STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1327

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.R. No. 80

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Higher Education and the Arts, to which was referred S.R. No. 80 entitled:

 

"SENATE RESOLUTION REQUESTING THAT THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA COLLEGE OF TROPICAL AGRICULTURE AND HUMAN RESOURCES CONVENE A WORKING GROUP TO DEVELOP A COORDINATED FRAMEWORK OF SUPPORT FOR PRESCHOOL THROUGH POST-SECONDARY AGRICULTURE EDUCATION,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to request that the University of Hawaii at Manoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources convene a working group to develop a coordinated framework of support for preschool through post-secondary agriculture education.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, University of Hawaii System, Hawaii Farm Bureau, Hawaii Farm to School and School Garden Hui, and one individual.

 

     Your Committee finds that agricultural education is vital in developing future generations to be agriculturally literate and aware of the connection between agriculture and the food consumed island-wide.  Through the development of a comprehensive and coordinated agricultural education framework, the numbers of students focusing their studies on agriculture and younger generations deciding to become farmers will naturally increase.

 

     Your Committee further finds that the United States Agricultural Census from 2012 revealed that the average age of a farmer in Hawaii is sixty-three years old.  The most effective and appropriate method to reverse this trend of an aging agricultural workforce is through a coordinated and thoughtful framework that is centered on agricultural education.  This measure supports this by convening a working group to develop such a framework to support preschool through post-secondary agriculture education in the State.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Higher Education and the Arts that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.R. No. 80 and recommends its adoption.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Higher Education and the Arts,

 

 

 

________________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair