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First of all I’d like to thank the HFUU Legislative Committee, Board of Directors all who have contributed to the weighty task of drafting this piece of legislation.

As a farmer, the value of my crops in the marketplace is a primary concern of mine. One way to make money farming is to be involved in a specialty crop, such as tea, coffee, cocoa, honey, pineapple, taro and even sugar. Where a crop is grown and processed is known as its origin, or in legal terms, its “Geographic indication.” Ranchers, fishermen, and commodity producers should also support this legislation, as it also protects their interests.

When our origin products are blended with foreign products, a producer’s incentive to produce diminishes. Why not just import cheap products, and label them “Hawaiian,” blend that content with the minimum amount required to make the quota for labeling, and leading the customer to believe that they are buying “Hawaiian” product, and do up to 90 percent less manual labor farming locally produced products?

“Hawaii” is recognized as a special place and many people are happy to pay a higher price for its products, whether they live here, or are visiting and would like to return home with a value-added agriculture product. Currently there is minimal oversight or enforcement of quanta of “Origin product” in any given commodity or specialty crop sold in the market place.

This is a topic that our parent organization, National Farmers Union (NFU), has been championing for over 100 years. This is also where we differ with some other farming organizations. At the national level, the NFU has been advocating for farmers to recover their cost of production while making a reasonable profit since the organization was founded in 1902. Buying and selling local is a critical factor in this mission.

 is in a legal battle with global corporations to protect brand America with currently required country of origin labeling (C.O.O.L). NFU is intervening on the side of the USDA (the defense) in a lawsuit in the WTO by the meatpacking industry (the plaintiff) to remove country of origin from package labeling. Think of all the different places hamburger can come from, being that it is a blend of different parts of the cow, and you can appreciate what the “Grown in the USA” label does for your confidence in your food supply.

The United States does not have a comprehensive system to promote and protect its origin products. Some states like Idaho (Idaho Potatoes) or Georgia (Vidalia Onions) have long-established legal regimes to protect specific origin products. With Hawaii farmers taking the lead, the American Origin Products Association now advocates for a national origin products regime not unlike those long operating in countries like France and Italy.

In the same spirit, the Hawaii Farmers Union United is fighting for Brand Hawaii. HFUU proposes to introduce legislation that will protect Hawaii’s specialty and commodity markets from dilution with cheaper foreign products, under the false claim that those products are locally grown. In the spirit of not only truth in labeling and support for Hawaii grown products, but in the spirit of country of origin labeling, consumers should know what percentage of foreign products are blended with locally grown products so they can make informed decisions about what they buy.

We are proposing to ask the Legislature to establish a new, self-funded, farmer controlled regulatory body within the Department of Agriculture (similar to those in Idaho and Georgia) that will monitor and certify Hawai’i grown products and perform audits verifying blending standards.

Hawaii has the capacity to increase its market share of a number of specialty crops like tea and cacao. These crops have been repeatedly threatened with blending legislation that would arbitrarily set blending limits as low as 25 percent. Eva, a tea grower and champion of local agriculture, says of the proposed 2015 Hawaii Grown Origin Products Act that:

“[This bill] will give established and budding new crop industries the chance to present to our communities and beyond, pure, 100 percent Hawaii grown products unique to our terroir [that support] small family farms contributing to our local economy.”

Join with us to help us, lend support to your brand or the one you love, and support Brand Hawaii overall by assuring it is always known for quality and consistency.