Bills to increase food security go to governor

With statistics showing the state of Hawaii imports about 90% of the food its residents consume, a pair of bills with the goal of improving food security has made it through the Legislature and to Gov. Josh Green.

Senate Bill 1186 establishes the Statewide Interagency Food Systems Coordination Team and the Interagency Food Systems Working Group in an effort to create a unified strategy to enhance Hawaii’s food resilience.

The second measure, SB 693, continues funding for the Food Hub Pilot Program, which supports local farmers and food producers by improving distribution and access to fresh, local food to meet local demand. The legislation would appropriate $1.5 million for each of the next two fiscal years to continue the pilot program established in 2022.

Sen. Mike Gabbard, a Leeward Oahu Democrat who chairs the Committee on Agriculture and the Environment, authored both measures. Sen. Joy San Buenaventura of Puna was among the co-sponsors of SB 693.

Gabbard said he’s spent three years devising and describing the food systems coordination team and interagency working group.

He called the bills “a direct investment in our communities and in Hawaii’s future.”

“They need to coordinate their various food systems so, basically, that we don’t have major food deserts,” San Buenaventura said of SB 1186. “The bill itself creates interagency food system coordination working group. You look, at how the other food hubs are able to distribute and help the local economy. I like the idea of the working group because, hopefully, they are able to redistribute unwanted food instead of creating food waste.”

The Board of Agriculture’s chair or the chair’s designee would serve as co-chair of the interagency working group, with the director of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, or the director’s designee, as the other co-chair. In addition, the group would have one member each from the Senate and House and other members with “relevant experience” invited by the co-chairs.

SB 1186 also would appropriate $100,000 from the general fund to cover the working group’s operations.

“It’s incredibly rewarding to see them move forward, and I’m thankful to my fellow lawmakers and the many advocates who helped bring these ideas to life,” Gabbard said.

One of those lawmakers is Rep. Kirstin Kahaloa, a West Hawaii Democrat who authored House Bill 967, a companion measure to SB 1186 that didn’t survive the session.

“I think there’s great opportunity because this is not just an agriculture working group. It’s an interagency food systems working group and coordination team,” Kahaloa said. “I think the exciting part about this bill is we had a (resolution) last session that started the conversation, and we started to affectuate a working group and set goals about how we can be more coordinated to increase our local food production and be able to strengthen our food systems. And I like that it says (food systems), and not agriculture, because we’re taking a more comprehensive approach than just growing food and selling food. We’re looking at how food is coming in, where’s it going and who’s buying it.

“It’s just a whole coordinated system.”

Hawaii County Research and Development Director Benson Medina submitted written testimony in support of both measures.

“Our department is in the process of facilitating community-led agriculture and food system planning to outline key strategies to support producers and improve food access,” Medina wrote. “Connecting these community-level planning efforts to the interagency working group … will streamline efforts to address our communities’ most urgent and cross-agency issues.”

Nicole Galase, managing director of the Hawaii Cattlemen’s Council in Hilo, said beef producers hope the Interagency Food Coordination Team “will help us to help the state meet its local food goals.”

“We support this measure because Hawaii’s cattlemen are ready and willing to supply a high quality protein for our community, but there are procurement and procedural issues to overcome,” Galase wrote. “If solutions can be found for the state to begin consistently sourcing local beef, it would provide ranchers with a reliable market to encourage more local beef production, increase our access to a high quality protein source, improve community health, and move the needle on the states local food production goals.”

Tane Datta of Adaptations Food Hub in Kona said his family’s organization is “actively developing a local food system that can help sustain a local economy.”

“As food stamps and Medicaid get attacked and disrupted at the federal level, the need for a local food system will be stronger,” Datta testified. “Supporting (SB 693) supports creating a local resilient safety net for the large number of people in Hawaii who will need it.”

Sen. Tim Richards, a Waimea Democrat and vice chairman of the Committee on Agriculture and the Environment, said the bills “are not a panacea, but they’re a step in the right direction.”

“Agriculture’s never really caught the eye or been given the credit it deserves for what it brings to our county, to our state,” Richards said. “Food security, yes, but it’s more than that. It’s land management, it’s stewardship, it’s water management — it’s part of our economy. Culturally, it’s important. When I was in the (County Council) they said, ‘Pass a law that mandates agriculture.’ I said, ‘You don’t get it.’

“Agriculture is waiting to flourish. But what it needs is good policy to support it. And part of that policy is infrastructure policies that will do that. And when I say infrastructure, yes, I mean bricks and mortar. But I also mean policy around governing the needs for agriculture. It’s not just about growing. It’s about getting the food from the ground into the mouth. And there’s a whole bunch of processes connected there.”

Gabbard expressed confidence Green will sign both measures into law.

Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.