Kauai Bill Would Remove Tax Benefits for Crop Research
State officials, landowners and seed industry representatives criticize the proposal.
Just months after the Kauai County Council passed a bill regulating genetically modified farming and pesticide use, council members are taking on the seed industry again with Bill 2546.
The bill under consideration would get rid of property tax breaks for land used for researching and developing crops, The Garden Island reported Thursday.
The measure is the latest development in a growing movement against Hawaii’s $217 million seed industry. Syngenta, Pioneer, BASF and Agrigentics all operate on Kauai.
Kauai Councilman Tim Bynum, who introduced the bill, told The Garden Island that existing property tax benefits for farming were never intended to help large agricultural corporations.
But the Hawaii Crop Improvement Association, a trade group for the seed industry in Hawaii, has lambasted the proposal as discriminatory.
State officials and landowners also testified the bill could have a negative impact on the island’s economy.
Sophie Cocke/Civil Beat
