We are Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United, a group formed to protect our freedom to farm. We support House Bill 2506 & Senate Bill 3508, which amend Hawaii’s Right-To-Farm Act. At an annual value of $194 million, we produce almost all of the island’s agriculture – 93 percent of the agricultural products grown and raised on the Big Island – and we unhesitatingly, passionately, support these bills.
They will amend Hawaii’s Right-To-Farm Act “to ensure that counties cannot enact laws, ordinances, or resolutions to limit the rights of farmers and ranchers to engage in modern farming and ranching practices.” We are very concerned that Hawaii County recently passed an anti-GMO bill, which prohibits Big Island producers from using any new biotech solutions to their farming challenges.
It halts our public research projects. Our competitors, elsewhere in Hawaii and on the mainland, will continue to have the benefit of advancing science and technology. Taking advantage of biotech solutions on the Big Island is now a criminal act.
Read full original article: Biotech-Aided Farming Should Not Be a Crime
