Filipino Farmers Are Major Part of Hawaii’s Drive Towards Building Food Sustainability

By Edwin Quinabo

There are many myths surrounding agriculture and farming in Hawaii.

Myth: There isn’t enough agriculture land in the state for an Ag industry to thrive.

Fact: The latest Federal agricultural census shows only 8% of Hawaii’s agricultural lands are being used for growing crops. But nearly half of Hawaii’s lands are designated for agriculture. There are 4.1 million acres that potentially can be used for farming in some capacity.

Myth: Locally grown food is more expensive than imported food?

Fact: Some local food items are already cheaper than their imported counterparts (depending on the season), but experts say with economies of scale (local farmers producing more food) in a thriving local Ag industry, this could reduce the price of more local food items even further.

The way it is now with 85-92% of Hawaii’s food shipped into the state (according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture), a family of four - two adults and two children - paid an estimated $9,835 on food in 2022. That total is the highest in the nation by a substantial amount, based on the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank.

Growing need for Food Sustainability

Since the vulnerabilities exposed during the pandemic that had bottleneck supply chains raising prices of imported food and causing a shortage for many items, support for building a local food system, local food sustainability and local farmers have never been higher.

Caroline Julian-Freitas, Honolulu, said “We’re experiencing in the post-pandemic world supply chain issues-disruption, high cost of transportation and inflation, along with disease that could impact inventory and cost, such as bird flu that’s causing egg pric- es to skyrocket. All of these make it very important for Hawaii to grow most of its food so we can feed our own people. Along with those issues, we should also all be aware of the impacts of climate change - drought, change in temperature, etc – that make it challenging for farmers in our state and across the globe to grow food.”

She said, “Food insecurity has become an important issue that I think about often, especially since the pandemic. During the pandemic, a lot of our citizens were out of jobs, and many relied on food drives. If it were not for the help of a generous community, many would have gone hungry. Because of the supply chain issue, supplies being delivered to stores have been slow to arrive and store shelves go empty, a sign that we are still recovering and have taken food being readily available for granted.”

Hawaii State Senator Henry Aquino told the Filipino Chronicle, “It’s been a long-standing goal for Hawaii to become self-sufficient due to our remote location, shipping costs and other unique issues our state faces. These challenges have presented both opportunities and obstacles for Hawaii to truly become self-sufficient.

“Food security is one of the key components to becoming self-sustaining and while our state as a whole has made some strides, we are not close to being independent. We continue to rely on imports and due to our shipping system, lack of storage facilities and limited manufacturing in the islands, we have about a two-week supply of food and goods at any given time.”

Food Hubs

Besides local farmers, critical to growing a local food system has been the proliferation of food hubs which are enterprises that help local farmers and gardeners get their products to grocers, schools, restaurants, retailers, hotels and food banks.

Saleh Azizi of the Kahumana Farm Hub in Waianae, said food hubs are distribution networks that buy, market and sell local ingredients to businesses. Collectively, the 14-member Food Hub Hui supports approximately 1,100 Hawaii farmers across the island chain. The food hub is really there for farmers to have a one-stop shop to offload all of their harvest and to not have to go to multiple buyers and negotiate prices.”

Farm operations in Hawaii: number of small farms on the rise

According to the 2021 (as of Jan. 2022) Hawaii State Agriculture Overview there are 7,300 farm (non-livestock) operations in Hawaii. The livestock inventory in the state includes cattle, cows used for beef 79,200, cattle cows used for milk 800, hogs 9,000.

The latest available U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Census shows the greatest increase in the number of farms came from small farms between one to nine acres. Another bright spot is the number of farms with sales of $25,000 to $500,000 or more increased.

Highlighting a few of the Census sales for 2017: Vegetables, melons, potatoes and sweet potatoes $85 million; Organic food $15 million; Fruits, tree nuts and berries $144 million; Aquaculture $74 million; Poultry and egg $8 million; and Nursery and greenhouse product $100 million; Direct sales to consumers $28 million. Most of these category’s sales have risen from the previous census. (continue on page 5)

(Filipinos Farmers....from page 4) Consumer support and raising consciousness on buying local food

Cecilia Ramiscal, Ewa Beach, says she goes to open markets to help local farmers. “I like the freshness of vegeta[1] bles and fruits there. Some Filipino vegetables are also available at farmers markets that are not sold by grocers. I think we as consumers should do all we can to buy local food products. I would like to see grocers place signs in the vicinity of where their local products are stocked. If given the chance and being aware of where the source of my food is coming from, I will always choose locally grown food. Grocers should be making that distinction and I bet those products will sell better.”

Ramiscal said it’s time that Hawaii has better control of its food security. “Like many residents here during the pandemic’s worst time, I was afraid that we would not be able to get some items. What we saw was a lot of panic buying. We’re lucky that empty shelves did not last longer. I don’t understand why food security is not being prioritized in our state. It makes no sense that we have all this fertile land in Hawaii and a history of growing crops, and here we are today, not having a strong local food source.”

Senator Aquino has friends and relatives who grow food for both personal consumption and commercially. He grew in Waipahu when the Oahu Sugar Co. plantation was still around and provided work for many in Waipahu and neighboring areas. He said we can support our farming industry by buying their crops and products, share with others where these sources are and encourage others to do the same. He mentions people’s open markets, farmers markets sponsored by the Hawaii Farm Bureau and most of our grocery outlets have local foods, grown by local sources. “There are times where certain local crops can be pricey but the goal to support local sources should be the aim for all -- provided that there’s a market for the products.”

Julian-Freitas said, “There’s definitely a mind-shift that needs to happen in the area of Hawaii’s food sustainability and agriculture due to reliance on imports. Hawaii needs to make supporting local agriculture a priority and recognizing its needs to survive as an industry and providing solutions to the challenges they face. It’s definitely not a simple fix. But I think recognizing the importance of the agriculture industry’s role in our state is a first step.”

She said, “Hawaii residents should be doing their part to support locally grown food and vendors should be marketing it as local. We can all support our Hawaii farmers by buying more locally grown food and attending open markets. Restaurants should buy local, when they can, and government institutions that serve food should also buy local to increase demand.”

Hawaii hotels, restaurants and schools using locally grown food

Besides consumers, there is a push for large institutions like hotels, restaurants and public schools to buy local food.

This month more than 20 Oahu hotels and restaurants committed to buying more food from local farmers, signing onto the Oahu Good Food Program, a partnership between the Hawaii Tourism Authority and Oahu county.

Hawaii Tourism Authority Director of Planning Caroline Anderson says the partnership with the county aims to benefit farmers and ranchers and address tourist expectations for local food.

One of the hotels that signed onto the Oahu Good Food Program is the Kahala Hotel and Restaurant. Kahala Vice President and General Manager Joe Ibarra (Editor’s Note: visit thefilipinochronicle.com for Ibarra cover story, Oct. 15, 2022, edition) said menu offerings at the Kahala hotel are 54% local and come from 68 local suppliers. That ratio is up 22% from 2019.

Hawaii’s Department of Education has a goal of increasing its spending on local food to

“There’s definitely a mind-shift that needs to happen in the area of Hawaii’s food sustainability and agriculture due to reliance on imports. Hawaii needs to make supporting local agriculture a priority and recognizing its needs to survive as an industry and providing solutions to the challenges they face. It’s definitely not a simple fix. But I think recognizing the importance of the agriculture industry’s role in our state is a first step. Hawaii residents should be doing their part to support locally grown food and vendors should be marketing it as local. We can all support our Hawaii farmers by buying more locally grown food and attending open markets. Restaurants should buy local, when they can, and government institutions that serve food should also buy local to increase demand.”

– Caroline Julian-Freitas Honolulu

30% by 2030. At the moment, it is only purchasing 6.2%.

Needing more government help

Local farmers say if the state is serious about building farming and agriculture locally, there needs to be more investment in critical infrastructure like water systems and support in extension programs that assist farmers with things like the latest technology, how to best deal with pests and climate changes, and teaching farmers business skills.

The University of Hawaii’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources is one of the extension sources farmers have been relying on, but it has un- dergone cuts to staff.

Denise Yamaguchi, executive director of the Hawaiʻi Agricultural Foundation, said “Less than half a percent of the state’s budget goes to agriculture, so if we can get them to fund more agricultural infrastructure, more agriculture opportunities, or just things to help the farmers, I think that’s really needed.”

Senator Aquino said there have been legislative efforts to strengthen assistance for farmers by providing invasive species support, exempt general excise taxes for food products that are shipped between the neighbor islands. “There’s certainly more that can be done to help the agricultural industry,” he said.

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By Emil Guillermo

My father was one of the first Filipinos to arrive in America in the 1920s. If Willie Guillermo were alive, he’d be 118 this month. More on dad at the end of this piece. I just know that as a union restaurant worker all his life, he would have loved President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address.

If you thought you were invisible, left out, and unseen in America, Joe Biden saw you on Feb. 7.

Need cheap insulin? Tired of high late payment fees on credit cards? Feeling that the billionaires and the corporates get too much special treatment and don’t pay their fair share of taxes?