HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	70
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2022		H.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

 

REQUESTING THE office of the AUDITOR TO conduct A PERFORMANCE AUDIT OF THE TEN AGRICULTURAL PARKS OPERATED BY THE AGRICULTURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT DIVISION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, agricultural parks are areas set aside specifically for agricultural activities to encourage continuation or initiation of agricultural operations; and

 

WHEREAS, the Governor announced in 2016 that he was committed to doubling Hawai‘i's food production by 2020; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Department of Agriculture, through its Agricultural Resource Management Division, operates ten agricultural parks on the islands of Hawai‘i, O‘ahu, Kaua‘i, and Moloka‘i; and

 

     WHEREAS, the agricultural parks contain a total of two hundred twenty-seven plots that provide access to irrigation and other infrastructure designed to support small family farms; and

 

     WHEREAS, the State's Agricultural Park Program is intended to make land available to small farmers at reasonable cost with long-term leases; and

 

     WHEREAS, a February 2021 article in the Honolulu Civil Beat, entitled "Hawaii Farmers Need Land.  State Efforts to Help Aren't Working", noted that the State's Agricultural Park Program has allowed small, family farms to flourish, but the application process is burdensome and the most effective way to get a plot is to take over an existing lease, which may shut out small farmers with thinner profit margins; and

 

     WHEREAS, the article also noted that some agricultural parks are popular, while others have undesirable plots that sit empty for so many years that the Department of Agriculture stops advertising their availability; and

 

     WHEREAS, these issues, among others, have raised questions among small farmers about whether the Agricultural Park Program is still serving its original purpose and have prompted calls for the Department of Agriculture to make changes; and

 

WHEREAS, the Agribusiness Development Corporation was created in 1994 to develop an aggressive and dynamic program to fill the void created by the closure of sugar and pineapple plantations; and

 

     WHEREAS, a legal action has been filed against the Department of Agriculture regarding its management practices for a certain agricultural park and is currently pending; and

 

     WHEREAS, in January 2021, the Office of the Auditor released Report No. 21-01, entitled "Audit of the Agribusiness Development Corporation", which found that the agency was deficient in several key areas; and

 

     WHEREAS, a broader issue is whether the Department of Agriculture is adequately managing its farm lands to help Hawaii grow more of its own food; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2022, that the Office of the Auditor is requested to conduct a performance audit of the ten agricultural parks operated by the Agricultural Resource Management Division of the Department of Agriculture; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Office of the Auditor is requested to submit a report of its performance audit, including any findings, recommendations, and proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2023; and

 

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

 

 

 

Report Title: 

Audit; Agricultural Parks; Department of Agriculture