With the imminent closing of the last sugar plantation on Maui, large-scale agriculture in Hawaii may soon become a distant memory — unless we work together to ensure that our aina is used productively.
Since 1980, cropland has fallen by 57 percent, and pastureland has fallen by 31 percent. That represents 540,000 acres of lost crop and pastureland, according to a recent report by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture.
One of the oft-cited reasons for this decline in farming is basic economics — the high cost of production in Hawaii makes it difficult to compete with overseas competitors.
But the major reason for the decline of agriculture in Hawaii is the lack of visionary leadership and the will to help reestablish Hawaii’s standing as a world agricultural leader.
Proposed agricultural projects face a daunting array of challenges from government regulation, bureaucratic red tape and the protests of special interests that steer these projects into the courts, turning the Judiciary into a virtual second Department of Agriculture.
The steep legal fees now associated with launching agricultural projects have created a barrier to entry for many would-be entrepreneurs.
The cost, the time and the legal process are often the final nails in the coffin of projects that otherwise could bring great benefit to our economy and our island landscape.
We’ve seen the same forces at work in other defeated ventures across the state, from the Superferry to the Thirty Meter Telescope and Maui’s last
sugarcane plantation.
Additionally, new proposed regulations and tax hikes threaten the property rights of farmers, potentially pushing them off of lands which, in many cases, have been in their families for generations.
Opponents of agriculture have taken the wheel and driven our state toward a future with thousands of acres of fallow fields.
Increasingly, the only survival option for farmers is to offer their fallow fields to high-end real estate developers able to afford the cost and time of battling state bureaucracy, protesters and the court system.
It is a terrible irony that the Hawaii so many are protesting against is the inevitable product of the policies they promote.
Barriers to agricultural development have resulted in acres of unused land broken up by developments with little affordable housing and offering few jobs and opportunities for the middle and lower class.
An agriculturally bright future for Hawaii first requires a vision of Hawaii as a global leader in technologically infused farming that harnesses land, water and air to produce a diversity of crops that will increase our food independ-
ence and transform us into a major exporter. The emerging field of aquaponics is just one of many available technologies where Hawaii has a competitive advantage in terms of environment, expertise and culture.
In addition, a great agricultural future for Hawaii requires leadership for the private sector and a government that will unite people to work together. This is the spirit of cooperation needed to reform a system of overregulation, bureaucracy and litigation and reinvigorate an industry too often held hostage by a minority of protesters.
Hawaii needs leadership to inspire us all to set aside narrow interests. Instead, we must embrace the spirit of E Hana Kakou (let’s work together) for a better economy, government and society.
