Barbeque spare ribs. Oxtail Soup. Onolicious chicken? Not exactly what comes to mind when you think politics. Unless you reside in Hawai'i, where politicians have been passing out free recipe pamphlets for years. Local political analyst Dan Boylan stresses the link between food and politics in Hawai'i. Boylan notes that in recent years he’s seen fewer cookbooks. But occasionally one will pop up in his mailbox. A candidate who still uses the recipe book approach is Lei Ahu Isa, who served in the Hawai'i House of Representatives from 1996 – 2002.
The future of growing food in Hawai’i rests on the ability of farmers to continue making a living. According to one UH study, farmers receive only 19 cents out of each dollar spent on locally grown produce and vegetables. The rest of the money goes to packaging, marketing, refrigeration and transportation. But one family-owned farm has revamped its strategy and business model and has branched out into new venues. HPR’s Wayne Yoshioka reports.
According to a recent report by the state, the number of cattle raised in Hawaii decreased steadily for about thirty years, starting in 1970. There’s been a bit of an increase since about 2002, and today cattle are raised on each of the major islands. But on Hawaii Island, the industry is facing some challenges to its growth. HPR’s Sherry Bracken reports.
In our latest installment of HPR’s series, “Feeding Ourselves: Hawai’i’s Food Future”, we take a look at an emerging technology…that could change the way we grow our food. It’s a method of growing crops and fish at the same time….and it uses less than 5% of the water that traditional farming does. HPR’s Molly Solomon reports on this sustainable system that’s popping up in backyards across the islands.
