STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2980

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 2703

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 1

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Agriculture, to which was referred H.B. No. 2703, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FOOD SELF-SUFFICIENCY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Department of Agriculture to:

     (1)  Measure and analyze the amount of food livestock, dairy, and edible crop commodities grown and sold in the State annually;

     (2)  In conjunction with the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, identify key food commodities to be targeted for assistance in developing an increased local market share;

     (3)  Develop a food sustainability standard to at least double the amount of locally grown food for local consumption by 2020;

     (4)  Plan and adopt the necessary incentives to ensure that the food sustainability standard is met or exceeded; and

     (5)  Submit reports to the Legislature.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture, Hawaii Farmers Union United, Sierra Club Hawai‘i Chapter, Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaii, Hawaii Food Policy Council, and ninety individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii and three individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation.

     Your Committee finds Hawaii is dangerously dependent on imported food.  As the most geographically isolated state in the country, Hawaii imports approximately ninety-two percent of its food.  Each food product imported to Hawaii is a lost opportunity for local economic growth.

     Your Committee further finds that in creating a food sustainability standard, the State needs to examine what food self-sufficiency truly means for the State or whether the ultimate goal of sustainability is ensuring that productive agricultural lands are used to the greatest extent possible.  In addition, the State needs to determine in which areas it can achieve greater self-sufficiency and prioritize those areas as part of the effort to increase the amount of food that is locally produced and consumed while ensuring that local farmers are profitable.

     Your Committee recognizes that funding for this program may be an issue as the Department of Agriculture no longer has the resources necessary to provide the level of record keeping that this measure requires.  Your Committee is concerned that unless the State is able to fund positions within the Department of Agriculture that were lost due to the reduction in force in 2009, the food sustainability standard program proposed by this measure may not be properly administrated.

     In addition, your Committee recognizes the concerns about the effectiveness of this program in measuring actual growth and the amount of food produced and consumed in the State because the program only requires the Department of Agriculture to track farms' cash receipts and does not take into account inflation in determining a baseline for food sustainability and any resulting growth.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Clarifying that the citation stating that Hawaii imports approximately ninety-two percent of its food due to the United States Department of Agriculture is inaccurate, rather those imports are due to the Pacific Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments Program;

     (2)  Amending the food sustainability standard that the State increase the amount of food grown in the State to double the amount grown in 2014, rather than 2013, by the year 2020; and

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Agriculture that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2703, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2703, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Agriculture,

____________________________

CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair