Alert: Regenerative; Indigenous Farming Practices; Local Food Economy
When combined together they have the potential to transform our local food system. Please take a moment to support these bills that have been scheduled for a hearing in the House Committee on Agriculture & Food Systems.
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE & FOOD SYSTEMS
HEARING DATE:
Monday, February 13, 2023, 2:20PM, Conference Room 312 & Videoconference
Testimony for all the following bills is due Sunday, Feb 12th at 2:20pm.
HB311 - Kalo GE Tax Exemption
Amends the definition of "restricted use pesticide" to include Malathion.
Sample Testimony— Feel free to Copy-Paste.
Aloha,
Our kalo farmers face a myriad of challenges from the high cost of land in Hawaii to increasingly unpredictable weather conditions due to climate change. Most local farmers struggle to compete with the cost of imports.
HB311 will help Hawaiʻiʻs kalo farmers by exempting them from general excise tax.
Providing financial incentives for kalo farmers is an important step towards supporting Indigenous food ways, farming, and food security for Hawaiʻi. Supporting kalo farming and farmers will also help keep traditional Native Hawaiian cultural practices alive.
Kalo farmers need and deserve support to ensure kalo farming continues to grow and expand into the future. This measure helps to incentivize farmers to grow taro, one of the healthiest staple starch foods available.
Kalo lands provide ecological and environmental buffers against flooding. Kalo lands are intricately connected to the protection of our riparian areas, coastal wetlands, and fishponds. Kalo lands are celebrated as important and sacred places in Hawaiian traditions and stories and often farmed by families for generations.
Please support HB311.
Thank you for your consideration,
Your Name, Residence/Town
HB275 - Kalo Farming Grants
Appropriates funds to the department of agriculture to provide grants to Hawaiʻi farming groups to be disbursed to taro farmers.
Sample Testimony
Aloha,
HB275 is a critical and necessary step towards supporting native traditional food ways, farming and food security for Hawaiʻi. We need to do everything we can to support expansion of farming and particularly the cultivation of taro (kalo) which is so culturally significant and such an important part of our landscape, history, food security and community.
HB275 will create economic incentives for taro farmers’ and could reduce the cost of poi for local families. In doing so, this measure could help make taro more widely accessible and enable Hawaiian families to reconnect with this culturally important food source– while building up our own food security here in Hawaiʻi.
Please support SB275.
Thank you for your consideration,
Your Name, Residence/Town
HB608 - Organic Food Producers Tax Credit
Establishes an organic foods production tax credit
Sample Testimony:
Sample Testimony:
Aloha,
Providing additional support to Hawaii's organic agriculture industry could help to reduce reliance on agricultural imports and to foster job growth in the State. Organic farming practices improves soil fertility and structure, promotes biodiversity, and reduces the risks of human, animal, and environmental exposure to toxic materials. Reducing the burden on the emerging number of small farmers seeking costly, but necessary, organic certifications and inspections will help to promote the production and availability of locally-grown organic food in Hawaii.
Please support HB608.
Thank you for your consideration,
Your Name, Residence/Town
HB247 - Farm to School/State Measurements
Increases the percentages of local agricultural products that certain departments are required to purchase by certain deadlines. Expands annual reporting requirements to include the total spending by certain market channels. Requires each relevant state department and the University of Hawaiʻi system to include a corrective action plan in its respective report to the legislature, should it not meet its benchmark. Repeals the separate benchmark for the department of education that requires thirty percent of food served in public schools to consist of locally sourced products by 2030.
Sample Testimony:
Aloha,
Local food procurement by state agencies provides economic benefits to local food systems by providing a long-term revenue stream for farmers and other food producers, promoting market diversification, and increasing income and economic growth opportunities for individual farmers.
This bill will help to facilitate the increase of locally grown and locally raised food products from Hawaiʻi farmers, ranchers, and food producers and allow state agencies to regionalize their menus.
Please support HB247.
Thank you for your consideration,
Your Name, Residence/Town
HB1248 - Da Bux SNAP Program
Appropriates funds to DOA for the continued administration of the Hawaiʻi healthy food incentive program and to provide matching funds to beneficiaries who participate in the supplemental nutrition assistance program.
Sample Testimony:
Aloha,
The Da Bux program partners with food retailers to make Hawaiʻi grown fruits and vegetables more affordable for SNAP-EBT cardholders. Through DA BUX, SNAP benefit dollars are doubled when they’re spent on qualifying local food items at more than 70 participating retail locations statewide. Those items tend to be healthier produce and fresh foods and being locally sourced directly supports Hawiʻi’s food economy.
Even before the pandemic DA BUX program was succeeding. Now more than ever, it is changing lives for the better in four very tangible and important ways including:
It’s putting more food on the tables of local families in need.
It’s providing incentives that encourage people to buy locally grown and produced food.
It’s strengthening the local economy by keeping more dollars in the Islands.
It’s improving local health by providing incentives to eat fresher, unprocessed foods.
The DA BUX program works and should be continued and expanded upon where possible. The program is a tangible solution to supporting local food production and helping families have access to quality fresh food.
Please support HB1248.
Thank you for your consideration,
Your Name, Residence/Town
HB308 - Sustainable Food Systems Working Group
Establishes the sustainable food systems working group within the department of agriculture. Requires the working group to submit a plan, any recommendations for implementing the plan, and any proposed legislation to the legislature.
Sample Testimony:
Aloha,
A sustainable food system is one in which producers, retailers, members of the community, non-governmental organizations, and government agencies partner to create a vibrant and resilient local food economy that enhances and sustains the environmental, economic, and social health of the community.
Developing a more sustainable food system for Hawaii represents an opportunity to create a new food economy that integrates the objectives of "green" job creation, sustainable economic development, land stewardship, food security, environmental protection, and climate change resiliency with community health and well-being.
Please support HB308.
Thank you for your consideration,
Your Name, Residence/Town
One of the other good farm to school procurement bills we have been supporting has also been given a second hearing!
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON LABOR & GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS
HEARING DATE: Tuesday, February 14, 2023
TIME: 9:30AM
PLACE: Conference Room 309 & Videoconference
Testimony for this measure is due Monday, Feb 13th at 9:30 AM.
HB250 – Farm to School Procurement
Requires the Department of Education to establish rules for the procurement of goods and services related to the administration of food programs at public schools that incorporate a geographic preference for unprocessed locally grown and locally raised food products. Except for the provision relating to Hawaiʻi products, exempts the department's food program from the Hawaiʻi public procurement code.
Sample Testimony:
Aloha,
Please support this effort to regionalize our farm to school initiative while bringing fresh and healthy locally raised food to our keiki.
Local food procurement provides economic benefits to local food systems by providing a long-term revenue stream for farmers and other food producers, promoting market diversification, and increasing income and economic growth opportunities for individual farmers.
This bill will help to facilitate the increase of locally grown and locally raised food products from Hawaiʻi farmers, ranchers, and food producers and allow school complexes to regionalize their menus.
Please support HB250.
Thank you for your consideration,
Your Name, Residence/Town
