Farmers, ranchers and industry advocates are meanwhile undeterred by the lukewarm financial outlook, driven by funding changes within the federal government, as they seek tens of millions of dollars worth of funding for several key projects and even a new shipping subsidy before the session starts on Jan. 21.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The senators voiced frustrations with the state Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity that echo concerns they raised last year<\/a>, when the state enacted legislation to completely reorganize<\/a> the department and add over $26 million for more staff and biosecurity programs. But their grievances remain over staff vacancies.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Lawmakers chastised the agency\u2019s lack of progress in implementing a long list of mandates to curb the impacts of invasive species such as little fire ants, coqui frogs and coconut rhinoceros beetles. At the heart of the problem is the agency\u2019s list of 116 vacancies, which Senate Ways and Means Chair Donovan Dela Cruz said they need to resolve quickly.<\/p>\n \u201cIf not, we\u2019re in tough times. We\u2019re going to take the money,\u201d Dela Cruz said. \u201cIf you guys aren\u2019t ready and you aren\u2019t going to be able to spend it, we\u2019re going to have to look at where we\u2019re going to save money for the tax breaks.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The agency, which has more than 320 people when fully staffed, filled 33 roles last year, but its staff worries that low salaries, a skill shortage and a lack of educational opportunities are hampering its progress.\u00a0<\/p>\n The empty roles include everything from entry level plant inspectors to the head of the Plant Industry Division, which has been led by at least five different people since early 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n Richard Kim, who held the role for 10 months, is the latest in a string of administrators who have left after short tenures.<\/p>\n \u201cHopefully we can find a permanent administrator shortly but I\u2019m holding down the fort now,\u201d Deputy Director Dean Matsukawa told Civil Beat. \u201cI think it\u2019s on fairly good ground. So it kind of just needs some administrative support.\u201d<\/p>\n The Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity has also lodged a request for just over $38 million for infrastructure projects, including building agricultural parks and improving state-owned irrigation lines.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sen. Samantha DeCorte recommended the agency hold off on new initiatives, such as the\u00a0agricultural parks<\/a>, before it creates a solid plan to increase production and control invasive species.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we can trim the fat in some areas, that would be good also,\u201d DeCorte said. \u201cBut executing pending programs is critical at this time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Biosecurity, Food Security<\/p>\n Agriculture advocates understand the state\u2019s budgetary constraints but they are still preparing to make hefty requests this year, including the creation of two new research centers at the University of Hawai\u02bbi. The centers aim to address household food security concerns and improve biosecurity efforts, through research and community education.\u00a0<\/p>\n Contractors have already designed the proposed Center on Biosecurity Research, Education and Extension, according to UH Agriculture Dean Parwinder Grewal, with an anticipated $45 million price tag.<\/p>\n It will focus on detecting, monitoring and eradicating invasive pests throughout the islands, with a specific focus on biocontrol methods that are easier on the environment.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cVery little is being done,\u201d Grewal said, adding that most of the current work is happening in a piecemeal fashion, across multiple locations.\u00a0<\/p>\n The new facility would cost $25 million, with greenhouses and a laboratory. Another $20 million would be needed for office space, to house university researchers and other staff under one roof.\u00a0<\/p>\n Grewal understands the financial outlook is bad for the new project but he hopes to piece together state and federal funding, including from the U.S. Department of Defense, which has supported Hawai\u02bbi\u2019s pest control efforts in the past.\u00a0<\/p>\n UH has not included the centers as part of its bill package, but the Hawai\u02bbi Farm Bureau has stepped up to find a lawmaker to sponsor the legislation.\u00a0<\/p>\n The work is particularly important, considering the fact that farmers typically name invasive species as one of their greatest impediments to productivity, says bureau executive director Brian Miyamoto. He believes the state\u2019s renewed focus on controlling pests is only the first step in what needs to be a more thorough process.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got to take it a further step, developing more solutions, looking at biocontrols and biocontainment, looking at it from the university side and the research side,\u201d Miyamoto said. \u201cWe can\u2019t just be reactive.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The federal government\u2019s withdrawal of support for\u00a0nutrition and food assistance programs has also spurred the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience to propose a Human and Community Resilience Institute, which carries a smaller $1.2 million price tag.\u00a0<\/p>\n The institute would employ 12 staff statewide to educate families about nutrition and to complement initiatives to reduce the health burden of diet-related diseases, filling gaps left by the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s abolition of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education, which funded 13 positions within the college until 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n Several of the college\u2019s health and human resilience programs would also be consolidated within the institute, Grewal said, including the state 4-H program<\/a>.<\/p>\n Farmers\u2019 Concerns\u00a0<\/p>\n Hawai\u2018i Farmers Union and the Hawai\u02bbi Farm Bureau will return to the Legislature in support of some old-but-ignored initiatives to resolve barriers to expanded local food production.\u00a0<\/p>\n All farmers will face a 25% increase<\/a> in interisland shipping costs starting this month. The change comes less than five years after Young Brothers, the state\u2019s barge operator, increased the rates<\/a> by almost 50%.\u00a0<\/p>\n The state last month approved the price hike, leading many farmers and ranchers to cry foul, claiming the cost of sending their food to market is becoming too much. The industry receives a discount from the shipping monopoly for as much as about a third of the cost, but farmers and ranchers are still struggling.\u00a0<\/p>\n For this reason, Sen. Tim Richards, a Hawai\u2018i island rancher, will sponsor a bill to subsidize interisland shipping of agricultural commodities, with an anticipated cost of $25 million.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s sorely needed,\u201d said Dexter Kishida, food security and biosecurity manager for the Department of Transportation.\u00a0<\/p>\n Housing is one of the farmers union\u2019s top priorities, in response to feedback it received from its members during the union\u2019s annual convention last month. Invasive species controls, and the need for more food hubs, livestock slaughter facilities<\/a> and housing were among the top issues, according to advocacy director Hunter Heaivilin.\u00a0<\/p>\n This ongoing series delves deep into what it would take for Hawai\u2018i to decrease its dependence on imported food and be better positioned to grow its own.<\/p>\n The union is hoping lawmakers will sponsor legislation that helps more farmers use regenerative practices and focus on conservation.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Hawai\u02bbi Farmers Union United will support a carryover measure from last year, introduced by Richards, that seeks to find some solutions to the current housing restrictions on farms<\/a> by 2028. The bill would install a dedicated working group with members from the counties, the state and the industry to find solutions to the complicated issu<\/a>e<\/a>.<\/p>\n Aside from housing, many of the union\u2019s concerns have been addressed by the Legislature and the initiatives are underway. But the industry has a lot further to go, Heaivilin said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lawmakers continue to question the department\u2019s approach, considering half its funding \u2014 approximately $33 million \u2014 is being paid to contractors, for everything from pest control to biosecurity declaration forms at airports<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The department, which receives around $70 million annually, has long blamed its issues on low funding. But the senators on the Ways and Means Committee say they have held up their end of the bargain by injecting money into agriculture and biosecurity, without timely results.<\/p>\n \u201cPretty soon you\u2019re going to have more contract money than staff money,\u201d Dela Cruz said Friday. \u201cIs it just going to be that the staff manages contracts or are you actually going to do work?\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/PXL_20230425_022515691.MP2_-1024x837.jpg\")
The Hawai\u2018i Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity has minimal presence at the Honolulu airport, but it does have amnesty bins where passengers can leave goods that pose a potential environmental threat to the state. (Thomas Heaton\/Civil Beat\/2023)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/01.27.25-Civil-Cafe-2026-Legislative-Preview-1024x512.png\")
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Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz speaks to food systems advocates about his plan to make Wahiaw\u0101 a food and agriculture production hub during the Hawai\u02bbi Food Systems Summit in December. (Courtesy: Michelle Bir)<\/p>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/241016-kf-Kalo-Harvest-211-1024x682.jpg\")
An invasive giant African snail, one of many invasive pests in Hawai\u02bbi, crawls on a kalo plant. (Kevin Fujii\/Civil Beat\/2024)<\/p>\n![\"Adam](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/230628-kf-Pigs-Eat-CRB-077-1024x683.jpg\")
Coconut rhinoceros beetles and their larvae would be a prime candidate for research, as the prolific species threatens several important indigenous crops and has few natural predators. (Kevin Fujii\/Civil Beat\/2023)<\/p>\n![\"Shipping](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Young-Brothers-shipping-pier-39-pier-40-Honolulu-Harbor-v4-1024x683.jpg\")
The cost of shipping has become a key consideration for farmers and ranchers across Hawai\u02bbi, particularly as prices have risen considerably over the past 10 years. (Cory Lum\/Civil Beat\/2022)<\/p>\n![\"Text](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/hawaiiGrown-update-badge.jpg\"){kind=icon}
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