Editorial: Programs can help local farms grow

Farming in Hawaii has a long-standing reputation for being an arduous business. In addition to expensive land costs, year-round pests and unpredictable weather, there’s a shortage of people who want to work on farms. In recent years, the average age of a commercial farmer here has been roughly 60 years old.

During the pandemic’s height, the list of challenges grew longer as farmers suffered declines in sales due to tourism’s free fall, restaurant closures and other factors related to COVID-19 concerns. Even so, there’s reason for optimism that the industry can reset with a stronger foundation on which to step up food security in the islands.

Among welcome efforts in the works to help spur on progress: The City Council’s move to reserve $5 million in the next fiscal year, which starts Thursday, for an agricultural grants program for Oahu farmers. It’s slated to pay for equipment, land and water and other expenses using federal pandemic relief funds drawn from the American Rescue Plan Act.

A similarly funded program in Maui County is awarding as much as $25,000 to more than 100 farmers who are ready to expand production. Both programs hold potential to help the counties and state become more food resilient and less dependent on imports. Hawaii brings in as much as 90% of its food — leaving us vulnerable to running out of groceries in about a week should ports close due to disaster.

At the state level, the Legislature has rightly supported House Bill 767, which is poised to become law. It tasks the Department of Education with meeting a goal that sets the bar for the amount of locally sourced food products served up in public schools at 30% or higher by 2030, thereby helping to expand the committed market for Hawaii-grown produce and proteins.

What’s more, in written testimony, the Local Food Coalition, a group of farmers, ranchers and other organizations, pointed out that while six years have passed since the state enacted a law establishing its farm-to-school program, only 3% of food served in public schools is locally sourced.

Our schoolchildren deserve more of what’s likely among the freshest nutrition options — especially kids in households in the “food insecure” bracket, which increased dramatically when the pandemic touched off soaring unemployment rates.

Among farming-focused measures the Legislature should continue pressing is House Bill 817, which sets a minimum percentage of locally sourced ag products that each state department must purchase, starting at 10% in 2025 and climbing to 50% by 2050. This bill is in Gov. David Ige’s intent-to-veto lineup, in part, because it “incurs significant budget costs for some departments,” especially for jail and prison facilities.

Whatever the bill’s immediate fate, it is sensible for departments to set local-produce baselines now, and start working toward incremental benchmarks. Among the factors that can help to ease challenges tied to ramping up food security: Hawaii’s year-round growing season; and an abundance of unused and underutilized ag land, which, with more-supportive policies, could be tapped for food production involving both traditional and emerging technologies.

In next year’s legislative session, lawmakers should set a high priority on setting right the long-troubled Agribusiness Development Corp. (ADC). Bills proposing reforms needed to clean up mismanagement and improve transparency stalled this session. The ADC — a public corporation created by the state in the mid-1990s to help fill the void created by the departure of the sugar and pineapple production — should be playing a far more active role in expanding the reach of farming across the state.

An increasingly resilient and thriving farming industry and related ag goals are attainable in Hawaii — but only with deeply rooted, sustained and visionary support.