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07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00000.flac

i wanted this to share a few things but i'm going to not share as much as i wanted to share because we are starting late i'd like to get this thing going so we all get home at a decent hour this this election is very important to

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state we support agriculture to the tune of point four percent no way i made a mistake this year they lowered it from point four percent to point three eight percent and in the same breath they're saying food

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security so it doesn't feel very secure to me as a farmer to hear that and my family and i we've been farming here since nineteen ninety

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00003.flac

three and we produce last year we produce twenty one thousand pounds of food for the community on two thousand square feet so unless we were that efficient to produce that much food

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00004.flac

commons here in the spirit of being able to grow our food here locally so we started as an organization in actually in two thousand and nine but really in two thousand and ten march of two thousand and ten we had our first meeting

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00005.flac

on maui and now we have ten chapters across the islands and about nine hundred members so we are growing exponentially and we're fortunate to know that we have not only

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00006.flac

farmers but gardeners and foodies alike who value our mission and what we're what we're about in rejuvenating our lands and also at the same time advocating for our local food production so what we've done as an

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00007.flac

organisation is put together a five point plan you'll hear about that five point plan tonight in our questions and that five point plan basically deals with the whole system of agriculture what makes up the whole system of agriculture and as we see it is

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00008.flac

at forty years old getting into farming didn't know what i was doing i was a gardener you know but i had the passion and that's what i still have today and that's what's can sustain our family farm along with my wife's passion and our son who works full time on the farm and our

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00009.flac

daughter who came out of it actually she designs and fabricate her own women's swimwear line so here she grew up in a farm family knew about being an entrepreneur and she went and got to go work for somebody else you know and design

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00010.flac

has her own business in that respect so there's a lot of benefits to our economy that represents a family farm the multiplier effect we like to call it so outside of work workforce development we support agricultural land trust we

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00011.flac

get out once they get it and that would be enforced in a way that we wouldn't have any quote unquote gentleman estates they would be active farms and so we have a man in our organization who's actually a board member of our five hundred one c three foundation tailbone our has been

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00012.flac

advocating advocating and working on developing that third thing is new treat recycling centers we're developing and advocating for those in our regions c the reason why we have so many chapters is because we want to

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00013.flac

build our agricultural strength regionally we want to you know when you're growing things in hama it's a lot different than you're growing in line where james is right now you know and so each region has its own issues and its own challenges and its own benefits

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00014.flac

and we want to highlight those and bring that to where we can have a supportive system in place so nutrient recycling our nutrients back on to the land to rejuvenate the soils that have been depleted by plantation agriculture over a long period of time

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00015.flac

is an important aspect of what we represent and the fourth thing is food hubs have aggregates places where we can as farmers bring all our produce and then have that aggregate out whether it's fresh and

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00016.flac

and it's so beautiful to see these kind of farms these boutique farms springing up all over the place so it's important that we support our farmers first and foremost making a living at what they love to do and secondly to put across

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00017.flac

five point plan and you the folks that are running for office they can get into office to support us in this respect because we're poised to work with anyone who is willing to work with us so on that note i'd like to introduce our first

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00018.flac

but domestic violence doesn't happen in a vacuum it's a lot of the community issues things like poverty homelessness housing all the different effects of of you know living on an island community and the cost of living and all those kinds

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00019.flac

i know on a very small scale what farmers experience on a large scale aside from the having to make a living at it so i'm not doing it on that level i'm just trying to raise enough tomatoes for my grandson

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00020.flac

to eat every morning so i am here mostly to learn to i'm glad to know that the white farmers union is relatively young and so i'm not too far behind the curve and i'm grateful to be

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00021.flac

development sorry for the false start on that and there are comment on that is that with the average age of farmers in hawaii it at sixty we can all agree we need to grow a new generation of farmers equipped with the skills to create successful farming

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00022.flac

also having gotten grants from the county i know that they have a lot of requirements but i think when you're looking at a program like this you're looking at something new and something different so i think everyone could come with a different set of

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00023.flac

goals and they might all be very very worthy right because you might have somebody who's trying to create a farm you might have somebody who are who has a farm was trying to get a bigger farm you might have somebody with a big farm that's trying to invest in and infrastructure more

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equipment or something like that so i think those kinds of grants shouldn't be too restrictive because you need to be able to be creative with new projects so i would support that because i think the need is here and it's huge

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00025.flac

question and the statement and i think of the programs that we have in place programs that we grew up with like f if a and things like that i noticed as an adult i don't see as much participation when we were in

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00026.flac

much anymore and that's something that we need to start to support more in our schools to support our fund i'd like to see that apprenticeship programs incorporate alternative farming practices i

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00027.flac

you would want a beginning farmer program to have in order to win your support absolutely absolutely in my thoughts in a farm apprenticeship program in any apprenticeship program is importance of diversity in their training as a young farmer

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00028.flac

diversity in pest control in soil maintenance which is a big issue that will be discussing in a little bit and especially i think a lot of people when they think about farm apprenticeships they think about manual labor so i that's why i would like to see more training and

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00029.flac

more education in the program so that the farmers that we produce are going to be able to accept and be able to deal with some of the change in diversity in the market thank

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00030.flac

thank you all our next question is strangely enough on the same theme only it's about nutrient cycling centers and soil health and regenerative agriculture so our lead in comment currently many of our hawaii

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00031.flac

farmers months purchased imported nutrient farm amendments is an expense for farmers that's passed down to the consumer in the meantime we accept twenty thousand tons of food waste at the maui county dump that could

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00032.flac

one of the barriers is definitely that many of our leaders are not maybe not privy to the background of all the different farming

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00033.flac

practices in the last two years of my degree i focused on the anthropology of agriculture and how different countries throughout the world are now reverting back to their indigenous agriculture systems in brazil

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00034.flac

in korea and learning that the system that worked all along was the best system for the place which makes perfect sense but we've been i think in a in a place where we've

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00035.flac

we have multiple hotels here who do these huge catering jobs and have all this extra food and i actually know that because sometimes the food ends about our shelter when it's good but you know there's all this byproduct you know when you're prepping food

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00036.flac

all that stuff there's so much food just from the hotels and catering companies that could end up in composting that makes perfect sense to me i think part of the problem and the barrier is that we similar

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00037.flac

we don't know better yet like we're just learning about that that we could take all that food and turn it into wonderful rich soil is it's not a new concept by any means is a very old concept but we've gotten used to doing

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00038.flac

educate us as county council and as leaders throughout the state about the importance of that thank you thank you very much all of you thank you i don't know if we mention this this race actually has four people running but we

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00039.flac

we need an empty seat ok food helps across the nation food hubs are becoming solutions for centralizing food processing and distribution increasing food production capabilities for small farmers by paving the way for

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cooperatives our five point plan is working with the state wide farm to school initiative for growing food for the dio we school lunch program all three of you you have one minute please describe benefits you can imagine

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00041.flac

for the citizens of maui that would result from the maui county facilitating in funding a food hub let me repeat that please describe benefits you can imagine for the citizens of maui that would result from maui county

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00042.flac

fishermen up there selling for fresh fish you've got people growing and cooking with their own food and and selling wonderful fresh food at the market so something like that i i also think that oh and one of the biggest things that

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00043.flac

happened for my family is this fresh eggs you know getting our gannett eggs that cost goes great by getting locally grown eggs that are all different sizes and colors and and when there's a huge difference so that was an

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00044.flac

education for me and you know one of my things that i'm i keep saying is you know i grew up in a time where things were different and going to the supermarket became a luxury and that if you had any status you go to the market you don't have to have your own chickens but we're reclaiming that now and i think

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00045.flac

and what happened people grew their own food people worked on barter systems people were able to have their own food hubs in their communities where they were able to trade and barter their goods for the things they needed why do i think food hubs are important because a food hub for sustainable

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00046.flac

training that would be involved with that education for these people this is part of the five point plan for the farmers union in my mind to bring apart this new change in our agricultural system and how we view our food how what we eat and how we eat it so i would be completely

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00047.flac

for developing these food hubs for the idea of training apprenticeship programs bringing healthy food into our community and developing through the county of maui ways that we can use and certify these are getting farms so that a food can be given

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00048.flac

so we're going to switch to policy a little bit and we're going to have a separate question for each of you we have specific questions with each of you in mind our topic is the farm land zoning and affordable land trusts in other words

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00049.flac

this you have two minutes so here's your question our organization supports the concepts of farmers living on the land they farm and lease through an agricultural land trust what

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00050.flac

ideas would you propose in moving in this direction so that it would be actualized in other words how can we make it so that people can lease farm lands and actually live on them it's a wonderful question it's interesting thing is i think we're looking at

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housing start developing more sustainable lands that these farmers are actually putting more interest into their land as they're developing the cost and the resources that they can be gained from that as we're developing that we need to look i think we need to look at that

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community is to start getting on some big business to say what is your plan especially alexander bald how are you planning on developing this for as you they have stated for use for individual farmland once that is together then i think we can move forward as a group towards a project to

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00053.flac

speaking with right now so these are three of the four candidates for the a country consul seat a stacey you have your own question two minutes what are your ideas for changing eggs zoning that will allow for more options for farm

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worker dwellings including temporary structures such as the new trend of tiny houses in your i think that's an excellent idea i love the title house idea and i think that we do need to change some of our

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regulations if you will to allow for that because right now it's kind of complicated you really can't just put up a year you still need a permit if you have a tidy house you need to put it on wheels i mean it's kind of silly but i think that as a county if

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we're really committed to one affordable housing which we keep saying we are and if we are really committed to farming and growing our food and supporting local businesses these are all very small businesses we're trying to support we keep saying we

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00057.flac

are and we need to find ways to make that happen and so i would support that i think the concern is that sometimes people will say that it's workforce housing and build a mansion on their land so i think that we would

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want to monitor that and have an enforcement part of this as well to make sure it's one thing yes we absolutely want to support workforce housing if you're working on the farm that's very important and we all have to have support and housing

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you know looking at not everybody's paying their fair share sometimes on taxes some people are paying too much some people are not paying enough so to have an a foresman piece to make sure everybody's paying their fair share that's really important to me i think we need to look at that and that that would actually pay for itself

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00060.flac

pretty quickly i also wanted to say that you know the we have a big housing crisis here so this is a solution i think to several problems

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the housing and the ag and the growing food so i think it's a good solutions i'm really glad you're asking those questions thank you

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00062.flac

thank you have two minutes and your question is completely different given what it costs for the average farmer to rent a house lease farmland pay for equipment pay for imported amendments and import irrigation costs etc in other words

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00063.flac

there's a lot of cost if you want to farm what do you think it will take to make farming more successful enterprise and what could you do about it if you're elected i think it is going to take the corporation

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of county and state government to be able to put aside those funds you know in just touching on the other questions i think i believe in order for us to change what

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is acceptable and that's going to take a change to what you revert by statutes or change to our county charter but that's something as policymakers that is in our power to do and i think we need to be able to look at the

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policies that have been in place for ever and and reexamine if they truly suit us today and if they don't then we need to look at what our community really needs and funding i would be able to bring different

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00067.flac

parts of our community together i think one of my strengths is being able to reach out to those who are the experts in their field i readily know that i am not in experts in off field and i am aware

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00068.flac

of that and i i very much honor and respect the expertise of those people who are experts when i was on the state land use commission i did vote against of very controversial development on awful because

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how much the cost of irrigation would be to develop a new site and so as policy makers as government leaders we need to be able to protect those people who are producing food we need to be able to protect those

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00070.flac

places that they are currently farming those places that are currently in ag and we need to to put aside those funds and invest if security food sustainability is our goal like water

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00071.flac

infrastructure like all those things like like housing affordable housing we need to be able to prioritize and give funding to those places thank you so much

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00072.flac

third party a completely one of the thoughts that i've had is maybe it should be a separate entity that just doing the public trust maybe not necessarily a nonprofit but it could be a nonprofit but it could be a completely separate

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00073.flac

corporation that runs and maintains that system because right now the the challenge is you know we have a big corporation who has used that water system for its very existence and sugar you know

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00074.flac

so and they you know they built it and they've maintained it but they've also read their investment many times over so now it's time to share the water with everyone re stores some of the streams that have

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00075.flac

been you know they've cut the streams off so the life cycles there have completely changed and there are farmers along the way we need to if our commitment is to diversify agriculture we're going to need to share that water

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00076.flac

invested interests in it owning it maybe it's the state i mean maybe that's the best answer maybe it's a third party i i would like to investigate that more thank you very much

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00077.flac

system that needs repair and or replacement how do you as a candidate see the needed infrastructure being put in while dealing with the multiple entities out there that wish to control the water should i repeat that

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00078.flac

was the legislature approved alexander bottom to keep the water rights for the next thirteen years that's a complete travesty that should have that should be immediately really looked at and changed so that we're not it's not under corporate control i believe all of that water and that infrastructure that was built

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00079.flac

supplies water to the plantation not counting your game and there was water by is everywhere i think we need to get control back of our water system so we can use it to get back to the streams to get back to our the people who need it with that we need to deal with our water quality

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00080.flac

we have to get back to looking at the old system you know we have great groups at the watershed partnerships we have to make sure that the water coming from the mountain is safe healthy and clean for our farmers to use i think we need to look at it as this top down system

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00081.flac

protect our water resources and again to reclaim the water that's here on the island to the people who really deserve it and not the large corporations who abused it thank you thank you

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00082.flac

there and not in use and it's it's shameful it's disgraceful when so many people need it that we hear so often about the need of all the different parts of our community that no one entity should be able to

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00083.flac

waste that way and so i would be very active in looking at the policies that concern this thank you very much

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00084.flac

economic efficiency with the hope that this would replace currently employed practices that the farmers union doesn't really support so knowing that we have a few questions for you starting with eric

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00085.flac

what would you do to empower the hawaii department of agriculture in hawaii health department by supporting bills that monitor pesticide drift to protect our health and environment such as things like product testing soil

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00086.flac

citizens in maui county need to take the helm on that and start doing their own tests there are organizations the department of water supply there's other groups where you can swab your screens i think we need to find out especially if you're living next to an agricultural area where there is spring or you

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00087.flac

suspect to look at what the chemicals are in the area with that i have to say that i think a lot of it is up to the individual landowner i'm against pesticides you know in my in my career and i have a large stand as a farmer

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00088.flac

stacey one minute again when it's been proven that there are biological applications that can provide solutions to agricultural production issues what is your position on promoting these over practices that

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00089.flac

use other substances which which are well known hormonal disruptors and possible carcinogens and might cause physical harm to both people and the environment so the question is about

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00090.flac

if there are proven biological applications what your position on promoting the over you know our business as usual practices again i think it comes back to when you know better and i have to do better so

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00091.flac

part of the i sat on the resolutions committee for the democratic party last year or last convention two years ago and one of the big things that came up from koichi was that people children were being born with horrible birth defects you couldn't deny it

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there was such a high level of that that was proving to be connected to pesticides and runoff and things like that and so the party created a position saying that that need to stop that we need to be informed and that people need to know what

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00093.flac

was happening in their areas because it was so dramatic i would absolutely support that too i think the least that we can expect is to know what's going on in our especially near schools and there are homes near parks and if there are

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00094.flac

biological ways that will work then we need to look at that if we if there are proven ways then we need to use that instead because i know that there are ways that are we're just not using because we're not being sort of sold by dow chemical you know

07282016HFUUforum_SLASH_07-28-2016_HFUUforum_DOT_mp3_00095.flac

parks and our our highways our department of parks and rec our our county managing director if we can be able to show through experience through through it works that these these alternative

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methods and methods that are better for us where then then they're more apt to use them and i would want to create policies to make us use them thank you thank you very much we have one last

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you one last question and this one's labeled other but it's for all three of you and we'll give you one minute we have noticed that many of the candidates running this year are freshman in a field of potentially seasoned council

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potentially seasoned council members how do you see working together with others that may not share your values or point of view in how to address our agricultural needs and eric you can go first one minute

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issues and be involved in any kind of negotiations and any kind of a planning there is always a need for mediation because there are always conflicting views as council member my goal would be to be there as that mediator to help bring