Agriculture advocates are warning state lawmakers that the recent Kona low storms have created a dire situation for local farmers, who need immediate assistance.
A live, online dashboard reporting total agricultural losses from flooding has reached $23 million so far, but it is likely an underrepresentation of the total damage.
The dashboard reports farmers’ direct losses to crops and infrastructure, but experts at an informational briefing Wednesday with state lawmakers said it doesn’t properly describe the impact.
First, some farmers still don’t have enough access to their farms to assess the damage.
“Some areas might take a couple of days, even weeks. to even access (their farms),” said Nicole Galase, managing director of the Hawaii Cattlemen's Council.
While 380 producers have reported damages to the dashboard, more than 1,000 have applied for storm-related emergency relief funding that was set up recently by the state Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity.
Indirect impacts can also be significant
“When you look at what economic multipliers are used for damage assessment situations, those numbers are two to three times directly reported damages,” said Amanda Shaw, the Statewide Food Systems coordinator at the briefing.
“The storms don't just damage crops in the ground right now, but they damage infrastructure, soil equipment and the people farming. So, lost income in the future is a real concern.”
Some secondary impacts from the flooding include disease, root rot, runoff and soil contamination.
An important part of their recovery depends on a federal declaration that the floods were a disaster, which would unlock federal funds that could then go to those who were impacted.
But that could take time some farmers might not have.
Stakeholders want lawmakers to get farmers immediate help, either from the state or the federal government.
“ We need immediate recovery funding grants, not loans,” said Hawaiʻi Farm Bureau Executive Director Brian Miyamoto. “We need to bridge the farmers and ranches to stay in business while they're waiting for this federal aid.”
But they say future protections for farmers should be in place, too.
“We need long-term resilience investments in water infrastructure, soil health and recovery. These disasters are more common, more frequent,” Miyamoto added. “We need better agriculture emergency planning (and) to include a farming rainy day fund.”
Farmers were facing a myriad of challenges even before the floods — so much so that Hawaiʻi lost about 10% of its farms between 2017 and 2022.
A majority of farmers also don’t have insurance to cover their losses following disasters. Only about 8% of the farmers who reported damages from the Kona low floods said they were insured.
Meanwhile, longstanding issues like high operational costs, pests and a lack of government support continue to be existential threats to local farmers.
