Lawmakers are close to creating a state food systems working group to improve local food resilience and promote local farming.
Senate Bill 1186, which passed the conference committee process this week, seeks to create a “statewide interagency food systems coordination team” that would include leaders along the food supply chain — from farms to restaurants.
The bill is this session’s priority measure for Sen. Mike Gabbard, who chairs the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Environment.
”I’ve been hearing … for years that we import about 85% to 90% of our food, and that costs $3 billion every year,” Gabbard said. " There's roughly 700,000 to 800,000 acres of designated agricultural lands that are just sitting there available to grow food. So my recurring response has been, ‘Okay, we’ve got this huge problem. Alright, what’s the plan to come up with a solution?’ And the reality is there is no plan.”
He said that despite various goals over the years to make Hawaiʻi more food-resilient and less dependent on imports, there isn’t a comprehensive and cohesive plan to get there.
That includes the Hawai‘i 2050 Sustainability Plan, and two state mandates — one to double local food production by 2030, and another for the state Department of Education to procure 30% of its food locally by 2050.
“ We've done a few things over the years to address the problem … but still we don't have an overall plan. And so for the last three years, I've been introducing bills to set up a working group,” Gabbard said.
While local leaders for years have said they want to wean Hawaiʻi off its dependence on imported food, they've had difficulties making progress on that front.
Part of the reason is that the local supply chain involves varied industries, from agriculture to tourism to distribution, that don’t coordinate enough to come up with a plan.
Ulupono Initiative, in written testimony from April 1 in support of the measure, said SB 1186 “takes crucial steps toward strengthening Hawaiʻi's food security and resilience by establishing a coordinated, interagency approach to addressing our food system challenges.”
The COVID-19 pandemic created a renewed sense of urgency to make a more resilient food system, as food insecurity increased while shipments of food stopped.
Additionally, a 2023 study by the University of Hawaiʻi found that just 12% of Hawaiʻi households have enough food, water and medicine for a 14-day period after a disaster, according to the Hawaiʻi Emergency Management Agency.
The state also only has five to seven days’ worth of food stored locally, according to HI-EMA.
The team created by the bill would be housed within the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism’s Agribusiness Development Corporation, and co-chaired by the state Board of Agriculture chair and DBEDT’s director.
The bill would appropriate $100,000 for the upcoming fiscal year for operations, while requested full-time positions were removed.
SB 1186 has to pass a floor vote before being sent to the governor to be signed into law.
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