Issue Position: Agriculture

Issue Position

Hawai'i was once a completely self-sustaining chain of islands in the middle of the Pacific ocean. We now only produce about 10% of our own food. I strongly believe we need to come together as a community and strengthen Hawai'i agriculture to become more self-sustainable. A frightening statistic is that the average age of Hawai'i farmers is 60 years old. We need to educate and inspire our younger generations to embrace the farming lifestyle. Born into a fourth generation farming family in Wahiawa who established Petersons' Upland Farm in 1910, I uniquely understand the difficulties facing agriculture in Hawai'i today. As your state legislator I would fight to keep our agricultural lands zoned for their intended use, provide tax incentives for local famers, continue to educate the public on the importance of buying local, and encourage educational programs in our schools such as Future Farmers of America.

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