The Maui County Farm Bureau appreciates your past support and continued support. We are concerned about losing status as a line item and we would like to continue as a line item
April 21, 2021
Via Ecomment
Economic Development and Cultural Programs Revolving Fund
(Chapter 3.81, Maui County Code)
(1)Up to $150,000 must be for the restoration of the Kaahumanu Church Re: Community and Cultural Support of Historical Significant Edifice Addressed to Maui County Council Budget and Finance Committee
Thank you for the opportunity to testify on behalf of the captioned budget proposal. The Maui Historical Society, founded in 1956, is a neighbor of the Kaahumanu Church on Main Street. The cultural and historical organization’s mission is to preserve Maui’s History for generations to follow.
We are elated that the Administration has begun to look at this island jewel and regard it as the treasure it was built to be.
We humbly urge you to continue this mission going forward in recognizing the significant treasures that occupy our island, and the importance of preservation in perpetuity.
These decisions and works of humanitarian that you make, will benefit long into the minds and hearts of Hawaii’s people of all ages, including visitors as well. Mahalo for your consideration of our plea.
Yours truly,
Naomi Sissy Lake-Farm
Executive Director
Cc: File
Molokai and Lanai Agriculture Production - $100,000 – Lokahi Pacific
Mayor’s Budget proposal page 408
A few years ago the OED Director approached Lokahi Pacific to assist her in creating this program to provide funds in the form of grants to help the farmers on Molokai and Lanai improve their production, clear their land for production, and grow their acreage for crops. Lokahi Pacific would collect the applications, review them for completeness, and do a spreadsheet. If the required governmental paperwork was not complete Lokahi Pacific would work with the potential applicant to try to get them legal in the process of evaluating the applications. If they did not become legal entities, their application was automatically out of the running. The vision was that this program could become a valuable line item annually in the budget and could be a tool to encourage all farmers to become legal operations.
Was making a profit important? That would depend on the type of expenses they were showing on their tax returns. Were they building and improving their farming operation or not producing for sale, basically an oversized garden for their family? We were looking for those who wanted to grow products to sell to the co-ops, local markets, and around the world via online marketing of their value added products.
Between the reviews of OED and Lokahi Pacific, 19 farmers have been assisted in the past three years with the $300,000 in grants that have been awarded. The value of the grants that have been awarded have varied from a low of $5,400 to a high of $45,000. These amounts were based on the needs shown and the possibilities presented in the applications.
We respectfully request that the Council approve of Lokahi Pacific continuing to work with the farmers of Molokai and Lanai to assist them seeing the fruits of their labor in growing the much needed agricultural products for the people. In one sentence the purpose of this project is “to assist in bringing back agriculture and support to farmers on the islands of Lanai and Molokai.”
Foot note: As Lokahi Pacific celebrates its 50th year of service to our Maui Nui community, we are reminded that in the late 1970s and the closure of pineapple (on Molakai), it was Lokahi Pacific, a community development organization on Maui who looked at the economic potential of diversified agricultural development on Molokai. Under the direction of employee Alton Arakaki, an economic feasibility analysis was conducted identifying the pros and cons of developing diversified ag. There were many competitive advantages identified, including abundant land and water resources. However there were two glaring limitations, agricultural support service and a steady and reliable pool of agricultural entrepreneurial and management talent.
Lokahi Pacific secured a USDA grant entitled Youth Agricultural Entrepreneurship Development Training Program for this purpose and secured a parcel from the Molokai Agricultural Park, then under the management of the County Maui Office Economic Development. The Molokai Institute of Agriculture (MIA) was born in 1979 as the organization to oversee the development of this program with a board of directors composed of agency and community representatives. This farming program continued under CTAHR Maui.
The Maui County Farm Bureau appreciates your past support and continued support. We are concerned about losing status as a line item and we would like to continue as a line item
April 21, 2021
Via Ecomment
Economic Development and Cultural Programs Revolving Fund
(Chapter 3.81, Maui County Code)
(1)Up to $150,000 must be for the restoration of the Kaahumanu Church Re: Community and Cultural Support of Historical Significant Edifice Addressed to Maui County Council Budget and Finance Committee
Thank you for the opportunity to testify on behalf of the captioned budget proposal. The Maui Historical Society, founded in 1956, is a neighbor of the Kaahumanu Church on Main Street. The cultural and historical organization’s mission is to preserve Maui’s History for generations to follow.
We are elated that the Administration has begun to look at this island jewel and regard it as the treasure it was built to be.
We humbly urge you to continue this mission going forward in recognizing the significant treasures that occupy our island, and the importance of preservation in perpetuity.
These decisions and works of humanitarian that you make, will benefit long into the minds and hearts of Hawaii’s people of all ages, including visitors as well. Mahalo for your consideration of our plea.
Yours truly,
Naomi Sissy Lake-Farm
Executive Director
Cc: File
Molokai and Lanai Agriculture Production - $100,000 – Lokahi Pacific
Mayor’s Budget proposal page 408
A few years ago the OED Director approached Lokahi Pacific to assist her in creating this program to provide funds in the form of grants to help the farmers on Molokai and Lanai improve their production, clear their land for production, and grow their acreage for crops. Lokahi Pacific would collect the applications, review them for completeness, and do a spreadsheet. If the required governmental paperwork was not complete Lokahi Pacific would work with the potential applicant to try to get them legal in the process of evaluating the applications. If they did not become legal entities, their application was automatically out of the running. The vision was that this program could become a valuable line item annually in the budget and could be a tool to encourage all farmers to become legal operations.
Was making a profit important? That would depend on the type of expenses they were showing on their tax returns. Were they building and improving their farming operation or not producing for sale, basically an oversized garden for their family? We were looking for those who wanted to grow products to sell to the co-ops, local markets, and around the world via online marketing of their value added products.
Between the reviews of OED and Lokahi Pacific, 19 farmers have been assisted in the past three years with the $300,000 in grants that have been awarded. The value of the grants that have been awarded have varied from a low of $5,400 to a high of $45,000. These amounts were based on the needs shown and the possibilities presented in the applications.
We respectfully request that the Council approve of Lokahi Pacific continuing to work with the farmers of Molokai and Lanai to assist them seeing the fruits of their labor in growing the much needed agricultural products for the people. In one sentence the purpose of this project is “to assist in bringing back agriculture and support to farmers on the islands of Lanai and Molokai.”
Foot note: As Lokahi Pacific celebrates its 50th year of service to our Maui Nui community, we are reminded that in the late 1970s and the closure of pineapple (on Molakai), it was Lokahi Pacific, a community development organization on Maui who looked at the economic potential of diversified agricultural development on Molokai. Under the direction of employee Alton Arakaki, an economic feasibility analysis was conducted identifying the pros and cons of developing diversified ag. There were many competitive advantages identified, including abundant land and water resources. However there were two glaring limitations, agricultural support service and a steady and reliable pool of agricultural entrepreneurial and management talent.
Lokahi Pacific secured a USDA grant entitled Youth Agricultural Entrepreneurship Development Training Program for this purpose and secured a parcel from the Molokai Agricultural Park, then under the management of the County Maui Office Economic Development. The Molokai Institute of Agriculture (MIA) was born in 1979 as the organization to oversee the development of this program with a board of directors composed of agency and community representatives. This farming program continued under CTAHR Maui.