Bill Text: HI SR87 | 2017 | Regular Session | Introduced


Bill Title: Urging The Governor To Develop A Strategic Plan With Benchmarks To Double Local Food Production By 2020.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-03-24 - The committee on AEN deferred the measure. [SR87 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2017-SR87-Introduced.html

THE SENATE

S.R. NO.

87

TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2017

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

SENATE RESOLUTION

 

 

urging the governor to develop a strategic plan with benchmarks to double local food production by 2020.

 

 


     WHEREAS, Hawaii lacks a strategic plan to facilitate and provide direction for the transition of Hawaii's agriculture industry from one dominated by sugar and pineapple production to one composed of a diversity of crops; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Department of Agriculture's Statewide Agricultural Land Use Baseline 2015 shows a dramatic change in agricultural land use over the last thirty-five years as sugar and pineapple production have downsized; and

 

     WHEREAS, Hawaii's insufficient local food production makes the State reliant on imported foods, placing the State in a vulnerable situation in the event of a natural disaster or catastrophic incident; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Governor has announced the goal of doubling local food production by 2020, but has not developed a strategic plan with benchmarks; and

 

     WHEREAS, according to the 2012 report entitled "Increased Food Security and Food Self-Sufficiency Strategy: A State Strategic/Functional Plan Prepared in Accordance with HRS Chapter 226 Hawaii State Plan and the Hawaii Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy", replacing just ten percent of the food Hawaii currently imports with locally produced food would amount to approximately $313,000,000 remaining in the local economy and generate 2,300 jobs; and

 

     WHEREAS, development of a strategic plan and investment in agriculture will move Hawaii closer to food resiliency and generate economic development in rural areas that have seen job reduction due to the downsizing of sugar and pineapple production; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-ninth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2017, that the Governor is urged to develop a strategic plan that identifies benchmarks to double local food production for import replacement and double exports of food-crops, value-added products, and ornamentals from Hawaii by 2020; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Governor is urged to include the following in the strategic plan:

 

     (1)  Identification of food crops by island that can be grown locally to replace imports and increase exports of food-crops, value-added products, and ornamentals from Hawaii;

 

     (2)  Identification of lands that can be purchased or exchanged by the State to double local food production to replace imports and increase exports of food-crops, value-added products, and ornamentals from Hawaii;

 

     (3)  Guidance for decisions regarding land acquisition, irrigation, and agricultural infrastructure;

 

     (4)  Identification of the implications and effects of the federal Food Safety Modernization Act;

 

     (5)  Identification of additional incentives for farmers;

 

     (6)  Funding to calculate import and export quantities by crop; and

 

     (7)  Requirements for state agencies and concessions on state property to purchase a certain percentage of their food locally; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Governor is requested to submit the strategic plan to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2018; and

 


     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Chairperson of the Board of Agriculture, and Director of the Office of Planning.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Strategic Plan to Double Local Food Production by 2020

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