Farmers need water but many Hawaii farmers could lose their access to water because the Legislature has failed to extend their temporary permits.

Farmers need to convert those permits into long-term leases, but many seem to find it difficult to meet the requirements. Perhaps the solution would be to have the state help farmers collect the required information.

During the heyday of the sugar industry, water from windward areas on Oahu and Maui was diverted by gravity to irrigate dry leeward cane fields. Now those lands are available for diversified agriculture, which could help Hawaii move toward self-sufficiency in food production.

That can’t happen if farmers lose access to water. Ending the diversion of water to appease a few Windward taro farmers as some environmentalists have proposed would be foolish.

Carl H. Zimmerman

Salt Lake

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