EBT dollars at work

[Punatic007]

quote:

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Originally posted by alaskyn66

According to a 2008 report.. Hawaii has about 7 days worth of food.less now I'm sure ..as the population has grown.so if something disastrous or a strike by the freight haulers happened.. it would be troublesome...but just as they do in any remote areas in trouble.. they will fly supplies in.

..What would King Kamehameha do..

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Between fishing(I live near enough to the ocean) and what grows in my yard, a small family would eat quite well. Too bad it's not the norm as of yet.

[alaskyn66]

Never understood why they don't look into farming fish more.. ( I know they play with it)... but fish farming should be huge.I know there is a guy in.. Kahala district that raises crawfish.. and they mess around with oysters on this side .. but fish should be the big..gotta have.


..What would King Kamehameha do..

[kalakoa]

Explain how worker safety, insurance, building codes differ and affect the cost significantly from anywhere else.

It's still cheaper to import food which is produced in places that lack these requirements.

the tomato businesses in HPP ... Coffee farms in the correct geographical areas

High-value niche products can still compete, especially when grown by a sole proprietor (or family) which enjoy exemptions from many regulations (no "workers", thus no liability).

Ignore the armchair analysts and grow some food -- see if you can compete with Foodland or KTA. Good luck.

[geochem]

quote:

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Originally posted by alaskyn66

Never understood why they don't look into farming fish more.. ( I know they play with it)... but fish farming should be huge.I know there is a guy in.. Kahala district that raises crawfish.. and they mess around with oysters on this side .. but fish should be the big..gotta have.

..What would King Kamehameha do..

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very simple answer: it's expensive and obstructionists do their best to kill any project that's successful. For about 40 years now, the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii has served as an incubator for marine aquaculture.
There have been some micro-algae and edible seaweed producers that have been able to make it work but commodity level production of edible fin/shell fish is nearly impossible: the only "successful" product that goes directly to market is abalone at something in the neighborhood of $20/lb. Labor and energy costs are too high here to produce a competitive product compared to those from third world countries (e.g. shrimp). A large number of other efforts at onshore production have gone bust.

Kampachi Farms has tried to do cage aquaculture offshore - but has had to defend themselves from one or more lawsuits from the deepgreen crowd. They have survived for a few years but I'm sure that they haven't gotten rich doing it.

[David M]

So perhaps there needs to be a less commercial and more reasoned, compassionate approach. Why is it that EBT and/or tax dollars are a more acceptable solution?
Why aren't the local groups, from Hawaiian Homelands and all the various factions of sovereignty focused on actually taking care of people? Might it be more beneficial to help feed the less fortunate thru growing food rather that blocking roads? Might it be somewhat sensible if our federal, state, and county parks and other publicly owned land had an area set aside for production of food, be it a taro patch, banana grove, plot of potatoes, fish pond, chicken coop, etc. imagine if each and every park had even a small area set aside. And each plot have its own local group attend to its administration, not some taxpayer funded employee position. Why is it that the coconut trees along Bayfront have to be commercially maintained when the hundreds of coconuts could feed those willing to earn them. Why do we see tons of food rotting under trees?
Of course, the reasons why not range from all the health & safety laws etc to the philosophy that no one should be made to work against their will, but I say these are easily solvable problems. Done under the guise of sovereignty, existing rules and regulation could be bypassed, maybe even exceptions allowed. Each individual group administering an area would be free to identify its beneficiaries, that way if a group decides only contributors benefit while another says everyone shares regardless of contribution, each would serve its likeminded group.
Of course those on the commercial end would not be supportive, no county taxpayer funded Union positions, potential loss of grants and status, less spending in the commercial venues that have come to reply on it. Yea, lots of reasons why not only it won't work, but reasons why no one will even try.
I'll even bet that there are more PW comments why this can't/won't/shouldn't work vs comments on why it can/will/ should work.
Prove me wrong!!!

Ninole Resident
Please visit vacation.ninolehawaii.com

[EightFingers]

What' it's going to take is a massive disaster that cuts Hawaii off from the rest of the world, maybe a war that disrupts shipping. Then it will become a race to grow crops to feed the starving here. I'm not one of those "preppers" but every once in awhile my imagination wanders. Hawaii should be able to feed its population on its own.

So what would happen here if EBT was phased out in five or ten years? Would Walmart go out of business? Would crime increase?

Edited to fix stupid auto-correct errors.....

[kalakoa]

a massive disaster that cuts Hawaii off from the rest of the world

This will "never" happen, no need to plan.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Hawaii should be able to feed its population on its own.

I'm doing my share.

I have an avocado tree near the road, it's picked clean every year before I can even get one. One year I watched a guy climb up on the cab of his pickup so he didn't miss any. I asked him to leave a few for me, and he accused me of not having the Aloha spirit.

I also have a dozen or so coconut trees in the front yard that are regularly picked clean. Once I noticed a guy harvesting up in the crown and asked if he wouldn't mind trimming some of the dead fronds while he was up there. He said the saw he used only cut coconuts, not fronds.

They're probably all disappointed I don't plant more trees to feed the population here in the islands.

(Both instances took place with people who came into my yard to pick from trees growing on my property, in view of my house. If they had asked I would have said sure, take a few. They never ask.)

“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.”
-Joseph Brodsky

[alaskyn66]

http://www.hawaiibusiness.com/can-hawaii-feed-itself/
Enlightening article on Hawaii feeding itself..

..What would King Kamehameha do..

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

alaskyn66-
That article you linked was from 2014. Since that time, Richard Ha, the first person interviewed in the story has gone out of the vegetable business:

Hawaii’s supply of locally grown tomatoes has gotten considerably smaller after one of the state’s biggest producers decided to exit the business.

Richard Ha, Hamakua Springs president, said his greenhouse and hydroponic system equipment needed replacing but was going to cost three times what he originally invested to establish the tomato operation in 2002.

“We just couldn’t make the numbers work,”?he said. “The plants themselves are not producing any more.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015...-business/

“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.”
-Joseph Brodsky