It’s nice to see Kauai County Council member, Gary Hooser, and the Center for Food Safety’s Ashley Lukens on the defensive when speaking lately.  They are repeating, “This law won’t affect small farmers!” I think to myself, how the hell can then know when they have NEVER ran a farm here themselves?! Hooser even had the nerve to say that people stating that are lying.  Whatever sir, as if you have the knowledge and skills to even make  that claim.  When have any of these two ran a farm here to know what it is really like? *crickets*

Ashley and Gary think they know farming but are clueless.  They don’t know that my dad has multiple small fields around the island.  Land prices are high here as leasing it is too. One field is next to a church and another borders a school and others in in ag lots that have homes around it and possibly some childcare occurring in them.  With unknown parameters given in the bills, it’s hard to determine how the farm will be hit.  It’s even more concerning because of his plans to expand to help meet the demands for his product.  More fields means more crop protection products which may or may not subject him to these onerous regulations.  Then on the opposite hand they talk about growing the local food supply while attacking the farmer’s tools.  

It’s amazing how politicians and activists keep repeating phrases that they really no nothing about.  I doubt Senator Josh Green, who is also a medical doctor, would want a patient telling him what to do.  These people see no problem with being downright dishonest and having no ethics about their actions and impacts.  Then they wonder why the local folks are getting angry with them.  

Local style means not speaking up and go with the flow.  The predominantly Asian culture looks down upon standing out and speaking up to draw attention to oneself.  These transplants have taken advantage of that fact and are out to make Hawaii their Hawaii without even consideration for local culture.  These people are launching laws against fishing, hunting, and farming using misinformation to portray us as destroyers of the environment.  Meanwhile, these local folks are the ones who know the issues the best and have practices supported with evidence.

It’s easy to talk about someone’s line of work when you have no clue about it.  Taking advantage of the public’s poor awareness about the infrastructure, economics, and the science and technology of agriculture is effective when combined with scare tactics.  It’s despicable but effective as we have seen and they are coming to a neighborhood or giving you a call soon.  Will you fall for their schtick of “protecting the keiki and kupuna” or will you see through the charade?  



A prime example of non-farmers giving directives to farmers.