Support Local Farmers and Sustainable Agriculture
Join us in supporting HB1568 HD2 SD1 (Local Food Procurement), HB2466 HD2 SD1 (Taro Tax Exemption), SB3004 SD1 HD1 (Composting), and SB3325 SD2 HD1 (Carbon Sequestration Incentives).
HB1568 HD2 SD1 (Local Food Procurement) and HB2466 HD2 SD1 (Taro Tax Exemption) will be heard by the Senate Committee on Ways and Means on Tuesday, April 5th, 2022 at 10:15 AM. Testimonies for these bills are due Monday, April 4th, 2022 at 10:15 AM.
SB3004 SD1 HD1 (Composting) and SB3325 SD2 HD1 (Carbon Sequestration Incentives) will be heard by the House Committee on Finance on Tuesday, April 5th, 2022 at 2:30 PM. Testimonies for these bills are due Monday, April 4th, 2022 at 2:30 PM.
About the Bills
HB1568 HD2 SD1 (Local Food Procurement) - Support
What Does This Bill Do?
This bill changes the law by requiring all state departments to ensure that a certain percentage of food purchased consists of fresh, local agricultural products or local value-added/processed agricultural or food products. This would apply only to the Department of Education (DOE), Department of Health (DOH), PSD (Department of Public Safety), Department of Defense (DOD), and the University of Hawaiʻi (UH) System.
Why Is This Important?
Please feel free to use the following as talking points for your testimony. You can also write something powerful from your experience on why this issue matters to you.
Sourcing our food locally is key to increasing our local food production and supporting current and future farmers. This can also help develop a society that values and understands the vital role of agriculture, food security, quality food, and natural resources systems in advancing personal, local, and global well-being.
The more we develop a framework to help support sourcing local foods, the more we support our local farmers and help our local economy.
When sourcing more local food, we also reduce carbon emissions related to shipping and packaging waste associated with importation from the United States.
HB2466 HD2 SD1 (Taro Tax Exemption) - Support
What Does This Bill Do?
Establishes an exemption from state income tax for the first $100,000 of income derived from taro, taro products, and land used to produce taro if the total land used does not exceed 30,000 acres at any point in the year.
Why Is This Bill Important?
Please feel free to use the following as talking points for your testimony. You can also write something powerful from your experience on why this issue matters to you.
This bill will relieve taro farmers from the heavy burden of increased land tax rates. Tax relief of this nature helps create resources that enable farms to reinvest in themselves –– ultimately offering more opportunities for the next generation of taro farmers. We must do all we can to nurture and support Native Hawaiian people, culture, traditions, and foodways. Indigenous foodways hold the key to feeding humanity and healing broken food systems.
Additional Talking Points
This bill will relieve taro farmers from the heavy burden of increased land tax rates. Tax relief of this nature helps create resources that enable farms to reinvest in themselves –– ultimately offering more opportunities for the next generation of taro farmers.
We must do all we can to nurture and support Native Hawaiian people, culture, traditions, and foodways.
Indigenous foodways hold the key to feeding humanity and healing broken food systems.
In addition to being celebrated as important, sacred places in Native Hawaiian culture, taro lands also:
Provide ecological and environmental buffers against flooding
Protect riparian areas, coastal wetlands, and fishponds
By exempting taro production from state income taxes, this bill will improve the economic landscape for taro farmers. It can also help them in overcoming financial barriers and setbacks.
Reducing the cost of production allows for more local produce on the market, which in turn helps to strengthen our local economy.
This bill will create economic incentives for taro farmers and could reduce the cost of poi for local families. By making taro more widely accessible, more Native Hawaiian families can reconnect with this culturally important food source.
This measure helps to incentivize farmers to grow taro, one of the healthiest staple starch foods available.
SB3004 SD1 HD1 (Composting) - Support
What Does This Bill Do?
Establishes and appropriates money for a compost reimbursement program within the Department of Agriculture and for one full-time permanent compost reimbursement program manager position.
Why Is This Bill Important?
Please feel free to use the following as talking points for your testimony. You can also write something powerful from your experience on why this issue matters to you.
Efforts to expand composting can divert up to 54% of household waste from landfills and create garden gold for healthy, nutritious plants.
Through encouraging composting programs, we have the added benefit of avoiding the costs associated with hauling waste to other locations for recycling or disposal. This would also help local farmers by reimbursing some of the cost of compost. Healthy soil also reduces dependence on other inputs.
Composting will reduce carbon dioxide and human-made methane emissions, which are greenhouse gasses that contribute to climate change by capturing carbon in the soil.
Composting is a critical part of regenerative agriculture.
SB3325 SD2 HD1 - Carbon Sequestration Incentives (Support)
What Does This Bill Do?
Establishes the Hawaiʻi Carbon Smart Land Management Assistance Pilot Program to incentivize carbon sequestration activities.
Why Is This Important?
Please feel free to use the following as talking points for your testimony. You can also write something powerful from your experience on why this issue matters to you.
Carbon Sequestration reduces the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and captures carbon in the soil –– ultimately reducing global climate change. In addition to mitigating climate change, capturing carbon in the soil improves the health and productivity of the soil.
This program in particular will allow small farmers, ranchers, foresters, and landowners to be compensated for the valuable role they play in helping us reach our climate readiness goals.
What You Can Do
Please submit testimony for each of these bills via the Hawaiʻi State Capitol Portal.
Share this call to action on your social media channels and spread the word! There is more power in numbers.
Stay involved and continue to testify this legislative session!
(Click here for full legislative website guide)
Thank you for standing alongside us to fight for a more just Hawaiʻi.
Together, we can heal Hawaiʻi’s broken food system.
