Beating agriculture to death in Hawaii

Upon moving to Hawaii in 1987, I recall asking a seasoned journalist and lifelong resident why a state with abundant land, water and sunshine couldn’t feed itself. “It’s the brass ring that Hawaii just can’t seem to grasp,” he replied.

Three decades later, despite ample lip service paid to the dream of food security by legislators and lobbyists, academics and activists, Hawaii still imports more than 80 percent of its food. And with each passing year, the elusive brass ring moves further out of reach.

It wasn’t always that way. Prior to western contact, Hawaii supported an indigenous population estimated at more than 1 million through the intensive monoculture of taro, banana and sweet potato.  Its self-sufficiency continued through the first half of the 20th century, even though its farm sector was dominated by export crops like sugar cane and pineapple.

But with the advent of refrigerated cargo ships, California’s vast agricultural system, cheap labor in developing nations and a consumer palate desirous of delicacies in any season, Hawaii soon found itself unable to economically compete. It’s cheaper to import almost anything than produce it in the Islands.

Now, however, Hawaii’s agriculture is facing an even greater threat than economics: unrelenting attacks by activists. Ironically, they’re the very same ones most apt to crow “buy local,” even as they systematically undermine farmers in a quest to advance their own political ambitions. They’ve found agriculture to be a far weaker target than their old foes — the military and tourism — so their sociopolitical agendas are increasingly framed by narratives that denounce farming as the toxic, greed-driven practice of callous corporations.

The fight now is over who controls the water.

Most recently, they’ve added “water-sucking vampires,” “thieves” and “pirates” to their list of disparagements as they gun for agricultural water under the guise of sticking it to Alexander & Baldwin, one of the last “Big 5” landowners from Hawaii’s plantation era. This, too, is part of their formula, since it’s awfully easy to incite the public, or at least a loud enough fringe, when there’s a convenient bogeyman to malign.

But as is true in most wars, though the “big guys” are the target, the “little guys” are the inevitable collateral damage. Smallholder ranchers and farmers who are producing the local food that activists say they want to eat end up paying the price. They’re the ones who suffer the sleepless nights, the economic uncertainty that makes it impossible to plan and unwise to invest in their own operations. They’re the ones who are least able to afford lawyers, regulatory compliance, Environmental Impact Statements, lobbyists or even showing up at the state capitol to make their case.

They’re the ones who are increasingly demoralized by the ugly assaults on their character, their motives, their farming practices, their families. They’re the ones who are left to twist in the shifting political winds. As one weary farm leader noted, “Between the activists and the bureaucrats, it’s just too much. Our morale is so low I can’t even rally the troops anymore.”

A storm is brewing over agriculture in Hawaii.

And who can blame them? In recent years, activists have waged bloody battles at both the county and state levels over growing genetically modified crops — Hawaii has a large and lucrative GM and hybrid parent seed industry — disclosing pesticide use, banning certain pesticides, imposing buffer zones around farms, burning sugar cane fields and most recently, accessing water for farming.

Though the activists say they’re trying to protect Hawaii’s environment, they somehow fail to note that their relentless destruction of agriculture comes at its own environmental price: the massive carbon emissions associated with transporting food thousands of miles to the most isolated inhabited landmass on Earth.

Unlike the farmers and ranchers who have devoted their lives to agriculture, these activists have nothing at stake, no dog in the fight. Indeed, they stand only to gain, both through the fundraising that accompanies their practice of conflict activism and their desire to obtain political power.

Like politicians everywhere, many of Hawaii’s lawmakers are cowardly, opportunistic and willing to cave the moment the drummed-up outcry grows loud enough, which is why they rejected a bill that would have kept the water flowing. Some, like state Sen. Kai Kahele, even make silly, gratuitous comments in a bid to curry favor with the activists: “This is a generation that is awakened. It’s a generation that is intelligent and knows its history. It sticks to its core values.”

Actually, the activists span several generations, have no recognizable core values other than a shared opposition to modern agriculture, are shockingly ignorant of Hawaii’s history and largely limit their education to the teachings of their social media echo chamber. And rather than “awakened,” they’re sleepwalking through a dream of romanticism, nostalgia and self-interest. But then, Kahele probably didn’t notice, because, like him, they’re prone to grandstanding, with a distinct disregard for reality and the truth.

They can’t yet control Hawaii’s political machine, so they’re trying instead to control Hawaii’s agriculture — even though they don’t understand how easily the local farmers markets can be flooded, the impossibility of processing livestock with a dearth of slaughterhouses, the unrelenting challenges of pests and plant diseases in the tropics, the need to supply both local and export markets, the role that the big growers play in supporting the smaller ones, the value of preserving Hawaii’s irrigation systems. These are the people who demand local food as they fight ranching and dairy operations, who reject any conventional ag practice as “industrial farming,” who rail against corporations even as they pull out their iPhones to wax poetic about the awesome organic offerings at Costco and Whole Foods.

Which is why they can earnestly claim, “of course we support small farmers,” even as they systematically act to destroy their livelihoods and lives.

Well, actions speak far louder than words. Especially when the words are so often clichés and lies. When the water stops flowing and the farms dry up and the cattle are culled, they’ll be left with the consequences of their actions — gentrification, tourism and expensive imported food.

And they still won’t have a seat at the political power table.

9 thoughts on “Beating agriculture to death in Hawaii”

  1. Grew up on A&B land. Back yard growing, small farms dotting the sugar cane fields will never surface again. I can tell you one thing……8 billion people won’t eat. Karma has it if you go hungry America there is food being wasted. Land to grow food is there but cost over run is law. What I do with my time to eat is my business. Too bad when you stop eating you die…..


  2. Preach Joan! Thank you. I stood at the convention on Saturday listening to Kai talking about standing in the stream on Maui with his wet BVDs …. and my eyes were like plates. Was Hooser holding his hand????
    All of these activists are killing the large and small farmer. None of them have any Agriculture experience except for what they read on Google while on their vacations. Oh wait, one from Kohala spouted off about her soup kitchen experience in NYC! They truly are a circular firing squad (thanks Obama for that quote).


    1. We have been traveling to Hawaii for 9 years and as dairy farmers we have been visiting both dairy farms on the big Island. This Year the Big Island Dairy closed after a huge investment in a beautiful creamery. This was an opportunity to have fresh local dairy products. The other dairy by Hawi looked like it was closed also.
      Good job Joan. I have watched people complaining about agriculture in Hawaii for years. It needs to stop. People need to live and eat. I would rather live next to a farmer any day then a resort. Who produces more garbage?


  3. That about sums it up. Another sad day for farming in Hawaii. What is so difficult to understand about NO WATER —> NO AG? And isn’t amazing how little it takes to drum up blind activism to submit hundreds of meaningless form-letter testimonies and appear en masse to scream, yell, lie, and make clueless demands, yet never do the hard work required to really understand the situation, work together, and figure out a solution to the quagmire. It’s a big game to them.


  4. Absolutely true and well said. Lahainaluna grad ‘72, spouse born on Maui w/ two generations of family in agriculture. Very sad to watch anti Ag activists and grandstanding politicians beat up on local farmers.


  5. November thru April water falls from sky, Beets, Peas, Kale, carrots, basil, flower for noodles can be made by a few options, Hawaii needs a cup of noodles factory with no imported ingredient’s for cases of cheap ebt food lower salt, more nutritious thoughtful, Real Americans say no problems just solutions!!!. Do not do it for the money , do it for we need a purpose, the money should appear .


  6. We ranchers and farmers have been pushed out especially the small ones there leases get taken away because the owner has the plans to cut it up into gentleman farms. All this land will still be zoned agg, but no farming or ranching will be done. Agg land is been bought up and cut up all over the state. That is the hot item ,because there is little or no infrastructure required. You wrote about, what all of us in farming and ranching have to live with daily. The amount of activist are really small but there noise and ability to get media attention to deliver a lot of false and negative information about anything agg makes you think there are millions of them. Most never even planted an onion. This new generation of antis have a complete disconnect with where there food comes from. They think that eggs come from the Easter bunny and not the chickens ass. That the hamburger comes from McDonalds not cows. That chickens are born and arrive in plastic bags at safeway and whole foods. I am not against any kind of farming. But lots of these protesters of spraying and gmo are chanting organic or natural. They have no clue that the organic farmer sprays like the conventional one . The chemical compound that kills the bug is the same. Only difference is one is derived from a plant or tree and therefor is approved for spraying on organic farms. No genetic modification that’s taboo. But through there great grand parents and generations back have selected the strongest, biggest and healthiest chicken,sheep,cow, pig to breed. And they select the best genetics to go forward. Same as they did with plants . They would not keep seed from corn that was stunted or had lots of bugs. Plants that had a lot of bugs that would not live to produce seeds were not propagated. Only the plants that would survive long enough to put forth the best seeds. Yes genetically changed (modified) over time to get better plants and animals that can produce more with more efficiency. Now with social media and the fast ability to send out quick and misleading and lot of times false information just to promote there none agg agenda. These activist want all the streams to flow back to the ocean. As long as when they get home water comes out of there pipe. They are most likely the ones who have green lawns,swimming pools, several cars that get washed all with the same water they want going to the ocean.What about all the people up country who depend on that surface water? “well heck with them I live in Lahaina, Kehei, or Kahului ,we got water. And water to produce food not needed. Hell we just go to costco lots of food there. All of these activist will say they support farming and ranching but protest every fly,smell, spray, and try to get so many restrictive and anti agg laws passed. And when there is a hearing on some stupid new law against agg. The place is full of testifiers 99% are retirees from the mainland or some city with no connection to any agg operation. The farmers and ranchers are working on there place from sun up to sun down and can’t get away in the middle of the day to go and protect there livelihood. And a lot of times don’t even have a clue that some idiot got some council member to introduce a bad bill that hurts agg. They have work to do unlike those sitting in the galley waiting to testify in favor of this stupid law. I have personally experienced a lot of what I have written. I was once moving cattle when I got an urgent call to get in my truck and head to the council chambers to testify against a bill that was going to require my working cattle and sheep dogs to be on a 10′ leash even when on my ranch. When I got there and looked who was there it was those same people with the shorts and slippers looking like they just got off a tour buss. Sad.
    There are less and less people in agg. But the good news is “we have costco”


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