Hawaii Farm Bureau concerned about severe consequences for neighbor islands
Honolulu, Hawaii (June 1, 2006) - The Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation (HFBF) asked the Public Utilities Commission yesterday to intervene in Young Brothers' request to eliminate “less than container load” service to and from Kahului Harbor on Maui. Hawaii's farmers and ranchers asked to participate in the PUC to insure the concerns of Hawaii’s agricultural community are known before any cut back in service is approved by the PUC. Neighbor island farmers especially will suffer devastating losses if the proposed inter-island shipping policy is allowed.
"This proposed change will put Hawaii's farmers, especially those on the neighbor islands, at a severe marketing and sales disadvantage," said Dean Okimoto, HFBF president. "It will devastate neighbor island agriculture.”
Young Brothers has requested to stop inter-island shipping service of non-containerized cargo to and from Kahului Harbor on Maui. This change will severely impact farmers who need to get their perishable products to the markets on a timely basis.
"This change could mean a dozen or more consolidators will be needed to put smaller loads together in order to fill up a container, but the costs to do so will be extremely high and ultimately, the farmers will end up paying for it,” Okimoto said. "This is going to hurt Hawaii agriculture overall because farmers on other islands will have a hard time getting their products to the biggest market in Hawaii, which is Oahu."
The Hawaii Farm Bureau's motion to intervene is a formal request that it be included in the PUC's hearings and discussions related to this matter; it does not halt the process of reviewing the proposal.
The Hawaii Farm Bureau cited a number of threats to Hawaii farmers and ranchers by the proposed change including:
- Farmers and ranchers will face significantly higher expenses to pay for consolidators or other “middlemen” to move their products inter-island.
- Small farmers and ranchers, particularly on Maui and Molokai, will suffer a severe competitive blow in the marketplace if they are not able to get their products to the market on a timely basis and at a competitive price.
- The safety and quality of agricultural products could be jeopardized because perishable farm products will need to either wait longer to be shipped, or must go through additional handling and storage through consolidators.
- The creation of additional consolidators will make it more difficult to adequately inspect for, and protect Hawaii from, invasive species.
- Ultimately, all of the above will increase the cost of living for Hawaii.
"Agriculture is very important to Hawaii, both economically and as a way of life, and our state and local governments have always supported ag in a tremendous way," said Warren Watanabe, president of the Maui County Farm Bureau. "But this kind of support has to be consistent in all areas. Good policies on land use and water are important, but so is a policy on transportation that enables farmers, especially on neighbor islands such as Maui County to get their products to their customers consistently and at a decent price."
Some farmers are concerned that Molokai growers will be especially hard hit.
"Molokai is facing the prospect of yet another link being added to the supply chain that takes our farmers’ cucumbers and sweet potatoes to where the customers are," said Dave Gilliland, president of the Molokai Farm Bureau. "Although the Super Ferry plans to eventually carry cargo inter-island, it won't help us on Molokai because we don’t have a deep enough port to accommodate Super Ferry service here. The impact would be long and lasting."
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Contacts:
Alan Takemoto, Executive Director, Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation
808-848-2074 atakemoto@hfbf.org
Dean Okimoto, President, Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation
808-259-7698 (O) 808-479-1797 (C) * nalofarms@hawaii.rr.com
Warren Watanabe, President, Maui County Farm Bureau
808-281-9718 (C) warrenmcfb@hotmail.com
Dave Gilliland, President, Molokai Farm Bureau
808-567-6872 (O) djgilliland@dow.com
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