Thursday, January 14, 2016

Musings: Kick 'Em While They're Down

As Hawaii agriculture clings to the ropes, anti-GMO groups are moving in with a few dirty kidney punches and groin kicks.

Just days after anti-ag activists partied down at the news of Hawaii's last sugar plantation closing on Maui, the Center for Food Safety (CFS) sent out an email urging people to call their legislators to lobby against the seed companies that produce the Island's most valuable crop:

With legislative session upon us, it’s time to let our elected officials know what matters most to us: the health and safety of our families and the environment. The chemical industry’s experimentation with pesticide-promoting genetically engineered (GE) crops increasingly threatens Hawai‘i’s public health, biodiversity and food independence.

None of that is actually true. There is no evidence that Hawaii seed crops are harming public health and biodiversity. If anything, they are supporting food independence by keeping farm workers employed and irrigation systems and other ag infrastructure in good repair.

But CFS keeps saying it, and the more gullible, agriculturally ignorant members of the community believe it. Tellingly, since CFS knows so many of its followers can't actually think for themselves, it tells them exactly what to say when they call their representatives.

Equally telling, given the cavalier attitude that so many anti-GMO activists had toward the hundreds of sugar workers who will lose their jobs, CFS uses a graphic that treats seed company workers as expendable:
Yes, the seed companies provide far fewer jobs than tourism or the military or other sectors of Hawaii's economy. But they offer the best jobs in agriculture, in terms of pay, benefits and highly skilled workers. 

Does CFS think local farm workers should be forced to work in exchange for a squalid camp site, like so many of the transient “woofers” who labor on organic farms? Or does it just not care what happens to the people who are employed by the companies it so desperately seeks to shut down?

CFS continues:

You have the power to hold your legislators accountable for making pesticide regulation a top priority this legislative session.

This is more of the false narrative that CFS and its allies, including Earthjustice and Kauai Councilman Gary Hooser's HAPA, keep perpetuating. In reality, restricted use agricultural pesticides are some of the most heavily regulated substances in the Islands, with both state and federal agencies involved.

The CFS call to action was accompanied by the usual fear-mongering and distortion of the facts, a tact that Paul Achitoff, lead attorney Earthjustice, also took in a Civil Beat commentary published yesterday.

Both CFS and Earthjustice are mainland-based groups that opened offices in Hawaii to systematically seek to destroy biotech crops. Both groups make money from suing federal agencies over biotech and frightening people into sending them donations. CFS, in turn, funds HAPA, creating one big cluster fuck of self-interested anti-ag advocacy under the guise of “public service.”

Should these self-serving people be dictating agricultural practices in the Islands? People with zero ethics, who will happily tell a lie to bolster their cause? People who don't care about putting hundreds of farm workers, most of them locals, out of work?

People who have no understanding of the complexities of Island ag? People who are working to destroy viable ag, but doing nothing to create something real on the tens of thousands of acres now fallow?

People who engage in agit-prop to create fear and mistrust among community members?

Hawaii state lawmakers, most of whom live in urban areas and have little understanding of ag, must resist the pressures exerted by these advocacy groups and their frightened, confused supporters. 

They must rely on experts in the agricultural community, people who have devoted their lives to the land, to make policy decisions — not misinformed activists who have been stirred up to support a dubious cause.

With so many pressing issues facing Hawaii, it's encouraging that lawmakers are sensibly looking to focus on housing, homelessness and fiscal responsibility this session. 

Far too much legislative time has been wasted on a manufactured controversy that has divided our community — solely to benefit the coffers and agenda of mainland advocacy groups and political demagogues. 

44 comments:

Anonymous said...

since urban uses have been found to have the most toxic pesticide residues, shouldn't we get rid rid of that too? Since the termite treatment companies use restricted pesticides directly on houses, shouldn't we get rid of houses too? Since Mokihana uses restricted use pesticides on homes people live in or visit, shouldn't we lobby to get rid of homes too? Since the urban use of pesticides is similarly hiding so much toxicity, a campaign to get rid of homes might be needed, or is there another agenda present? Why do all the real estate barons support this movement, do you think it could be related to them wanting to develop all that land currently occupied by agriculture in the state? Or do they suddenly care so much despite never showing a caring capacity ever before

Anonymous said...

They could use Mel to play El Chapo in the movie.

Anonymous said...

I guess, from reading this post, i am gullible, agriculturally ignorant and can't think for myself. By the way, what are the complexities of island ag? And thanks for referring me to the article in Civil Beat! Stink weed has been growing on the westside forever, no one seemed to have gotten sick from it previous to the WCS incidents.

Anonymous said...

To 10:20 AM: Glad that you're willing to educate yourself on how hard it is to get a start in farming or make a living at it here!

You could start here; http://m.bizjournals.com/pacific/blog/2016/01/farming-isn-t-the-answer-to-maui-s-sugar-problem.html.

But don't stop there; that's only the beginning. If I hadn't spent the last 25 years working in local agriculture, I wouldn't have a clue either.

Anonymous said...

Wow. Harsh. I thought you and Paul were friends? Didn't you used to work or write for them? I thought their mission was environmental protection and had no idea the reason they are in Hawaii was to destroy the biotech industry. Thanks for info. I would have never known otherwise.

Joan Conrow said...

12:46 -- "Wow. Harsh." No harsher than is warranted, considering the damage they've caused. And certainly far less harsh than the rhetoric that Paul and the rest of the anti-GMO "leaders" use.

"I thought their mission was environmental protection" -- That's what happens when you believe their PR, rather than actually scrutinize their actions.

As for the rest of your comment, Paul and I were never friends. And yes, I previously did write for Earthjustice, until I saw that Paul no compunction about distorting the truth to suit his needs, and then I could no longer in good conscience work for him or anyone in the office he manages.

Oh, and 10:20, since you have also admitted your ignorance, especially in regard to stinkweed and illnesses it has caused, you might want to read this piece on Civil Beat about stinkweed and the Waimea Canyon Middle School incidents.

Anonymous said...

Same with Gary, Joan? Never friends?

Joan Conrow said...

Nope, Gary and I were never friends, either. Acquaintances, yes, but we never hung out or socialized.

Anonymous said...

If Gary wants a friend, he needs to get a dog.

Anonymous said...

Based on Hawaii News Now reports KPD VICE Sergeant Kapua needs a friend.
Arrested for stealing 75 thousand dollars in drug buy money from KPD. LOL - officer of the year say Chief.

Anonymous said...

What does a country with food shortages like Venezuela do? They have chosen food sovereignty. Joan, Do you think Venezuelans also want to free up ag land for development like Kauaʻi? "Just days before the progressive National Assembly of Venezuela was dissolved, deputies passed a law which lays the foundation for a truly democratic food system. The country has not only banned genetically modified seeds, but set up democratic structures to ensure that seeds cannot be privatized and indigenous knowledge cannot be sold off to corporations." "Agribusiness has been lobbying law-makers under the pretense that GM seeds will end food shortages the country is currently experiencing. But Venezuela’s strong peasant movement, part of the international peasant network La Via Campesina, fought back. They defeated a 2013 bill that would have provided a ‘back door’ to GM and initiating a two year democratic process, involving deputies, campaigners, peasants and indigenous groups, to forge a genuinely progressive seed law.

The result is the law passed before Christmas. It promotes agroecological production methods – that’s a form of farming that works with nature and avoids chemicals, pesticides and monocultures. It aims to make the county independent of international food markets. It outlaws the privatization of seeds and promotes instead small and medium scale farming and biodiversity. Article 8 ‘promotes, in a spirit of solidarity, the free exchange of seed and opposes the conversion of seed into intellectual or patented property or any other form of privatization’.
- See more at: http://newint.org/blog/2016/01/12/venezuelas-food-revolution/#sthash.qviWYk4Z.dpuf

Anonymous said...

Thank you to the federal government the DOJ and FBI for all your hard work and dedication.

EXCLUSIVE: FBI arrests decorated Kauai officer for stealing drug money
Lynn Kawano
Jan 14, 2016 04:33 PM
LIHUE, KAUAI (HawaiiNewsNow) - The FBI has arrested a Kauai Police Department lieutenant for allegedly stealing $75,000 in federal grant money meant for undercover drug buys.

Lt. Karen Kapua, who was once named KPD's Officer of the Year, was arrested on Thursday by the FBI.

Kapua is accused of theft and money laundering for allegedly taking the money.

The 16-year veteran of the force was flown to Oahu on Thursday for her afternoon court appearance.

Hawaii News Now is the only station at Kapua's federal court hearing and will bring you details of the case tonight at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Anonymous said...

Yes, 6:23 PM! Let's follow the Venezuela model!

Excerpt from Time magazine, December 11, 2015:

Woeful Economy

But Venezuela needs a lot more than just a change of political leadership. Let’s start with the economy, which is on course to contract by 10 percent this year. Venezuela must pay back $15.8 billion in debt between now and the end of 2016, but the country only has $15.2 billion in foreign reserves to make good on that. 7.3 percent of Venezuelan households are classified as living in “extreme poverty.” Working for the minimum wage in Venezuela means you can only afford a week’s worth of groceries per month—40 percent of people working in Venezuela make the minimum wage or less.

Come 2016, the country is projected to have an 18.1 percent unemployment rate. Inflation this year has already reached a staggering 159 percent; Venezuelans have taken to using their country’s currency as napkins. The only thing worse than not having the money to buy food and basic goods? Having the money and finding bare shelves in the supermarket. There were over 500 protests over food shortages in the first half of 2015 alone. Venezuela currently imports 70 percent of its consumer goods.

(BBC, CNN, Economist, CNBC, Wall Street Journal, The Financialist)

Anonymous said...

@6:23 pm- Venezuela seems to be taking a positive direction in establishing food sovereignty and promoting biodiversity. I read the article and cannot find anything to make me think they are banning GMOs so that they can develop ag land for other uses. I am not sure why Kauaʻi is different. I wonder why those on Kauaʻi who do not support GMO are accused of promoting and supporting non-ag development? The people I know who do not support GMO are also against changing ag-land zoning to non-ag use. These same people would love to see land now used for GMO on Kauaʻi used instead for growing healthy non-GMO food. Perhaps some intelligent person will come up with a plan for such use, including rewarding employment for all those who currently are employed by the GMO companies? Maybe cooperatives owned and run by the farmers themselves might be a better alternative to farming which is controlled by foreign chemical and seed mega-corporations?

Anonymous said...

"... truly democratic food system...." There is nothing democratic about Venezuela, which has the world's worst performing economy to boot. The ruling party blames "outsiders" for its triple digit inflation and shortages of basic needs rather than its own failures. It even arrested Pepsi workers, claiming low product rates were due to worker slowdown to create a fake shortage rather than the factory lacking the materials needed to continue production.

When the ruling party lost its majority in last year's election, it got the military to back it and packed the Supreme Court, which then dumped several recently elected legislators, ending the new majority.

I wouldn't want to rely on that country for ag advice.

Joan Conrow said...

9:40. It's all very well to dream and fantasize about some "intelligent person" who can create your vision of an agricultural Utopia in Hawaii, but since that's nowhere near reality, the seed companies are meanwhile engaged in productive AG. And if you and your pals succeed in driving them out there will be nothing to replace them. Why do you think the state and big landowners were so keen to see biotech expand? They knew there was no other use that could begin to replace the thousands of acres left fallow after sugar.
There is currently a lot of vacant AG land. If Earthjustice, CFS and HAPA were serious about creating some "just" and benign AG system they would be putting their resources into creating it. But they aren't. So that tells me they have no plan and it's not their true objective, anyway.
When you work to destroy viable AG, but have no concrete plan for another AG use to replace it, then you are most certainly anti-AG, whether intentionally or unwittingly.

Anonymous said...

Joan, for this article, and for your comments at 11:27 PM, you are the best!
Thank you.
💗

Anonymous said...

Destruction of jobs and culture in the name of some far away Utopian dream are what contemporary progressives do best..

Anonymous said...

Seize the land. Ban Roundup.
give out free 10 acre lots with free ag water.
Provide all tools.
Invite everybody to have a farm.
The rich get richer and the food supply is wasted.
Put Gary and JoAnn in charge. They will get results.

Anonymous said...

6:08. No forget Mason and Gary's two security fo protection Fern and Malia, just like Switzerland. Hee hee

Anonymous said...

6:80 - You forgot "Vote for Bernie Sanders!"

Anonymous said...

Fern: fricking dumb hippie. Poser that's a FAD attention getter. FB stalker

Anonymous said...

4:41...Yes to jobs and culture. Yes to cautionary principal. No to harmful pesticides. Yes to jobs which contribute to harmony and healthy (mental and physical) communities. No to companies which do not act as good neighbors or create problems in their communities.

Anonymous said...

10:11. No to people who try to foist their beliefs on others and create problems with companies that are supporting our community. No to fear-mongering.

Anonymous said...

Joan says, "Why do you think the state and big landowners were so keen to see biotech expand?" The answer is $$$$$$, money and profit are the bottom line. Not self-sufficiency in food or malama "āina. Big landowners do not have proper title to their lands- it does not actually belong to them. 6:08 is on the right track. Take back the land from the big land owners and put it into the hands of the people (like the employees of the biotech companies). Big landowners are the problem- not the solution. Big landowners are the reason we are not self-sufficient in food today. Instead of maintaining traditional agriculture methods employed by traditional culture, they rely on mono-cropping for export, which creates no food to feed us here. Thus we become enslaved to a system created by foreign companies and illegal land "owners" who care nothing at all about growing healthy food for local consumption. So yes- take back the land from the rich and allow the "poor" to use it.

Anonymous said...

Companies who support communities and treat their neighbors with respect have no problems with those neighbors. Companies who ignore their neighbors complaints (Dupont Pioneer in Waimea) lose trust in their communities. The best companies do not find themselves detested by many countries and millions of people round the world for the way they do business.

Joan Conrow said...

10:35 -- You obviously failed to notice that 6:08 was being sarcastic. Hey, if people could actually make money off growing food for local consumption, it would be happening on a major scale. But it's not, because it's not economically viable. Get out of your dream world, which includes "taking" land from the Big 5, and face reality.

Plus you apparently missed the comments from the anti-ag folks on Maui who did not want plantation workers to have land because they might -- gasp -- grow transgenic papaya. Best get your comrades in line, and ready to do field work, before you launch the revolution.

Anonymous said...

Joan, How can you take land from someone who doesnʻt own it? It is my understanding that the Big 5 do not have clear title to their land. Something to do with alloidial title, maybe? It seems that a land title scam has been going on for a long time in Hawaiʻi. Joan, please educate us as to how valid the land titles are of the Big 5.

Joan Conrow said...

12:32 -- That is a topic you'd have to take up with one of the sovereignty groups, because it's not my area of expertise. I don't think anybody's going to be taking any land from the Big 5 any time soon, regardless of the status of their land titles.

Anonymous said...

Seems like Joan is a dyed in the wool capitalist. Where profit and greed are the bottom line. An obsolete system which is destroying our world. Gotta make money for something to happen. Even within the capitalistic model, there is room to create complete food self-sufficiency in Hawaiʻi. How many trillions and billions of dollars are wasted wasted by government on things like killing people, advertising, and subsidies? If Hawaiʻi ever finds itself cut off from the world, what an obscenity it would be that some might starve because there wasnʻt enough "money" to encourage people to grow food for local consumption. Eliminating our dependency on foreign food sources is one of the most crucial problems we face today. I cannot understand how the chem-seed companies are contributing to food self-sufficiency at all- in fact, they seem to be intent on making people more dependent upon them for all of our food needs. Joan, as a capitalist, how do you think growing food for local consumption can be made economically viable? Just to say that it is not is not addressing the problem.

Joan Conrow said...

I'm a pragmatist. The capitalist system, with all its many drawbacks, is the world's dominant system. Until it's changed, we have to be realistic and work within it. I agree that it's great to work toward local food self-sufficiency. But it requires people with the desire and skill to make it happen. And unless you can convince the state to subsidize it, which doesn't seem likely, given that just 1 percent of the state's budget is allocated to ag, people need investment capital to start up a viable farm.

Growing food for local consumption could be made more economically viable through achieving economies of scale, supporting local slaughterhouses and processing facilities, disruptions in the supply of imported food (though that could also impact the supply of inputs needed to grow even organic crops), reducing the regulatory burden on small farmers and taxing the hell out of imports, though that would make it harder for people to feed their families.

There are no easy answers here, which is why banishing the seed companies will do nothing to increase the production of food for local consumption. And as I've noted numerous times, the seed companies are actually supporting local food production by sub-leasing land and maintaining the irrigation systems and roads that small farmers also use.

Anonymous said...

12:32 PM - That one commenter's claim that the big landowners don't own their land is, well, bull poo. If it were so, every frickin' couch potato, handout grasping, self-styled Kanaka Maole activist would have the Native Hawaiian Legal Foundation suing to get that land at no cost to them. He/She's been reading (and believing) too much of convicted felon David Keanu Sai's made up confidence schemes.

Anonymous said...

Would some one please explain to me why food self-sufficiency is such an essential goal when it will always be cheaper and easier to grow, produce and ship food into here from the mainland? Two huge hurricanes have proven that no one ever staved, or will ever starve, because of their disruption. And of course, the term "peak oil" is all over the headlines! NOT! But maybe it's just those folks who are so gullible and fearful that they believe the anti's lies and have absolutely zero confidence in man's ability devise and develop solutions to problems like the eventual demise of fossil fuels. I'd really like to hear the argument.

Anonymous said...

Those against capitalism are hypocrites as they sell the use of their bodies for money every day at work. And if you can save one cent of your pay, then you're profiting!!! Ooo, horrors!!

Anonymous said...

My goodness! It seems to me that donkeys like 1:07PM should, rather than braying about "problems" they have insufficiently mastered, decamp to the nearest command economy that suits their taste for expropriating private property and ordering the proletariat into the fields to feed everyone. North Korea comes to mind- self sufficient for the most part by enforcing starvation since their farming methods, while conforming to good organic practice (nightsoil, low chem inputs, etc.) aren't too productive. The Kauai delegation to Syngenta's annual meeting needs to try the North Korean low calorie diet for good svelte results. If Korea is a bit too temperate for your taste, Venezuela would be a tasty tropical compromise- experienced in land expropriation, import banning and starving its people. You folks need to step back from your useless disaffected nattering. It is no longer even entertaining and has become a nagging hemorrhoid on the body politic.

Anonymous said...

Growing food and self sufficiency is not gonna happen because of the REALTOR'S and the mega bucks it costs to buy property on Kauai. Not that many years ago, many organic farmers sought to grow food and make it happen only to realize that they couldn't make a profit or pay their mortgage or afford to send their kids to good schools as the cost of the land was way more than they could ever make in selling produce. So most of the good farmers stopped farming and sold the land.
Others like Neal Norman sold agriculture parcels and continue to do so over and over again and are making millions selling real estate instead of oranges and avocados.
Why is OK for real estate brokers to make millions of dollars of profits, but not others? Why is OK when they are the very ones responsible for the price of agriculture land being so high no one can afford to be a farmer and grow the islands sustainability? Lots of double speak from commenters. It's the Real estate brokers of Kauai that made it so land is too expensive to farm, why don't they care? Blame the folks at Hawaii Life for the lack of farming.

Anonymous said...

cap·i·tal·ism
ˈkapədlˌizəm/
noun
an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.

Anonymous said...

@3:36PM, 3:49PM, 8:19PM and @those who may be interested in self-sufficiency, Here is a very good article from todayʻs Huffington Post- >> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrea-brower/thinking-globally-and-sys_b_8986786.html?utm_hp_ref=hawaii&ir=Hawaii << And a piece of the article- "In contrast, social movements are asserting the possibility of an agricultural system designed to feed people rather than corporate profit. Resisting dominant ideas that have long justified extreme inequality and dispossession of indigenous and peasant producers, the food sovereignty movement is claiming alternative potentials in the commons, democracy, equitable distribution, respect for place and diversity, and agroecology. Rooted in their rights to land, water, seed, knowledge, culture, and livelihoods, some call the peasant-led food sovereignty movement the largest in the world. Organizations like La Via Campesina bring together 200 million small and medium-sized farmers, as well as landless people, migrants and agricultural workers. They are defending against land grabs, "free trade," enclosure of seed and genetic commons, corporate power, human rights violations, environmental degradation, and policies that create hunger. In their mobilizations, they are making systemic connections between what appear as singular and isolated injustices."

Joan Conrow said...

Ah, yes. Andrea will lead the revolution from the comfort of her father's gentleman estate, her own privileged existence financed by the construction of luxury private homes in an occupied land. Do tell us all about the struggle of the landless peasants, Andrea.

Anonymous said...

Joan, We already know you do not approve of Andrea. How about a critique of the article? Would like to hear more about the message and less about the messenger. I myself did read the article. I do not know Andrea. But I do find the article to be quite informative and intellectually stimulating. Would love to hear your take on it!

Joan Conrow said...

I'm glad to hear that, because I am planning such a post. Look for it in the next day or two.

Anonymous said...

9:42 AM - You should go to Cuba and see how well socialism and government control of the land/economy has done in half a century. I just came back. They're still using oxen and wooden plows for farming and horse carts for transportation.

Anonymous said...

Looking forward to your critique, Joan. I do hope you can do it without referring to the author in a personal way, though. I would really prefer to learn more about your opinion of the issues addressed in the article. Mahalo nui!

Anonymous said...

so i guess all those sold out farmers markets and value added products flying off the shelves are figments of our imagination