Re: Bashing the FB - get a little better info!

Kathleen Delate (kdelate@hawaii.edu)
Wed, 6 Dec 1995 09:45:06 -1000

More info. from the source: I spoke to the President of Hawaii's Farm
Bureau and he agreed with the info. provided by the EWG, but also stated
that their stance is that they agree with the intent of the Clean Water
Act, for instance, but not with certain restictions in the Act. They are
opposed to farmers "being kicked off their land." The message from him
was clear: work with us in coming up with better solutions that will both
preserve farming and save the land.

I think David is right--it's a diverse organization (the Hawaii President
noted that "we are somewhat different from the mainland chapters"). We are
fortunate in Hawaii to have a FB group that considers organic farming "a
profitable way to farm."

Change, as Bill Liebhardt noted, must come in incremental form in order
for mainstream ag. to accept sustainable ag. The President of the
Kauai FB chapter here is also the President of the Kauai Organic Farmers'
Association. Maybe this is how it should be done--and eventually local
inputs may reach DC. Keep talking.

Kathleen Delate
SA Training Coordinator
University of Hawaii