Revisiting Kahikinui CBED & Makai Management Plan Dismantling Hopelessness on Maui Paddling in Stolen Waters GenY Hawaiians Fighting Real Estate Fraud Ask Why? A&B and East Maui Irrigation Commit Massive Environmental Crimes Addressing Solutions for Maui’s Unsheltered There’s No Water Under The Bridge Maui Sand Burials & the Grand Heist of 30Mil a Year Challenge the Maui BioPesticide Mosquito Experiment Natural Birthing Needs Urgent Support in Hawai‘i Oppose BioPesticide Mosquitoes by Wed. 3/8 to BLNR Where is Maui Safe Sleeping Parking Lot? Wolbachia Mosquito Control Technique Being Reviewed Wolbachia Mosquitoes: Call to Action! Wolbachia Mosquitoes in Hawaii: Update The Tortilla Machine Blew Up Hanaside News – Thirsty Kahikinui Recap of Resource Recovery Maui 2022 Wolbachia Mosquitoes in Hawaii: Unsettled Science (Part 2) Wolbachia Mosquitoes in Hawaii: Unsettled Science (Part 1) Department of Ag Introducing New Mosquito Wolbachia bacteria-inoculated mosquitoes planned for Maui Waikapu Fence Rental DHHL: Rescind ROE for Cattle Removal in Kahikinui Hawai‘i’s Hunters Protest HogStop Resource Recovery Maui 2022 You Got My Vote 2022 Protected: Sustainable Housing TIG Protected: Stephen Loftin KOOKIES Maui ~ Playful Couture Resource Recovery Maui 2021 Ho‘olako Agriculture Consulting Protected: Mo & Sons Ranch Farm Helekunihi Cultural Foundation Faith Chase Maui Hosts Unification Rally in Response to Unlawful Mandates Kahikinui Get ‘Er Done Committee Taking The Bull By The Horns Hawai‘i Remote Education Rewards Restoration Day for Hawai‘i UnTitled Damming Evidence County Communication 20-545 Water Guns Surviving the Jaws of Corporate Fraud Re-Elect the “New Kids on The Block” Photographs by Stephen Loftin After Affects of “After-the-Fact” Special Management Area Permit Intentional Chaos Navigating Homelessness Verbiage Commission on Healing Solutions for Homelessness Introduced Vote for Farming Supporters WSL Served Cease and Desist Orders Maui County Department of Ag Moving Forward Wea ‘Da Mayor? Let the Solutions Flow ~ RESCHEDULED > Dec 26th RRMaui 2021 Sponsorship Benefits Resource Recovery Maui 2019 Replay Mom in the Kingdom How To Testify In Support of FAM Beyond Repair Costing Basics for Multi Crop Vegetables Power To The People If there is Farming, The Water must Flow Mauna Kea Protectors Reaffirm Stance to Kapu Aloha Hawai‘i – Where the Water Buffalo Roam Community Reach & Growing it Forward Raw Milk Movement Opportunity for Hawai‘i Kalama Intermediate is New Home for Upcountry Farmers Union Meetings Commodification of Culture: Notice of War Crimes Maui A&B Sugar Lands Sell for $262 Million Food Sovereignty and Food Security in Hawai‘i: Food For Thought Na Wahine Koa / Strong Women Commemorative Edition Kīpahulu Farmers Honored by Aloha Festivals Farmers Voice Hawaii √ 2018 Election Choice SATURDAY Kanaka Maoli March to Vote The Struggle For Wai Has Taken Its Toll Reporting Pesticide Use Near Hawai‘i Schools Improved Communication needed amongst Kahikinui Leaseholders Sustainable Agriculture Committee December 2017 Newsletter Ka Manaʻo o ka Lā If You Canʻt Erase, Use White Out Ka Manaʻo o ka Lā Ka Manaʻo o ka Lā Pa‘ia Developer Fails in His Promise To Reach Community How to Host A Community Meeting Ka Manaʻo o ka Lā Ka Manaʻo o ka Lā Ka Manaʻo o ka Lā Dirty Dozen Done Hawai‘i Good Ka Manaʻo o ka Lā Ka Manaʻo o ka Lā Island Air Aloha & Passwords Ka Manaʻo o ka Lā Ka Manaʻo o ka Lā Ka Mana‘o o ka Lā Ka Mana‘o o ka Lā Ka Mana‘o o ka Lā Raising Maui Girl Power Gets Good

Maui Activists Set Stewardship Standard

About

Faith Chase, a 50-year resident of Maui, is a mother and grandmother who has testified at many Maui County and Hawaii State hearings. Her interest in island agriculture inspired her turn from graphic design to writing.

More hotels, urban sprawl, tourist traffic, new malls, and dust. This is what the nay sayers rant about the future for this tiny isle. On the contrary, Maui folk are shaping its future with community action.

With the lead agriculture of sugar production over, 36,000 acres left behind are argued over in a panicked tone. Some have voiced despair about the threat of fallow ag land dust storms.

In keeping nose to the ground and command of one’s job, we sometimes forget to raise our heads from our busy work. This is truer than not; people don’t always inform each other of what the other is doing.

Whether it’s a farmer chasing the sun getting all the work done, a student aiming high for straight A’s in agriculture, lawyers rebutting pesticide companies’ claims, a parent and child painting signs for an environmental rally, or a staunch leader finally making the earn of winning votes, progress is present and the doubters, haters and whiners best pay attention.

Last year, activist travel throughout Hawai‘i broke inter-island mileage records as residents ignored geographic obstacles and rallied together in an expeditious manner. Not extinguished by last minute hearings, short notice commission meetings or urgent invitations to meet with officials on other islands, agriculture advocates worked tirelessly every day, doing all that needed to be done.

Maui’s strong list of agriculture accolades begins with the island’s activists. They are ahupua‘a* oriented; they are organized; they use social media well; and they take their vitamins. These healthy cooperation-accelerators have resolved issues with calculated pivots.


March photos by Rodney Yap

Environmental efforts by organization leaders and some government officials are, and have been, complemented by agriculture activists who have choreographed aggressive power plays. These agitators are scale blind and 36,000 acres is their new weight class.

Albert Perez, Tulsi Gabbard
Albert Perez and US Rep. Tulsi Gabbard

Albert Perez and Maui Tomorrow have led with a robust and reworked Maui agricultural plan from the moment the announcement of a sugarless Maui hit the newsstands. They’re applauded by supporters and have even garnered auspicious support from others taking credit for their plan.

Maui Tomorrow surfed through many issue swells this year (2016). They met with Governor David Ige to demand veto of the water theft bill, helped shut down plans for an Olowalu seawall, responded to requests from judges for multiple water cases, persisted demands for Maui County’s purchase of a Jaws-dropping 267 acres of open space. And, they ended the year with persuasive testimony against the extension of a revocable permit for the east Maui water diversion to Alexander & Baldwin that will lead to long awaited restoration of traditional farming and fishing.

Alika Atay is known as an environmentalist, a leader, an organizer, and foremost, a farmer. Yesterday, he was an activist in the most volatile conversation in Hawai‘i – GMO occupation and pesticide company relatives. Today, he is also an elected member of the Maui County Council. Some have touted that he arrived at such a place because he gives a big shaka; others say it’s because he’s a Hawaiian who showed up just in time.

Alika Atay - Activist, Councilmember
Alika Atay – Community Activist & Maui County Councilmember

It has been likened to a rapid motivational tour and, unbeknownst to him at the time, it brought him to politics. Alika’s trust is high and his belief is sentimental. He has personal halyard to the heavens that he pulls often. He has an innate ability to translate problems into solutions that includes conferring with his ancestors. He joins a pleasantly well-equipped Council that can balance agriculture and tourism.

At 4:26 p.m. on October 15, 2016, at the 6th annual Hawai‘i Farmers Union United (HFUU) convention in Hilo, the 10-chapter organization passed a pesticide use policy supporting “transitional” farmers.

Hawaii Governor David Ige, Albert Perez, and Simon Russell
Hawaii Governor David Ige, Albert Perez, and Simon Russell

Its Haleakala chapter, led by Simon Russell, fueled a fiery floor debate about an amendment wherein organic farmers sympathized with conventional farmers. The feverish exchange prompted the National Farmers Union president and convention parliamentarian, Roger Johnson, to repeatedly remove his hat and scratch his head.

With bylaws stating that convention voting allows for delegate voting, Haleakala Chapter used their delegate votes and muscled language forward, catapulting the once conservative organization onto a progressive path.

Equal in notability is the education and awareness plans of HFUU’s newly ordained Sustainable Agriculture Subcommittee. This committee was introduced by Don Heacock, who was recently featured in Maui Film Festival’s “‘Aina, That Which Feeds Us.” With all three Maui HFUU chapters creating their respective Sustainable Ag Committees, the move proves further, Maui is on path to healthy agriculture.

Access to leaders with scientific and cultural knowledge, and related best practices, is in abundance for Jerrod Schreck’s steering of A&B’s Land Stewardship & Renewable Energy Development. A&B’s vision for diversified ag is creating a patchwork of smaller farms on the 36,000 acres on Maui by farming some of the land on their own, partnering with others and leasing land to other farmers. With promising possibilities on his desk, argumentative authority, tenacity and truth can conquer.

Maui’s agriculture future is a shared responsibility. Stewards are taking part in agricultural aspects of their community. They perform community give-back, are leading by eco-tourism example, are helping to flip dismal voter turnout, and are holding elected officials accountable. You have what it takes, Maui no ka oi*.

* ahuapua‘a – district boundaries stretching from the mountain to the sea
* No Ka Oi – Maui is well known as No Ka Oi (“is the best”)

Maui Activists

 

Leave a Reply