Thursday, March 28, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Thursday, September 15, 2016
For the Love of Family
By Joni Kamiya @ 10:40 AM :: 5547 Views :: Agriculture, GMOs

img_2866

For the Love of Family

by Joni Kamiya, Hawaii Farmers Daughter, September 13, 2016

Today was an absolutely crazy day.  Somedays go as planned and some days are plain old crazy.  I had been hoping for a light day at my day job so I could get to the Hawaii Chamber of Commerce’s agriculture discussion and then head out to take my kids to the dentist.  Well, part of those events happened but not all of it.

I had been hoping to get off of work early and leisurely head down to the luncheon to transport the 150 lbs of fresh papaya for the guests.  Well, I got caught up at work and had to hustle to get downtown to the event.  As I got parked and unloaded the papayas onto my wheeling cart, I discovered that the elevators were down two ramps and down about 10 stairs and behind a door.  One by one, I had to carry each 25 lb case down the step and pull the door open and drop it in the lobby.  Thankfully, a fellow farmers, Josh Uehara, came by and helped me to carry down the remaining 75 lbs to the lobby.  Then it was time to wheel those cases down the parking garage elevator and up yet another elevator.  By the time I got in, I was sweating and felt like I had a workout.

The Chamber of Commerce event was really great in that this year, it was about how can we grow agriculture in Hawaii.  The hot topic debate on GMOs had subsided and now we could get to the real goal of saving farms here and maybe even growing more.  I was fortunate to be a panel member with Paul Brewbaker, Dean Okimoto, Josh Uehara, and Shin Ho.  These folks were great advocates for agriculture and long time farmers in our community.  We all got to tell our stories of what’s happening on our farms.

I did get to meet up with lots of long time friends and allies after and then needed to head back to work.  After finishing up work, I had to run around picking up my kids to get them to the dentist on the other side of the island.  There was no way for me to make it to Kahala from Kaneohe so I had to cancel and just head home to feed my gang.

When I got home, my brother gave me a call asking me how it went.  He was initially asked to be a panel member but decided he was too busy to take it on.  He was super excited on the phone stating that he had heard me talk on the local Hawaii Pacific Radio station a few minutes ago.  I had mentioned on the panel that people think nothing of dropping $5.99 for cherries but when locally grown papayas are sold for $0.10 more at $1.89,  they complain!  That attitude doesn’t help our local farmers stay in business while costs rise, we can’t raise our costs to cover expenses.

To hear that glimmer of happiness that his frustration on running a farming business had been told to the public gave me a sense of inner peace for him.  My brother, who has no formal education in agriculture and armed with a business degree, jumped into this field to continue our family’s legacy.  It’s been a tough learning curve for him and I hear it in his voice when he needs someone to vent to.  Our family and workers provide thousands of papayas for people every single week for the last 40 plus years already.  The amount of sweat, pain, and energy needed to do this deserves respect.  If it weren’t for farmers, we’d have no local foods and we’d better start changing our views on them or we lose them forever.

After getting off the phone with him, I decided to call my dad to talk story with him.  Although he’s hitting 75 years old this year, he still dreams of a Hawaii with more farmers and really wants to see Governor Ige’s goal of doubling food production happen.  He’s toured the world to see what works and what doesn’t and learned where we need to go to make this happen here.  He wants more research and development, more university support on these endeavors, more education, a better business environment, and a freedom to farm the way he chooses.

Farming families have dreams that we can preserve this way of life here in Hawaii.  We love the open spaces of the country and seeing the land produce something that nourishes people.  We are stewards of the land that provides us with it’s fruits and we want to continue that way of life.  We also care for our community members who rely on our work to have food on their tables reliably year after year.  If we are to be sustained, we need the public to learn our stories and help us become a respected figure.  I think it’s time that we honor our farmers again as that is the reason why we have the freedoms to do more than toil in fields.  If you’re hands aren’t dirty from the farm, be sure to thank that farmer every single day.

Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

808 Silent Majority

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federalist Society

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Homeschool Association

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Smokers Alliance

Hawaii State Data Lab

Hawaii Together

HIEC.Coop

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Moms for Liberty

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

Investigative Project on Terrorism

July 4 in Hawaii

Kakaako Cares

Keep Hawaii's Heroes

Land and Power in Hawaii

Legislative Committee Analysis Tool

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

Malama Pregnancy Center of Maui

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Military Home Educators' Network Oahu

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Christian Foundation Hawaii

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

No GMO Means No Aloha

Not Dead Yet, Hawaii

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Oahu Alternative Transport

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

OurFutureHawaii.com

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

PEACE Hawaii

People vs Machine

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

P.U.E.O.

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

ReRoute the Rail

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

Robotics Organizing Committee

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Sink the Jones Act

Statehood for Guam

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

UCC Truths

US Tax Foundation Hawaii Info

VAREP Honolulu

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii

Yes2TMT