Agriculture

The federal civil case against Global Horizons has dragged on for years....

Kobayashi cited examples of physical abuse, exploitation, and barbaric security measures at Maui Pineapple Company's historic pineapple plantations and old worker dormitories where the Thai workers were forced to live and other abuses throughout Hawaii.

Science. It's the darndest thing....

Drawdown of existing groundwater stocks is likely still decades away....

...90% of the exposures occurred in a residence, 4.4% in the workplace and 1% in a school. The remaining 4% consisted of miscellaneous locations....

Watch the Senate committee system falling apart....

Today the United States Senate approved the Agriculture Act of 2014, also known as the “Farm Bill,” which includes legalization of industrial hemp for research purposes....

We are listening to your concerns and, as promised, would like to address some of your questions regarding pesticide use....

Congress is very fond of two things: throwing a bunch of stuff into one bill and rushing bills through while Americans are focused on other news....

While there has been a lot of discussion about Monsanto, there seems to be little understanding about our operations and what we do....

...here is a selection of some of the most interesting ingredients included in "organic" foods and another list of synthetic pesticides and other substances allowed for use in "organic" crop and livestock production....

...Abercrombie today announced the appointment of Scott Edward Enright as chairperson of the Hawaii Board of Agriculture, effective Jan. 1....

On January 8 and 9, 2014, the Seminar Group is putting on what we hope will become a regular event - the Hawaii Agriculture Conference....

... between $400,000 and $1,000,000 in fines for a single mature 40-day old plant ....

Christmas trees are pretty unpopular, right?  The House must think so, since its farm bill would pave the way to set up a Christmas Tree Promotion Board....

...to be placed on the December 6, 2013, Council agenda....

Hawaii has long had an unfortunate tendency to attract the most extreme Mainland activists....

Agriculture subsidies and trade manipulation have long been among the most intractable of policy problems....

While watching what was happening in other counties, Maui County decided to approach Monsanto - which has farms on both Maui and Molokai - to require disclosure of the company’s restricted-use pesticides and all information about related practices....

Counties are listening to the most ill informed people and the farmers are being attacked ....

The EEOC named Del Monte Fresh Produce's Hawaii subsidiary, which contracted with Global for approximately three years ending in 2005 to tend pineapple fields the subsidiary leased on the island of Oahu....

...the undersigned farmers, ranchers and floral & nursery growers collectively produce more than 80% of the food and agricultural products grown in Hawaii....

One day before Kauai County Council set to consider override of Mayor's Veto .... 

U.S. candy makers are expanding production in other countries as federal price supports and a global glut of the sweet stuff give an ever-greater advantage to foreign rivals....

Department of Agriculture reaffirmed the Mayor’s assessment that complicated legal issues and practical enforcement and implementation details must be taken into consideration to effectively address community’s concerns....

Lawmakers return to Washington today with only nine legislative days in the House before some farm bill programs expire at the end of the month....

...it is not the cost of the tax that adds to the price of locally grown products as much as it is the external factors such as the cost of land, labor, and regulatory compliance....

Correcting the misinformation being spread by special interest groups about how we farm....

Hawaii currently plays an important role in the global food supply – one far more important than that of its historical sugarcane and pineapple industries....

The feedstock for the biofuel is anticipated to be woody biomass-based....

Renewable fuel credit prices rose to record highs recently, reigniting the debate over repealing the federal government's ethanol mandate....

There are plenty of people out there telling us what we should eat—and worse, trying to use public policy to make us live by their opinions....

fraud has flown under the radar. And as sales have boomed and the stakes have risen, the scale of deception has broadened....

...for causing or permitting visible fugitive dust to become airborne....

It still goes out of its way to tax Christmas trees....

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) is reportedly pushing to split up the old farm bill and take food stamps out of it....

...Abercrombie today signed seven bills related to agriculture....

Sixty-two Republicans bucked their own party to vote against the bloated bill....Coupled with a large bloc of Democrats (Including Hanabusa and Gabbard) who wanted more spending on food stamps....

the food stamp program has doubled under the Obama Administration....

...Boehner said yesterday that he will support the bloated farm bill....

The spike in food prices, coupled with the global economic crisis, halted and even reversed the long-time trend in reducing malnutrition....

Senate is expected to vote this morning on a measure that will effectively end debate on the misnamed “farm” bill....