STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2716

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2723

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2020

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Higher Education and Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 2723 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AGRICULTURE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Appropriate funds for the GoFarm Hawaii program; and

(2) Require GoFarm Hawaii to provide the Chair of the Board of Agriculture with an annual report of the program's goals and a semi-annual report outlining program outputs and outcomes.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the University of Hawai‘i System, Department of Agriculture, Hawai‘i Farm Bureau, North Shore Economic Vitality Partnership, Counter Culture Organic Farm, Ulupono Initiative, The Kohala Center, Ho‘ōla Farms, O‘ahu Resource Conservation and Development Council, Hawai‘i State Future Farmers of America, Kōkua Hawaii Foundation, Kamehameha Schools, Waimānalo Market Co-op, Bear Claw Farm LLC, Wiko Farms, De La Mesa LLC, and nine private individuals.

Your Committees find that GoFarm is a premier training program for beginning farmers in Hawaii. Demand for enrollment in GoFarm Hawaii among interested farmers often exceeds available places.

Your Committees further find that, while sugarcane has disappeared from our landscape, the majority of these lands, though now fallow, are still zoned agricultural. They have great potential and can be brought back into commercial agriculture to create the green landscape so important to our local economy, environment, food security, and visitor industry. In order to increase the number of farmers in Hawaii's diversified agriculture and ensure their success, it is necessary to provide aspiring farmers with the knowledge and skill sets they need to grow crops better and operate their agribusinesses more profitably.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Higher Education and Agriculture and Environment that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2723 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Higher Education and Agriculture and Environment,

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair

________________________________ DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair