Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Agriculture and Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 2172, H.D. 1, entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds for the research and development of high-value agriculture products and biotechnology, the creation and adoption of agricultural management practices that protect Hawaii's environment, and for the development of the agribusiness incubator initiative.

Testimony supporting this measure was received from the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation, Hawaii Agriculture Research Center, Maui County Farm Bureau, Hawaii Leeward Planning Conference, Green Point Nurseries, Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar, Hawaii Forest Industry Association, Hawaiian Host, Kilauea Agronomics, LLC, Tropical Hawaiian Products, Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii, Pineapple Growers Association of Hawaii, and Hawaii Food Industry Association.

Your Committees find that the State has a constitutional obligation to conserve and protect agricultural lands, promote diversified agriculture, increase agricultural self sufficiency, and assure the availability of agriculturally suitable lands. To fulfill these duties, the State should support efforts that lead to progress and innovation in Hawaii's agriculture industry. Positive economic progress in this industry leads to economic gains to the State as a whole. Your Committees find that this measure provides the support necessary to allow Hawaii's agriculture industry to compete and succeed in the global marketplace.

Your Committees amended this measure by specifying that the appropriation amount shall be $1,000,000, to be utilized as follows:

In addition, your Committees clarified that if one hundred thousand acres of underutilized land were put into productive use there could be an additional $1,700,000,000 to $4,000,000,000 injected into the State's economy.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Agriculture and Education that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2172, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2172, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.