro Security and Purity Task Force's 2010 legislative report E ola hou ke kalo; ho‘i hou ka ‘āina lē‘ia:  The taro lives; abundance returns to the land.  The report emphasizes the need to invest in traditional farming and crops to perpetuate culture and to support disaster preparedness and food security in our islands.

 

     Your Committee further finds that many small farms incorporate native Hawaiian resource methodology which results in an increase in local food production.  Time-tested Native Hawaiian traditional farming methods represent successful agricultural technologies that are ecologically sustainable, culturally significant, and critical to Hawai‘i's long-term food security and self-sufficiency goals.  Adding these methods to the State's planning objectives would contribute to the sustainability of local food production while continuing to perpetuate Native Hawaiian cultural contributions.

 

     Your Committee supports the practice of traditional Hawaiian farming as a means to promote Hawaii's agricultural self-sufficiency.  Your Committee also finds that traditional Hawaiian farming systems still play a critical role in Hawai‘i and should be encouraged in order to promote greater self-sufficiency, crop diversity, and food security.  Moreover, traditional Hawaiian crops like kalo, ‘uala (sweet potato), limu (various seaweeds), ‘awa, hō‘i‘o (large native fern), and ‘olena (turmeric) that were cultivated using these traditional Hawaiian farming techniques continue to be important agricultural products for food, medicine, and cultural practices today.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water and Land that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 205, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water and Land,

 

 

 

________________________________

LAURA H. THIELEN, Chair