Hurricane Iselle forced the closure of Hawaii’s ports, excepting those on Kauai. The U.S. Coast Guard could not immediately predict when they would reopen. Natural and man-made disasters could make this a more alarming reality. We need to stop tip-toeing around the issue of food self-sufficiency.

Oft-quoted statistics of merely seven days of food on our store shelves and that 80-95 percent of our food is imported underscore the tenuous nature of our relatively comfortable existence.

Let’s consider this while thinking about the divisions created in our communities by well-funded D.C.-based lobbyist groups, like The Center for Food Safety, whose goals include imposing a redundant regulatory regime upon local farmers and ranchers.

In touting the "precautionary principle," one CFS spokesman recently decreed it’s OK to ban legal farming practices in the absence of a cause-and-effect relationship, while admitting there is no scientific evidence linking modern farming and the multitude of ailments claimed by activists. Ironically, a Kauai golf course resort is preemptively suing a proposed dairy farm — not for what it’s done but for what it might do. The precautionary principle has run amok.

The regulatory framework that governs agriculture works pretty well. Agricultural use of pesticides and biotechnology are intensely regulated by USDA, FDA, and EPA as well as Hawaii’s Departments of Agriculture and Health. Products must be tested over many years, costing millions in research before they are allowed on the market. Farmers know that nearly every product they use has associated costs — in labor, compliance and actual product cost. Common sense dictates that growers are incentivized to use the least amount necessary.

Contrary to what propagandists would have you believe, advances in crop production techniques give growers the ability to use fewer chemicals, not more.

A 2013-14 statewide Department of Health study shows that urban areas on Oahu, not farms, have the highest number of pesticide detections, and only a historically used termiticide exceeded regulatory standards.

Claimed "cancer clusters" on Kauai were disproved in a 2013 UH report to the Hawaii Department of Health. It found that only melanoma showed a "significant higher incidence"; melanoma is typically caused by UV rays.

Organic farming is a laudable endeavor, one that promotes biodiversity and soil health. It is a fast-growing multibillion-dollar industry, representing around 1 percent of global farmland (about 0.6 percent in Hawaii) and less than 4 percent of U.S. grocery dollars spent.

One recent survey in Hawaii shows that organic food on a calorie-for-calorie basis can cost 40 percent more than conventional crops. Numerous studies show no nutritional advantage to justify organics’ higher price, including one by Stanford University researchers in 2013.

The choice to grow and eat organic food is yours. Similar choices should be afforded to those who produce and consume the other 96 percent. All growers should be free to choose how they safely meet the needs of their customers without intimidation, harassment and threat of terrorism. The market should be the ultimate arbiter of what people want, not politically induced bans.

Legislation passed on Kauai and Hawaii Island has been challenged in court, each destined to be decided by one judge. Activist lawmakers are causing us to unwittingly erode our representative government by punting their duty of responsible decision-making to the judiciary — and it’s costing us. County governments are ill-equipped to regulate local agriculture. It follows that they will soon be raising taxes or cutting essential services to pay for redundant, wasteful programs and legal fees.

This folly diverts attention away from critical problems that must be solved. We have these debates while the homeless are lying on the sidewalk. While they wonder from where their next meal is coming, we quibble about how that food should be produced.

This election season, choose candidates who support farmers and ranchers. Proposals that breed uncertainty and demonize farmers and ranchers kill growth, discourage investment and thwart aspiring producers. This does not bode well for a future that includes food security for Hawaii.

Let farmers farm. Our lives may depend on it.