Agriculture

...farmers are increasingly frustrated and dispirited by having to deal with the demands and unrealistic expectations of a public that is growing ever more distant from the realities of agriculture....

...Killing this bill sends $62M from A&B to Mahi Pono which has its staff larded up with anti-GMO activists....

...The AOC requires Big Island Dairy owners to terminate their dairy operations, remove all their cows from confinement on the site, clean and remove the existing wastewater system, and pay $79,000 by June of 2019....

...Among the projects approved is Hoohana Solar 1 in Kunia, which is planned for a parcel zoned as prime agricultural land, where renewable energy projects are currently not permitted....

...The new term for the Commissioner will begin July 1, 2019 and run for four (4) years, expiring on June 30, 2023....

...Those burgers you picked up at the grocery store may have originated in Hawaii....

...Nomi Carmona of the Babes Against Biotech was not present at the State Capitol. Ashley Lukens of the Center for Food Safety was a no show. Walter Ritte wasn’t even there too....

...Ige has appointed Phyllis Shimabukuro-Geiser chairperson of the Hawai‘i Board of Agriculture.  Former Chair Denise Albano resigned for personal reasons on January 29, 2019....

“That would be pretty hard for Hawaii” -- Sen Mazie Hirono

"...we were unable to find a clear regulatory path forward for this innovative and sustainable model of dairy farming...."

...In addition to spawning anti-dairy activism, Omidyar’s Kauai dairy proposal created a political and perhaps legal precedent requiring previously exempt farmers to obtain an environmental impact statement before commencing operations....

...The Hawaii DOA lists the following erroneous justification for HB939: "Given the nature of hemp as a Schedule 1 Controlled Substance . . .."   However, as of Dec. 20, 2018, hemp was removed from that list....

...It is trendy right now to be telling tales about farmers....

...All of A&B's existing agricultural personnel will be offered positions with Mahi Pono....

...Representative Cynthia Thielen (R–Kailua, Kaneohe Bay) celebrates the legalization of industrial hemp through the passage of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (H.R. 2), better known as the 2018 Farm Bill....

...These feel-good ideas are placed upon farmers with no consideration of the consequences of its impacts....

...As global honeybee population increases, activists blame neonicotinoid pesticides for ‘bird-pocalypse’ that’s not happening....

...Chemophobia may lead to real risks....

...not reported to the 2018 Legislature as required by Sections 37-47 and 37-52.5, HRS....

...If you do not farm, why should you dictate how farming should be done?....

...New glyphosate study suggesting danger to honeybee microbiota is detailed, sophisticated—and wrong....

“The vast majority of those businesses impacted by the City’s food waste recycling ordinance are continuing to use local piggeries to recycle their food waste.”

...When a couple of penny-stock touts, one of whom is listed in the Panama Papers Offshore Leaks Database, start selling timber futures and carbon credits in Hawaii, the greenwash is thicker than most....

...This weekend was spent planting the new fields....

...Revises Requirements for 5 Day or Less Program....

...This weekend was the planting of the trees....

...four of the nine working farms are total losses. The other eight lots are either vacant with leases pending or currently not in production....

...including ethanol in the U.S. gas supply is wreaking havoc on the atmosphere and soil....

...industrial hemp refers to cannabis plants with a tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentration at or below 0.3 percent....

...With the recent passage of the anti-pesticide bills in our legislature, I received messages and emails from certain legislators apologizing for voting for this....

...Big Island Dairy has reported untreated wastewater from the dairy’s wastewater treatment system spilled from a damaged sewage pipe in the evening on May 6....

...If signed into law, SB3095 will have Hawaii restaurants crawling with cockroaches--this should be almost as good for tourism as the homeless tent cities Hanabusa is planning....

...HDOA worked with federal and state drug enforcement agencies to successfully import the hemp seed varietal, Yuma, from China....

...Six-Month Monitoring Levels Meet State & Federal Water Quality Standards....

...His appointment is effective January 1, 2018. He succeeds Thomas Matsuda who will retire on December 31, 2017....

...Monsanto took first place, scoring an impressive 91.6 percent....

...We live in a world of plenty which is both good and bad....

...Al Frenzel and Gigi Jones....

"...An undercover investigation for EnviroWatch highlighted the brutality of dog meat farms in Hawaii...."

...After more than a decade of development and close to $4.2 million in new and amended contracts, Department of Agriculture has failed in its attempt to implement a central integrated database....  (try MS Excel next time)

...A Scientist Didn’t Disclose Important Data—and Let Everyone Believe a Popular Weedkiller Causes Cancer....

As case number 15 of rat lungworm disease came to light last month, my blood boils a bit because of what has happened over the last several years....

...40% of the organic food sold in America tested positive for prohibited pesticide residue....

...The fine is based on an inspection DOH officials did March 28-29 in response to Democratic Party insiders....

I asked why CFS and other groups like Shaka aren’t informing followers of rat lungworm disease....

...the Makauwahi Cave Reserve be the recipient of $125,000 for a supplemental environmental project to be funded by Hawai‘i Dairy Farms....

The first business in Hawaii to earn the certification, Monsanto’s Upper Kunia Farm has been focused on increasing yields while using fewer resources, and has successfully diverted 98 percent of its waste....

...in response to a petition from the Natural Resources Defense Council and Pesticide Action Network North America....

...The Governor did, at least, stop short of calling it his “Five Year Plan”....

When Governor Ige first announced his plan to double local food production, people wondered....