By JASON ARMSTRONG Tribune-Herald staff writer ADVERTISING Farmers, agricultural experts and educators gathered Tuesday in Hilo to help map the future of Hawaii’s agricultural industry and attract workers needed to run it. The daylong Sustainable Agriculture Skill Panel Forum is
By JASON ARMSTRONG
Tribune-Herald staff writer
Farmers, agricultural experts and educators gathered Tuesday in Hilo to help map the future of Hawaii’s agricultural industry and attract workers needed to run it.
The daylong Sustainable Agriculture Skill Panel Forum is the second in a series of statewide conferences intended to produce a self-sufficient agricultural industry.
Brainstorming sessions, panel discussions and informational displays were part of the event, which attracted about 100 people to Nani Mau Gardens. Participants focused on: innovation and sustainability; regulatory issues; education and training; and infrastructure and marketing.
People often assume Hawaii Island’s agricultural potential, “but it’s always nice to see it reconfirmed at events like this,” said Russell Kokubun, Hawaii Department of Agriculture chairman.
A longtime Big Island resident and farmer, Kokubun said he sees local farmers showing a greater self-reliance than their counterparts from elsewhere in the state. That independence comes from having seen how developed countries can be affected by disasters like those that devastated Japan and New Orleans, he said.
“I think going through these kinds of experiences makes us realize how vulnerable we are,” Kokubun said.
He said he’s also seen an increased number of kids showing a very strong desire to enter the agriculture industry.
Requiring all public high school students to study agricultural courses, having farms on school campuses and creating 10-acre teaching farms were among the long-range vision plan participants outlined.
The Future Farmers of America already is doing some of that work, including helping with a school farm in Kohala.
In Waimea, a new pilot project is under way to create a certified kitchen and agricultural facility where farmers, including military veterans, can do their branding and other processing work, said David Ruf, CEO and chairman of Rivertop Solutions, a company specializing in providing rural communities with sustainable energy solutions.
To reduce operating costs, Ruf is working to establish a bioenergy plant that will run off ag waste to produce electricity at one-third the current rate and also make fertilizer.
“We want to try to create something that creates profits on its own,” he said.
Twenty families are now farming due to the new program, said Dwight Takamine, director of the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.
Plans call for testing the project to determine if it can be duplicated elsewhere, he said, noting at least one other farmer has offered land for this use.
“This is just the first step,” Takamine said.
The Big Island is poised to play a strategic role in the future of Hawaii’s agriculture industry “just because we’ve got the space,” he said.
“It’s going to be the leader,” added Takamine, a Big Island resident who served in both houses of the state Legislature.
The island already is a leader in the use of military technology to track agricultural shipments and determine remotely their temperature to ensure food safety, Kokubun said.
Hawaii Island is the first place in the nation to get the new broadband tracking system, he said.
“I think that’s how agriculture is changing,” Kokubun said.
Follow-up conferences will be held in West Hawaii — no date has been set — along with on Maui and Kauai, Takamine said.
He said results from those events will be combined with feedback already gathered on Oahu and listed on the Workforce Development Council’s website, www.sesphawaii.com.
Email Jason Armstrong at jarmstrong@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
