My name is Sydney Smith and my husband and I own a coffee farm below Makawao and I also advocate for farmers and ranchers.
The Maui County Food And Nutritional Security Plan is very aspirational. I’m sure it took a lot of work and I appreciate everything that went into it.
However, I had some issues with it. I’ll try to be brief.
In the problem category, The Plan does discuss invasives which is a significant problem. But there’s not a single mention of ag theft. Every farmer and rancher I know has had significant losses from ag theft. And often times the police don’t give it any attention. If someone shoplifts a $25 handbag from Macys they’re all over it. But if a farmer reports their entire avocado or banana crop was stolen they act like they don’t care or they have more important things to do. Most farmers I know don’t even report Ag theft anymore. This is a real problem.
Adding things like rent control as one of the aspirations, when even a brief dive into researching if rent control even works will inform the researcher that it never works. In fact it has the opposite effect. Increasing supply is what makes rental prices come down.
Providing insurance to large land owners indemnifying them from liability would increase lands for axis deer hunting. Without that most will not risk that extreme liability. That wasn’t listed in the plan.
Encouraging the Planning Department and ZAED to treat farmers and ranchers with respect instead of someone they perceive as gaming the system would be a huge step forward. I know there are people who do game the system but painting everyone with the same brush just encourages people to avoid both departments at all cost.
A legal defense fund for farmers being sued by wealthy non-farming newcomers would be extremely valuable. A rancher I know lost access to a 75 acre field for his cattle ranch. A wealthy landowner blocked his easement and refused to let him access his own land over that easement. Police told him it’s a civil matter. Lawyers wanted a $10,000 retainer fee which he did not have. He got his access back years later when that person sold and moved away. The new landowner decided to abide by the recorded easement. Another had his fencing ripped out when an adjoining non-farming neighbor dumped many cubic tons of boulders and dirt down onto his farm. It’s been in court for over ten years. But he could only afford an attorney who worked on contingency and has lost any hope of winning his case. Estimates to remove the material and replace the fence is in the six figures. The same guy who dumped the material cut off another neighbor’s water supply and all her cattle died. My own non-farming neighbor is suing myself and four other farmers attempting to block our recorded easement. I’m paying the legal fees for everyone. I’ve paid over $310,000 so far. If I was not there to pay the legal fees my neighbors would lose their access to our jointly owned and County mandated fire protection system.
And I’ve heard from many farmers who sold out and moved away due to not being able to afford legal representation. It’s just sad.
So, all the hopes and dreams of what ag could be in a perfect (and well-funded world) were beautifully presented. I just think there was some important missing reality.
I applaud the efforts of the MDOA to develop this draft document for discussion on such an important topic for Maui County. It is clear that a lot of work has gone into its development. But while it is dense on Objectives and supporting activities, it is all over the place without a clear focus and few, if any of the objectives or activities are actually measurable. Some suggestions: 1) Separate the objectives and activities under each goal into short-term (1-5 years), medium term (6-10 years) and long term (11+ years); or follow the years of the Strategic Plan to help give this more focus and to give the reader an idea of the priority of all these items and when we can expect to see them acted upon or completed. 2) Some of these objectives/activities seem to fall within the purview of other Maui County Departments--clarify which ones these are and indicated they have buy-in to what is being proposed. 3) Remove activities related to Federal Agencies in which the County isn't likely to have much impact. 4) Include baseline data for every objective that is trying to "Increase" or "Expand" something so the outcome is actually measurable. 5) What does "Support" mean--how will it be measured? 6) Some of these activities are already being done--either remove them or clarify that they are already ongoing and by whom. 7) Make them all measurable and attainable within the specific time period. 8) Address the "elephant in the room"--FUNDING--How much funding is anticipated to be available from the County or MDOA to put toward addressing these goals, objectives and activities each year. Will the MDOA grant solicitation require that one or more of these are addressed in order for the grantee to receive funding? Thank you so much for moving this discussion forward and I hope these suggestions are helpful as begin to revise this draft!
Aloha Chair Johnson and ADEPT Committee members,
My name is Sydney Smith and my husband and I own a coffee farm below Makawao and I also advocate for farmers and ranchers.
The Maui County Food And Nutritional Security Plan is very aspirational. I’m sure it took a lot of work and I appreciate everything that went into it.
However, I had some issues with it. I’ll try to be brief.
In the problem category, The Plan does discuss invasives which is a significant problem. But there’s not a single mention of ag theft. Every farmer and rancher I know has had significant losses from ag theft. And often times the police don’t give it any attention. If someone shoplifts a $25 handbag from Macys they’re all over it. But if a farmer reports their entire avocado or banana crop was stolen they act like they don’t care or they have more important things to do. Most farmers I know don’t even report Ag theft anymore. This is a real problem.
Adding things like rent control as one of the aspirations, when even a brief dive into researching if rent control even works will inform the researcher that it never works. In fact it has the opposite effect. Increasing supply is what makes rental prices come down.
Providing insurance to large land owners indemnifying them from liability would increase lands for axis deer hunting. Without that most will not risk that extreme liability. That wasn’t listed in the plan.
Encouraging the Planning Department and ZAED to treat farmers and ranchers with respect instead of someone they perceive as gaming the system would be a huge step forward. I know there are people who do game the system but painting everyone with the same brush just encourages people to avoid both departments at all cost.
A legal defense fund for farmers being sued by wealthy non-farming newcomers would be extremely valuable. A rancher I know lost access to a 75 acre field for his cattle ranch. A wealthy landowner blocked his easement and refused to let him access his own land over that easement. Police told him it’s a civil matter. Lawyers wanted a $10,000 retainer fee which he did not have. He got his access back years later when that person sold and moved away. The new landowner decided to abide by the recorded easement. Another had his fencing ripped out when an adjoining non-farming neighbor dumped many cubic tons of boulders and dirt down onto his farm. It’s been in court for over ten years. But he could only afford an attorney who worked on contingency and has lost any hope of winning his case. Estimates to remove the material and replace the fence is in the six figures. The same guy who dumped the material cut off another neighbor’s water supply and all her cattle died. My own non-farming neighbor is suing myself and four other farmers attempting to block our recorded easement. I’m paying the legal fees for everyone. I’ve paid over $310,000 so far. If I was not there to pay the legal fees my neighbors would lose their access to our jointly owned and County mandated fire protection system.
And I’ve heard from many farmers who sold out and moved away due to not being able to afford legal representation. It’s just sad.
So, all the hopes and dreams of what ag could be in a perfect (and well-funded world) were beautifully presented. I just think there was some important missing reality.
Sydney Smith
Maliko Estate Coffee
808-268-3646 call/text
808-572-0072 farm
Please see attached.
I applaud the efforts of the MDOA to develop this draft document for discussion on such an important topic for Maui County. It is clear that a lot of work has gone into its development. But while it is dense on Objectives and supporting activities, it is all over the place without a clear focus and few, if any of the objectives or activities are actually measurable. Some suggestions: 1) Separate the objectives and activities under each goal into short-term (1-5 years), medium term (6-10 years) and long term (11+ years); or follow the years of the Strategic Plan to help give this more focus and to give the reader an idea of the priority of all these items and when we can expect to see them acted upon or completed. 2) Some of these objectives/activities seem to fall within the purview of other Maui County Departments--clarify which ones these are and indicated they have buy-in to what is being proposed. 3) Remove activities related to Federal Agencies in which the County isn't likely to have much impact. 4) Include baseline data for every objective that is trying to "Increase" or "Expand" something so the outcome is actually measurable. 5) What does "Support" mean--how will it be measured? 6) Some of these activities are already being done--either remove them or clarify that they are already ongoing and by whom. 7) Make them all measurable and attainable within the specific time period. 8) Address the "elephant in the room"--FUNDING--How much funding is anticipated to be available from the County or MDOA to put toward addressing these goals, objectives and activities each year. Will the MDOA grant solicitation require that one or more of these are addressed in order for the grantee to receive funding? Thank you so much for moving this discussion forward and I hope these suggestions are helpful as begin to revise this draft!