Agriculture

...Another hemp bill, Senate Bill 1353, was vetoed by Governor Ige last year, after he expressed concerns that it was unenforceable. This year’s version was worked on directly with the Governor's administration to ensure its enactment....

...people want what works, and they don’t care about the toxicity....

...On April 30, Dean Foods completed the sales of its Hilo facility and related distribution branches on the Big Island, Kauai and Maui, as well as a license to the Meadow Gold Hawaii brand name and related intellectual property to MGD Acquisition LLC....

...Reached Agreement in Principle with an Interested Party for the Sale of Dean Foods’ Hilo Facility and Related Assets on the Big Island, Kauai and Maui as an Ongoing Business--Operations of Honolulu Facility Set to Close By April 30, 2020....

...I recall so many antis marching in Waikiki with those precious N-95 masks and hazmat suits that are needed now....

...said state Sen. Mike Gabbard (D-Kapolei-Makakilo), who introduced the measure, “This is the right thing to do!”....

"...ADC acknowledged that there is some criminal activity going on but said they did not want to send sheriffs there and clear it out because criminals would just come back...."

...On an idle Wednesday this last week, a thunderclap of a bulletin came across the 5:00 p.m. local news....

...the government agreed to dismiss two felony charges for unlawfully transporting and storing hazardous waste at locations on Maui and Moloka’i....

...there is no paper that is so dreadful that it cannot be published somewhere....

...to the politician who quietly supported us in word but did the opposite in action-- you’ve created this mess....

...The Trump administration announced that it had finalized its repeal of President Barack Obama’s infamous 2015 Clean Water Rule....

...activists have scared parents into believing that they must fear pesticides but ignore other real safety hazards....

...Hawai‘i’s Agribusiness Development Corporation (ADC) has violated the federal Clean Water Act by polluting ocean waters along Kauaʻi’s West Side without a permit, a federal court ruled yesterday....

...Acreage harvested for all seed crops is expected to total 2,530 acres during the 2018-19 season, down 17 percent from the previous season....

...This week’s opening round of Democratic Party presidential debates threatens to fall short on science and is likely to be dominated by ideological talking points when it comes to food, farming and agricultural biotechnology....

...The activists could not get the results they wanted in a scientific study and instead went to the courtroom to make their case....

...Scientists use a powerful microbial detection device to show that suggestions of sewage in Kauai’s watershed were mostly false positives....

...industrial hemp business for the U.S. is significant for Hawaii, where the climate makes it possible to harvest up to three crops annually....

...Wouldn’t be wonderful if a wealthy non-profit volunteered to pay for all the regulations they demand?....

...With legal representation from Neil Abercrombie’s former Attorney General David Louie, former penny stock tout Jeffrey Dunster tried to use a bag full of receipts to claim ownership of a house known as ‘13’.  It didn't work....

...farmers are increasingly frustrated and dispirited by having to deal with the demands and unrealistic expectations of a public that is growing ever more distant from the realities of agriculture....

...Killing this bill sends $62M from A&B to Mahi Pono which has its staff larded up with anti-GMO activists....

...The AOC requires Big Island Dairy owners to terminate their dairy operations, remove all their cows from confinement on the site, clean and remove the existing wastewater system, and pay $79,000 by June of 2019....

...Among the projects approved is Hoohana Solar 1 in Kunia, which is planned for a parcel zoned as prime agricultural land, where renewable energy projects are currently not permitted....

...The new term for the Commissioner will begin July 1, 2019 and run for four (4) years, expiring on June 30, 2023....

...Those burgers you picked up at the grocery store may have originated in Hawaii....

...Nomi Carmona of the Babes Against Biotech was not present at the State Capitol. Ashley Lukens of the Center for Food Safety was a no show. Walter Ritte wasn’t even there too....

...Ige has appointed Phyllis Shimabukuro-Geiser chairperson of the Hawai‘i Board of Agriculture.  Former Chair Denise Albano resigned for personal reasons on January 29, 2019....

“That would be pretty hard for Hawaii” -- Sen Mazie Hirono

"...we were unable to find a clear regulatory path forward for this innovative and sustainable model of dairy farming...."

...In addition to spawning anti-dairy activism, Omidyar’s Kauai dairy proposal created a political and perhaps legal precedent requiring previously exempt farmers to obtain an environmental impact statement before commencing operations....

...The Hawaii DOA lists the following erroneous justification for HB939: "Given the nature of hemp as a Schedule 1 Controlled Substance . . .."   However, as of Dec. 20, 2018, hemp was removed from that list....

...It is trendy right now to be telling tales about farmers....

...All of A&B's existing agricultural personnel will be offered positions with Mahi Pono....

...Representative Cynthia Thielen (R–Kailua, Kaneohe Bay) celebrates the legalization of industrial hemp through the passage of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (H.R. 2), better known as the 2018 Farm Bill....

...These feel-good ideas are placed upon farmers with no consideration of the consequences of its impacts....

...As global honeybee population increases, activists blame neonicotinoid pesticides for ‘bird-pocalypse’ that’s not happening....

...Chemophobia may lead to real risks....

...not reported to the 2018 Legislature as required by Sections 37-47 and 37-52.5, HRS....

...If you do not farm, why should you dictate how farming should be done?....

...New glyphosate study suggesting danger to honeybee microbiota is detailed, sophisticated—and wrong....

“The vast majority of those businesses impacted by the City’s food waste recycling ordinance are continuing to use local piggeries to recycle their food waste.”

...When a couple of penny-stock touts, one of whom is listed in the Panama Papers Offshore Leaks Database, start selling timber futures and carbon credits in Hawaii, the greenwash is thicker than most....

...This weekend was spent planting the new fields....

...Revises Requirements for 5 Day or Less Program....

...This weekend was the planting of the trees....

...four of the nine working farms are total losses. The other eight lots are either vacant with leases pending or currently not in production....

...including ethanol in the U.S. gas supply is wreaking havoc on the atmosphere and soil....

...industrial hemp refers to cannabis plants with a tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentration at or below 0.3 percent....