An organic and GMO-free future for the Big Island

Aloha. Good for Mayor Billy Kenoi and good for “we the people” of the Big Island to now have an organic and GMO-free future.

Next step is to get our Mayor to support Cannabis hemp farming and the end of decades of damaging prohibition beginning with respecting our Peaceful Sky ordinance. It’s long overdue for the Mayor, Prosecutor and Police Chief to fully honor the will of the majority of the voters there. Cannabis deserves to be part of our sustainable future.

Mayor Billy says he’s going to “begin one year of research and data collection to investigate factual claims and seek out new directions that farming in our community should take”. Good. That research and data collection MUST include a fair look at Cannabis hemp for all its many benefits. To that end I sent our Mayor a 3-page letter including a package of printed Cannabis hemp materials two weeks ago with my request for his personal and public support. The time has come to face the facts, the science and end the “Reefer Madness” of the 1930′s.

Every Big Island home is a potential ‘profit-center’. Every garden a job location. No need college education. No need expensive investment start-up, or technical training. Stay home, cook rice, grow herb, make value-added Cannabis hemp products; foods, medicines, fabrics, building products, fuels and much more.

Hawai’i already has a worldwide reputation for premium, organic Cannabis (Puna buttah, Kona gold, etc.). We’ve got the ‘location, location, location’ with no need for expensive electric grow lights - we’ve got real sunshine working for us most of the year round. We’ve got the land, the soil, the water and the workforce to make the highest and best use of all these elements combined.

I also recommend that others communicate with the Mayor’s office, make a personal connection (local-style) and submit research materials and product samples for Cannabis hemp asap. Those materials should include the professional soil testing that U.H.H. Department of Tropical Ag did specifically for our Cannabis “Hemp Symposium” back in the 1990′s. Prof. John Matthews might still be there to help find and submit the research. Sabrey Shehata was the Department head at the time; a very friendly and helpful guy. Mahalo.

“Cannabis hemp: Hawaii’s Next BIG Thing!”

All the best to everyone,

Roger

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—-(name redacted) on 12/5/2013 6:36 PM wrote:

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Mayor Billy Kenoi signed Bill 113 on December 5, 2013. Below is the message he sent to the Hawai i County Council:

Aloha, Chair Yoshimoto and Members:

On Nov. 19, 2013 the Hawai i County Council adopted Bill 113 Draft 3 adding a new article relating to Genetically Engineered Crops and Plants, and on Nov. 21, 2013 delivered the bill to me for my consideration. After careful deliberation and discussions with members of my administration and the public, I am signing Bill 113.

Our community has a deep connection and respect for our land, and we all understand we must protect our island and preserve our precious natural resources. We are determined to do what is right for the land because this place is unlike any other in the world. With this new ordinance we are conveying that instead of global agribusiness corporations, we want to encourage and support community-based farming and ranching.

The debate over this bill has at times been divisive and hurtful, and some of our hard-working farmers who produce food for our community have been treated disrespectfully. We are determined to protect every farmer and rancher. Agriculture on Hawai i Island will continue to grow with county assistance, investment and support. That commitment includes initiatives such as the public-private partnership to improve and expand the Pa auilo Slaughterhouse to support our grass-fed beef industry, and the launch of the Kapulena Agricultural Park, the largest agricultural park in the state on 1,739 acres of county-owned land. It also includes support for innovative training programs to grow the farmers of the future, and to train veterans to engage in agriculture on Hawaiian Home Lands, and the introduction and advancement of Korean Natural Farming as a sustainable method of producing healthier crops and livestock. It includes completion of the first-in-the-state Food Self-Sufficiency Baseline Study of Hawai i Island to measure the island s progress toward food self-sufficiency.

We are determined to reunite our farming community to create a stronger and more vibrant agricultural sector. It is time to end the angry rhetoric and reach out to our neighbors. Our farmers are essential to creating a wholesome and sustainable food supply on this island, and they deserve to be treated with respect and aloha. We must turn now to a meaningful, factual dialogue with one another.

With my approval of this bill, our administration will launch a year of research and data collection to investigate factual claims and to seek out new directions that farming in our community should take. This work will include an expanded database detailing the locations of both organic and conventional farms, the crops that are grown, more accurate estimates of the revenue earned from these enterprises, and the challenges our farmers face in meeting food safety and organic certification requirements. We will work with our farmers and our ranchers to carefully monitor the impacts of this bill over the next year to separate speculation and guesswork from the facts.

Today our communities expect that government will be as cautious as possible in protecting our food and water supplies. We all want to minimize impacts to the environment while also producing abundant, affordable food for local consumption. This ordinance expresses the desires and demands of our community for a safe, sustainable agricultural sector that can help feed our people while keeping our precious island productive and healthy.

Aloha,

William P. Kenoi
MAYOR

Tags: Cannabis, GMO, hemp