SB2069

SECTION 1. Hawaiian breadfruit (‘ulu) has a long history in Hawaii as an important and consistent food source. This illustrious history includes a period during which breadfruit played a significant role in providing an annual production of millions of pounds of nutritious food that sustained the population across the islands. Research has shown that Kona alone produced fifty thousand to sixty thousand tons of breadfruit per year in what is now the coffee belt. Breadfruit is believed to have arrived on the Hawaiian islands approximately seven hundred years ago. Since this introduction to the climate and soil environment of Hawaii, breadfruit has consistently contributed to and enhanced all aspects of Hawaii, including traditional diet, culture, and lifestyle. Its distinctive beauty and mythical origins, historical, cultural, religious, and social significance, and the diversity of its forms in traditional methods of food production have all contributed to the legacy of breadfruit in the Hawaiian heritage and culture. This significant presence and abundance illustrates how breadfruit flourishes in modernity as the contemporary manifestation of Hawaii Nei.

The combination and collective force of discrete factors over the past decade have demonstrated that breadfruit consumption and research are growing in relevance, including the availability of large numbers of breadfruit trees, expansion of the gluten-free market, confirmation of value in breadfruit by-products, and the increasing market movement toward locally grown food. For the first time in the technological era, breadfruit has the potential to become a major commercial crop, even while remaining closely connected to traditional Hawaiian, Polynesian, Micronesian, and Melanesian values.

Significant global resources exist for breadfruit in Hawaii, including the largest conservation effort of breadfruit agrobiodiversity by the National Tropical Botanical Gardens, significant product research and development by the University of Hawaii, Pacific-wide relationships and development efforts through The Pacific Business Center Program at the Shidler School of Business Administration, and cooperative development structures and processing infrastructure as seen in The Hawaii ‘Ulu Producers Cooperative. Dozens of other small breadfruit producers around the State make diverse products such as chips, hummus, pies, and baking mixes, and a growing number of restaurants, distributors, and retail vendors are carrying breadfruit products.

Despite the increase in breadfruit development in the State, the growth of markets and infrastructure needed to utilize the projected ten- to twenty-fold increase in fruit production is in a precarious state. Substantial investments into breadfruit research and development have occurred, but additional research and market support are required to develop sustainable breadfruit production methods, postharvest handling, processing and refinement, manufacturing methods, scalable flour mill design, packaging, market product development and testing, distribution, and regional sustainable capacity for supply for breadfruit products. Without additional support, the growth of farm production could quickly undermine the development that has been accomplished. In order to realize the vast potential of breadfruit to serve as a major contributor to local food and food security, support for the burgeoning industry is needed.

A conservative estimate of $2,000,000 per year farm value, e.g., two million pounds of fruit per year, is anticipated within five years based on trees currently in the ground that have yet to be productive, with additional economic development coming from processing, marketing, and distribution of the fruit. The global gluten-free market was valued at $14,940,000,000 in 2016 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 9.3 per cent from 2017 to 2025, illustrating the potential market for breadfruit. Furthermore, the profit projected from processing and marketing the breadfruit flower as an organic insecticide is estimated to exceed the million dollar mark. This profit may be due to the far more potent nature of the breadfruit flower that contains a natural tri-chemical compound combination that so powerfully acts as a repellant that the breadfruit outperforms its synthetic competitors.

The economic development potential for the processing, refinement, packaging, and exporting of breadfruit products for the state and national market is substantial considering the general employment and economic benefits to the State simultaneously strengthen the authentic Hawaiian experience for the visitor industry.

‘Ulu is a long-lived, easy to grow, productive, nutritious, starchy staple crop that will continue to contribute to environmental, social, and economic health for generations. As everyone who has tasted extraordinary dishes made from ‘ulu knows, there is now high potential for ‘ulu to contribute to healthy diets and food security ideals based on locally grown foods. In fact, the State has already begun to realize some of the vast, potential benefits of ‘ulu. The department of education recently placed an order so that all three hundred of Hawaii's public schools will have ‘ulu for at least one meal.

The purpose of this Act is to make an appropriation for the research, development, marketing, and conservation of breadfruit.

SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $650,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2018-2019 for the research, development, marketing, and conservation of breadfruit as follows:

(1) Developing breadfruit businesses that have demonstrated significant product sales;

(2) Performing research that is directly supporting farmers and industry development; and

(3) Providing ancillary support such as tree production, marketing, and public education.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the college of tropical agriculture and human resources at the University of Hawaii for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2018.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	2069
TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2018
STATE OF HAWAII