The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness. Embodied in
these words, once the motto of the Kingdom of Hawai'i and now the
motto of the State of Hawaii, is the timeless recognition by Hawaii’s
people that a responsible society sustains its land and is sustained
by it. To meet this responsibility, one of Hawaii’s most urgent
priorities must be to create the conditions under which agriculture
can resume its historical role as an integral part of the state’s
priorities and economy. A thriving agriculture industry - agribusiness
- is essential to the state’s economic, environmental, and social
well-being.
The public recognizes Hawaii’s need for a healthy agriculture
industry. In 1978, the Hawaii State Constitution was revised to
add Article XI, Section 3, which mandates: “The State shall
conserve and protect agricultural lands, promote diversified agriculture,
increase agricultural self-sufficiency, and assure the availability
of agriculturally suitable lands.” During Fall 2001, the House
Committees on Agriculture and Water and Land Use conducted hearings
to gather information and seek consensus from which legislation
could be drafted to fulfill this constitutional mandate. In response
to these hearings, an Agriculture Working Group was convened to
advance agriculture in the state by supporting the constitutional
mandates to promote diversified agriculture and increase agricultural
self-sufficiency.
In February 2003, key legislators requested that Dr. Andy Hashimoto,
Dean of the University of Hawaii-Manoa’s College of Tropical
Agriculture and Human Resources, bring together representatives
from the farming and agribusiness community, landowners, public
agencies, and citizens’ groups to discuss how to address the
mandate of Article XI, Section 3 of the Hawaii State Constitution
regarding agriculture and the protection of agricultural lands.
At its first meeting on February 28, 2003, participants agreed to
the following statement of purpose:
“...to address all issues embedded in the Hawaii State
Constitution, Article XI, Section 3, and in doing so, to focus
on legislation to protect agricultural land in the context of
understanding what makes for successful agriculture.”
The Agriculture Working Group (AWG) is broadly constituted, comprising
representatives of groups with diverse interests in agriculture
and agricultural land issues, and has an open membership. The Working
Group and its subcommittees are scheduled to meet regularly through
November 2003 to develop recommendations for the 2004 Legislature.
Andrew Hashimoto, Dean of College of Tropical Agriculture and Human
Resources (UH) and Sandra Kunimoto, Chairperson of Hawaii Department
of Agriculture serve as the conveners of the Working Group. The
structure, principles, and rules of the Working Group are reflected
in the FEBRUARY
28 GROUP NOTES.
The Hawaii State Legislature recently passed HOUSE
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 157, HOUSE DRAFT 1, which formally acknowledged
the efforts of the Agriculture Working Group.
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