A turtle maintains what could properly be described as an unhurried pace, but it’s raced past Hawaii in its march toward a refocused agricultural policy.

For decades, the movement toward identifying what among its privately owned acreage could be classed as "important agricultural lands" (IAL) barely budged beyond the talking stage. Consider: The mandate to designate IAL was proposed in the Constitutional Convention of 1978, and voters ratified the amendment that same year.

We’re still waiting. But in more recent years, the counterpoint to the plodding progress has been the quickening public debate over the balance between preserving agriculture and accommodating development — especially on Oahu, where agricultural acreage is disappearing and the pressures of urbanization have intensified. In particular, the recent Land Use Commission approvals of the Ho‘opili and Koa Ridge projects have given agriculture its highest profile in years.

Now, it would seem, Hawaii is at a crossroads. If agriculture is to become a truly vibrant industry, the commitment to ag lands must be made, almost immediately.

The state in 2005 passed legislation laying out the criteria for issuing this top rank to ag lands and enacted incentives to help their private owners make the investments necessary to make agricultural production viable. Lawmakers recently have taken more small steps in the right direction — a list of such actions follows — but without the fundamental designation of the most essential agricultural lands, the incremental efforts could be wasted.

That’s why there’s a glimmering of hope in that the city is about to finalize a contract with a consulting firm to draw the maps with the IAL designations for Oahu. Duane Okamoto, the former deputy director of the state Department of Agriculture (DOA) who was named in April to be the city’s agricultural liaison, said the contractor is on track to start work July 1. Details are forthcoming, he said, but completion of the first phase — generating the maps — is expected in 12 months.

Relatively speaking, that’s the easy part. What will follow is a lengthy period of professional and public scrutiny, with the City Council and the LUC standing in line to give their approval.

Meanwhile, it was good to see that some of the lower-hanging fruit, at least, has been picked. Gov. Neil Abercrombie recently signed a pack of bills passed in the final days of the legislative session. Among them:

» Senate Bill 2375, which allows agriculturally related businesses on farm land, including the preparation and sale of its produce and the sale of items promoting the operation.

» SB 2646, exempting certain nonresidential agricultural buildings and commercial farms from county building permit requirements.

» Appropriations for an electronic manifest and a plant quarantine detector-dog program, both aimed at making it easier to find and weed out invasive species that threaten crops; and for a livestock feed feasibility project and feed reimbursement.

» House Bill 2244, authorizing DOA to forge compliance agreements with the federal government and other states regarding inspections for the import and export of plant commodities.

Still, it’s the land that is the most critical, and so far, the City Council has at least sent a message that the mapping task should be expedited. In February the legislative body passed Resolution 12-23, pointing out that "agricultural sustainability is important to the economic future of this county."

It’s rational, even easy, to make the argument that agricultural self-sufficiency lies beyond Hawaii’s capacity. The limitations of land and climate make imports necessary for many of the commodities the state’s people consume.

But if the flourishing of farmers markets in recent years means anything, it’s that there’s an interest in gaining access to more produce with farm-to-table freshness and nutritive value. It tastes better, it’s healthier and it should be on the menu more than it is.

Setting aside the land needed to grow more and import less must be given the counties’ and state’s highest priority in the years ahead.