Legislative Alert: Support Farmers & Food Security
Four more good food & ag bills have been scheduled for a hearing. Two of these bills support taro farmers by protecting taro lands from development and providing grants. Two other bills support coffee farmers by ensuring fair labeling of Hawaii grown coffee. Please take a moment to submit testimony in support of our local farmers!
All four bills will be heard by the House Committee on Agriculture and Food Systems this Wednesday, March 15th at 9:30 am in Conference Room 325 or via zoom.
Testimony is due Tuesday, March 14th at 9:30am.
SB 1498, SD1 - Protection of Taro Lands
Prohibits the Board of Land and Natural Resources from disturbing or acquiring for development certain wetland taro-growing lands. Establishes a taro lands classification for public lands. Permits structures for loi taro fields in the agricultural district. Establishes growth and perpetuation of traditional Hawaiian crops as a goal of the Hawaii State Planning Act. Authorizes the Land Use Commission to create an inventory of taro lands and consult with former members of the Taro Security and Purity Task Force in the creation of the inventory.
Sample Testimony:
In the state sponsored taro security and purity task force 2009 report entitled "E Ola Hou Ke Kalo; Hoi Hou Ka Aina Leia (The Taro Lives; Abundance Returns to the Land), the task force recommended improved protections for taro growing lands, including loi (wet fields and terraces), mala (dry fields and terraces), kuana or paepae pohaku (stone walls), and auwai (irrigation ditches). The task force found that these key structural elements for viable wetland taro production were being destroyed, severed, and built upon by private and public development because of gaps in land use, historic preservation, and planning laws and policies.
This bill recognizes the cultural and environmental importance of taro lands for perpetuating a traditional and customary native foodway with deep cultural significance, growing our local food security, and managing stream health and riparian ecosystems for future abundance.
SB 1498 will improve protections for wetland taro lands (loi kalo) and ancient wetland agricultural structures on undeveloped state-owned or -acquired lands. Please support SB1498.
Thank you for your consideration,
Your Name, Residence
SB 782, SD2 - Grants for Taro Farmers
Appropriates funds to the Department of Agriculture to provide grants to Hawaii farming groups to be disbursed to taro farmers.
Sample Testimony:
SB782 SD1 is a critical and necessary step towards supporting native traditional food ways, farming and food security for Hawaiʻi. We need to do everything we can to support expansion of farming and particularly the cultivation of taro (kalo) which is so culturally significant and is such an important part of our landscape, history, food security and community.
Taro farmers in Hawaii face a variety of challenges due to environmental factors, such as drought and flooding, and economically due to the high cost of farming in Hawaii, and low prices and competition from imported taro.
This measure is a great way to provide much-needed financial support to our hardworking taro farmers and to help perpetuate a culturally and environmentally important Native Hawaiian practice and foodway.
Please support SB782.
Thank you for your consideration,
Your Name, Residence
SB 745, SD1 - Fair Coffee Labeling (Fines)
Extends the offense of false labeling of Hawaii-grown coffee to include roasted coffee. Imposes $10,000 fine for each separate offense of false labeling of Hawaii-grown roasted coffee.
Sample Testimony:
This bill closes an important loophole where counterfeiters have been escaping oversight. By granting HDOA the ability to verify the authenticity of a roasted coffee’s origin, it opens the door for better enforcement and higher profits to farmers. The less counterfeit coffee in the marketplace, the greater the demand for real Hawaiian coffee.
Please support SB745.
Thank you for your consideration,
Your Name, Residence
SB 746, SD1 - Fair Coffee Labeling
Expands the coffee labeling and advertising requirements to include ready-to-drink coffee beverages and inner packages and inner wrapping labels. Requires disclosure on the label of coffee blends of the respective geographic and regional origins and per cent by weight of the blended coffees. Prohibits use of the term "All Hawaiian" in labeling or advertising for roasted coffee or instant coffee not produced entirely from green coffee bean
Sample Testimony:
We are hopeful that truth-in-labeling reform for coffee labeling will be a first step toward broader protection for the “Hawaiʻi Brand” and for all other Hawaiʻi-grown agricultural products—including macnuts, cacao, tea, avocados, tropical fruit, microalgae, and more.
There is a genuine need for stronger protection of the “Hawaii Brand”
If supply goes down, prices go up. Removing from the supply side what is estimated to be 5 million pounds of fake Kona coffee sold annually in Hawaii (that is, 5 million pounds in packages consisting of 90% foreign coffee with the name “Kona” prominently featured over and over again on the label—most of which is bought by visitors who believe they are buying “Kona Coffee”) will cause both retail demand and farmgate prices for available genuine 100% Kona Coffee to go up—not down.
Please support SB 746
Thank you for your consideration,
Your Name, Residence/Town
