Hawaii-2018-HCR229-Introduced

WHEREAS, "subsistence farming" means a farming operation primarily for direct personal or family consumption, and not for commercial purposes; and

WHEREAS, under section 165-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, a "farming operation" means a commercial agricultural, silvicultural, or aquacultural facility or pursuit conducted, in whole or in part, including the care and production of livestock and livestock products, poultry and poultry products, apiary products, and plant and animal production for nonfood uses; the planting, cultivating, harvesting, and processing of crops; and the farming or ranching of any plant or animal species in a controlled salt, brackish, or freshwater environment; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii once provided all the food for a nation of over one million strong, healthy people using subsistence farming; and

WHEREAS, commercial farming has eroded much of Hawaii's best soil and has led to the destruction of Hawaii's forest cover which protected the State's watersheds; and

WHEREAS, commercial farming has created a growing population of poorly or illegally paid farm workers who cannot afford to live in Hawaii and often live under desperate circumstances; and

WHEREAS, commercial farming establishments in Hawaii have imported farm workers living in shipping containers with their passports taken away; and

WHEREAS, commercial farms have been poorly monitored by the State, so some of the most powerful and poisonous pesticides have been released and have caused great harm, especially to farm workers, and have also contaminated the State's land and water with these pesticides; and

WHEREAS, commercial dairy farms have dumped their fetid waste into the State's streams and ocean; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands strongly supports subsistence farming; and

WHEREAS, many of our kupuna who have worked as small-scale commercial farmers want to live on the farms that they love and practice subsistence farming; and

WHEREAS, several thousands of farms are considered subsistence farms, and move back and forth on a spectrum of farming activities, from total subsistence farming to a mixture of small-scale commercial farming and subsistence farming; and

WHEREAS, subsistence farming is an incubator for small farmers to expand their skills and enter into the commercial farming industry; and

WHEREAS, reconnecting our keiki to the sources of their food through the farm-to-school gardens will promote healthy eating and subsistence farming; and

WHEREAS, promoting subsistence farming will also raise the productivity of land that is not currently used agriculturally, and is essential in helping Hawaii to meet its current stated goal of doubling its local food production by 2020; and

WHEREAS, the agricultural activities on subsistence farms can raise the property values of fallow or blighted land, increasing property tax revenues; and

WHEREAS, subsistence farmers would be paying full water rates instead of discounted agricultural water rates; and

WHEREAS, subsistence farms would not adversely affect Hawaii's laws on important agricultural lands, since subsistence farms can be established on lands not yet designated as important agricultural lands; and

WHEREAS, the counties have the ability and authority to regulate tourism operations and overnight accommodations, and when such tourism operations and overnight accommodations are located on subsistence farms, they could stimulate economic growth and provide additional tax revenues; and

WHEREAS, the counties have the ability and authority to regulate nuisances, and subsistence farming would provide only acceptable practices to their communities if properly regulated; and

WHEREAS, food from the mainland loses its nutritional value the earlier it is picked and the longer it takes to travel to local grocery store shelves; and

WHEREAS, food produced in foreign countries are still commonly grown with pesticides that have been banned for a long time in the United States (U.S.), and the pesticides still remain in our food; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii aims to ban dangerous pesticides that may not be banned in the rest of the U.S. to provide for the safety of our keiki, and subsistence farms in Hawaii would save the State money that would otherwise be spent trying to regulate these pesticides rather than banning them, including for treating related health problems, educational problems, and other costs; and

WHEREAS, subsistence farms promote affordable food for people in Hawaii who struggle financially with the high cost of living; and

WHEREAS, subsistence farms promote Hawaii as a place with quality, affordable, nutritious, and safe food to tourists around the world; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-ninth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2018, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Agriculture is requested to conduct a study to evaluate the amount of agriculture in the State that is solely used for subsistence farming; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Agriculture is requested to submit a report of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2019; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson of the Board of Agriculture.

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

Subsistence Farms; Department of Agriculture; Study

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	229
TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2018
STATE OF HAWAII