Promoting a Resilient Economy for Hawaii Farm Businesses (Senate Small Business Committee hearing, August 18, 2023)
Summary
S. HRG. 118–115, the printed record of a field hearing titled Promoting a Resilient Economy for Hawaii Farm Businesses before the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, held August 18, 2023 in the 118th Congress and printed in 2024. Opening statements come from Senator Mazie Hirono and Congresswoman Jill Tokuda. The seven witnesses include Dilawar Syed, Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, Chris Kanazawa of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Sharon Hurd of the Hawaii Department of Agriculture, Joseph Burns of the Hawaii Small Business Development Center, Randy Cabral of the Hawaii Farm Bureau and Murray Clay of the Ulupono Initiative, with Dr. Mark Wright appearing for the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Murray Clay's responses to questions from Senator Hirono and two addenda follow.
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Cite this document
“Promoting a Resilient Economy for Hawaii Farm Businesses (Senate Small Business Committee hearing, August 18, 2023).”
Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/promoting-a-resilient-economy-for-hawaii-farm-businesses-senate-small-024b7c7251/
, SHA-256 d37c2fa5526a537881c4a37edaefff1b20aa47463c57b94a9d6abe4fba4e1a2b.Full text
S. HRG. 118–115
PROMOTING A RESILIENT ECONOMY
FOR HAWAII FARM BUSINESSES
FIELD HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
OF THE
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
AUGUST 18, 2023
Printed for the use of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
(
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
53–542 WASHINGTON : 2024
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COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland, Chairman
JONI ERNST, Iowa, Ranking Member
MARIA CANTWELL, Washington MARCO RUBIO, Florida
JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho
EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts RAND PAUL, Kentucky
CORY A. BOOKER, New Jersey TIM SCOTT, South Carolina
CHRISTOPHER A. COONS, Delaware TODD YOUNG, Indiana
MAZIE K. HIRONO, Hawaii JOHN KENNEDY, Louisiana
TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois JOSH HAWLEY, Missouri
JACKY ROSEN, Nevada TED BUDD, North Carolina
JOHN W. HICKENLOOPER, Colorado
SEAN MOORE, Democratic Staff Director
MEREDITH WEST, Republican Staff Director
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CONTENTS
AUGUST 18, 2023
OPENING STATEMENTS
Page
Mazie Hirono, U.S. Senator from Hawaii .............................................................. 1
Jill Tokuda, Congresswoman from Hawaii ............................................................ 2
WITNESSES
Mr. Dilawar Syed, Deputy Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administra-
tion, Washington, DC ........................................................................................... 3
Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 6
Mr. Chris Kanazawa, State Director for Hawaii and Western Pacific Rural
Development, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Honolulu, HI ......................... 11
Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 13
Ms. Sharon Hurd, Chairperson, Hawaii Department of Agriculture, Honolulu,
HI .......................................................................................................................... 17
Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 19
Dr. Mark Wright, Professor and Extension Entomologist, College of Tropical
Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Hono-
lulu, HI (on behalf of Dr. Ania Wieczorek, Interim Dean and Director,
College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaii
at Manoa, Honolulu, HI) ..................................................................................... 26
Prepared Statement of Dr. Ania Wieczorek ................................................... 29
Mr. Joseph Burns, Interim State Director, Hawaii Small Business Develop-
ment Center, Honolulu, HI ................................................................................. 35
Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 38
Mr. Randy Cabral, President, Hawaii Farm Bureau, Volcano, HI ...................... 41
Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 43
Mr. Murray Clay, President, Ulupono Initiative, Honoulu, HI ........................... 52
Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 54
QUESTIONS FOR THE RECORD
Mr. Murray Clay
Responses to questions submitted by Senator Hirono ................................... 68
Clay Addendum 1, Maui Wildfire and Water Resources Map ............................. 73
Clay Addendum 2, Wildlife and Surface Water Imagery Map, Map dated
August 16, 2023 .................................................................................................... 74
Clay Addendum 3, Wildlife Surface Water and Recycled Water Map, Map
dated August 16, 2023 ......................................................................................... 75
Mr. Chris Kanazawa
Responses to questions submitted by Senator Hirono ................................... 76
ADDITIONAL LETTERS/STATEMENTS FOR THE RECORD
Ms. Alejandra Castillo, U.S. Economic Development Administration State-
ment dated August 18, 2023 ............................................................................... 79
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PROMOTING A RESILIENT ECONOMY FOR
HAWAII FARM BUSINESSES
Friday, August 18, 2023
UNITED STATES SENATE,
COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP,
Hilo, HI.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:30 a.m. HST, in Uni-
versity of Hawaii at Hilo, Haleolelo Lumi Pahiahia, 113 Nowelo
Street, Hilo, Hawaii, Hon. Mazie Hirono presiding.
Present: Senator Hirono [presiding], and Representative Tokuda.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR HIRONO
Senator HIRONO. This hearing of the Senate Small Business com-
mittee will come to order. Good morning and thank you for joining
us at today’s field hearing, as I mentioned, of the Senate Com-
mittee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
I thank our witnesses for being here today, and everyone who
made this hearing possible, including the University of Hawaii at
Hilo College of Hawaiian Language, which is hosting us here.
I would like to begin by acknowledging the tragedy that con-
tinues to unfold on Maui, as well as the fires here on Hawaii Is-
land. In the last week, we have all witnessed wildfires tear through
our communities on these islands, devastating businesses and
homes, displacing residents and visitors, causing injury, and claim-
ing lives.
Those who have lost their lives remain in our thoughts, as do
their loved ones. While the devastation is on an unimaginable
scale, these communities are resilient, and we will rebuild together.
That rebuilding will take time. As we begin this long process, we
must do so with an eye toward resiliency and sustainability.
We need to make sure other communities in Hawaii and across
our country are taking steps to mitigate the risks of fires and other
natural disasters. And we are seeing many more natural disas-
ters—the frequency and the harm of these natural disasters or
events that we are seeing, as I said, more and more.
One of the most important lessons we can learn from the tragedy
that we are experiencing is the importance of active management
of our lands and agriculture. Farms and Ag producers have long
played a vital role in our State, not only feeding our communities,
but also managing and caring for our land. It is critical that they
have the support they need to prosper across our State.
During today’s hearing, we will hear about Federal programs
that are available to support Hawaii’s communities and businesses,
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including farm businesses recover from the devastation we have
witnessed over the past week. Already, the Small Business Admin-
istration has unlocked financial assistance for businesses and indi-
viduals impacted by these fires.
Additionally, Federal agencies from FEMA to the USDA have
provided human, financial, and other assistance to support our re-
covery efforts. And just days ago, I welcomed SBA Administrator
Guzman to Maui to witness firsthand the destruction, and I am
grateful for her support and the support of the SBA.
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, the SBA,
there are more than 140,000 small businesses in Hawaii. And Ad-
ministrator Guzman mentioned to me there are some 700 small
businesses in Lahaina. These small businesses employ over 270,000
workers and make up more than 99 percent of all small businesses
in our State.
Of these, more than 2,000 small businesses are in agriculture,
forestry, fishing, and hunting. Many of these businesses have been
significantly impacted in the past days. As Congress prepares to
consider the once every five years Farm Bill, I want to ensure we
are considering the needs of these businesses.
Supporting farm businesses is critical to our economy, our land,
and the sustainability of our communities moving forward. I look
forward to hearing from our witnesses today about what the Fed-
eral Government and other organizations on the ground are doing
to support our communities, and what more we can do in the
months and years ahead.
And now I am glad that we are joined today by Representative
Jill Tokuda. And for her opening remarks, Congresswoman
Tokuda.
STATEMENT OF CONGRESSWOMAN TOKUDA
Ms. TOKUDA. Thank you, Senator. First of all, I would just like
to express my sincere gratitude to Senator Hirono and the Senate
Small Business and Entrepreneurship committee for hosting to-
day’s field hearing.
I appreciate this opportunity to also sit side by side, listen to the
testimony, ask questions, and engage and participate in what will
be a very important discussion on promoting resiliency among Ha-
waii’s farm business and our agriculture industry.
As a member of the House Agriculture committee in Congress, I
am advocating for policies in this year’s Farm Bill that reflect the
needs of our farmers, ranchers, and producers, the struggles they
have, but more importantly, the hope and the opportunity that
they see, as agriculture is a thriving part of an economy going for-
ward here in our islands.
You know, there is a lot I wanted to say before this hearing
started. When we were thinking about this weeks ago, and as Sen-
ator Hirono so eloquently said, so much has happened in the last
week that really shifted all of our thoughts and our minds, and
where our hearts are at this very moment.
What I can say is, though, we have experienced devastation here
in Hawaii before. Agriculture is no stranger to this as well. If you
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day we must stick together, pull together to be resilient, to over-
come, and provide for our families and for our communities.
Right now, going through the State, talking about the Farm Bill
over the last so many months, I have heard from farmers, ranch-
ers, and producers of the struggles they have had to be able to
manage what is a small business—but big business to them.
But what their hopes are is that we can continue to have agri-
culture thriving here for generations and generations to come. Fo-
cusing on this resiliency that we have had historically with agri-
culture——
[Technical problems.]
Ms. TOKUDA. Even the mic agrees. This is a very important topic,
worthy of amplification. But knowing the struggles that we have
been through, through agriculture, I think there is much that we
can learn together in terms of where we must go heading into the
future.
To all of the members of the panel today, thank you for being
here to express your—both your support, your guidance, and your
insight in terms of where we can go. You know, Ag must continue
to be part of the equation when it comes to a resilient economy for
Hawaii.
And while most of our agriculture farmers, and ranchers, and
producers are small, it is, as I said, big business for us here in Ha-
waii.
So, mahalo, again for being here today, and I look forward to the
engagement and discussion.
Senator HIRONO. Thank you, Congresswoman Tokuda. Today’s
hearing will feature two panels of witnesses. Panel one will feature
Federal and State witnesses who have experience working on pro-
grams that support businesses, including farm businesses.
These witnesses have a detailed knowledge of these programs
and will be able to answer questions about how the programs work,
and the impact they have on businesses. Our panels include Chris
Kanazawa from USDA, Sharon Hurd from the Hawaii Department
of Agriculture, and Dilawar Syed, Deputy Administrator of the
Small Business Administration.
Thank you all for being here. I should also note that Mr. Syed,
our recently confirmed Deputy Administrator of the SBA, traveled
all the way from Washington, D.C. to be here with us today, so a
special mahalo to you, Administrator Syed.
And with that, we will now hear from our witnesses, starting
from you, Mr. Syed.
STATEMENT OF DILAWAR SYED, DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR,
U.S. SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, WASHINGTON, D.C.
Mr. SYED. Aloha. Thank you, Senator Hirono, for holding this
hearing. Let me start by offering my deepest—my deepest condo-
lences to all those who have lost loved ones. You know, so many
precious lives lost. It is unimaginable.
The pictures just keep getting worse and worse. Our hearts are
heavy, but I want you to know, Senator and Congresswoman, and
members of the community, that we are absolutely committed, com-
mitted to supporting the people of Maui for as long as it takes, be-
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sustained recovery. SBA Administrator Guzman was on the ground
last weekend with FEMA Administrator Criswell to survey the
damage, and they joined you.
And since my arrival in the State early this week, I have spent
time with their teams to ensure that our plans, SBA’s plans, are
adequate to meet this daunting challenge, and I will continue to do
so.
As a frontline disaster relief agency, SBA is providing low inter-
est loans to affected residents, businesses, and non-profits in Maui.
We have already accepted hundreds of applications, loan applica-
tions, and approved—I am happy to report, that we have approved
the first set of home loans over the last couple of days.
SBA staff is on the ground. As of last night, we had 34 folks fully
focused and dedicated to the disaster recovery. 29 are actually in
Maui, but 4 of them are in Honolulu helping coordinate the effort.
And we opened a business recovery center in Maui on Wednesday.
If you are watching or later on if you see this, if you are affected
and you want to apply for an assistance, the fastest way to do that
is to register through disasterassistance.gov. You can also apply
through FEMA’s mobile app for assistance or by calling FEMA hot-
line at 1–800–621–3362.
Now turning to the subject of today’s hearing, it is an honor to
be here as the Deputy Administrator of the SBA. Because of sup-
porters like yourself and your leadership, Senator Hirono, I am
honored to have been confirmed by the U.S. Senate in a bipartisan
word, and very proud to be serving our nation’s 33 million small
businesses.
And let me say this, the tragedies that we have seen here that
have befallen on this State is one of the reasons why this is such
a privilege to serve and help these communities recover. I want to
thank you for inviting me to talk about our work to support small
businesses in Hawaii and help them realize their entrepreneur
dream.
Now, the SBA district office in Hawaii serves the largest geo-
graphic region of any district in the nation, Senator. They not only
serve Hawaii, but also Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and
other U.S. territories. Hawaii, just like the rest of the United
States, is experiencing a record boom in new small businesses ap-
plications.
From 2021 to 2022, nearly 38,000 Hawaiians filed applications to
start a small business. That is, for context, 63 percent higher than
the rate we saw before the pandemic. Last year, when it comes to
capital access at core programs, SBA approved more than $19 mil-
lion in 7(a) loans and almost similar amount, $19 plus million in
504 loans to Hawaiian owned businesses. In 2023 so far, we are ac-
tually tracking higher when it comes to loan volume.
And to date, we have approved 115 small businesses for 7(a)
loans worth $41 million. Another very important way we help
small businesses is by plugging them into SBA services through
our resource partner network.
In Hilo, we have our Hawaii Small Business Drop in Center that
provides in-person services to business owners on the Big Island.
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Last year, the overall SBDC network in Hawaii served more than
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1,250 clients, helped 67 new businesses get started, and supported
more than 3,300 local jobs.
I want to highlight one of these success stories in Hilo. Emily
Taaroa was born in the Big Island and studied agriculture at the
University of Hawaii. She and her husband started Punachicks.
Many of you may be familiar with the business. It is an organic
chicken farm. Today, their operation encompasses more than 25
acres, and their chicken is sold all across the State.
And this business benefited from resources available through
SBA resource partner. But we also want to acknowledge that there
are many agriculture businesses that don’t have access to those re-
sources, that we have got to reach to them.
And yesterday we met a number of coffee growers in Kona Cen-
ter who clearly could use our assistance as well, especially when
it comes to exporting. We know that only 11 percent of agri-busi-
nesses in Hawaii export internationally, and we want to change
that.
SBA Office of International Trade helps businesses access the
capital necessary to enter foreign markets. We also provide grants
to State organizations to help small businesses export through the
State trade expansion program, or STEP.
Since 2018, Hawaii has received $2.6 million in STEP grants,
which has led to $5.8 million in exports. As the Administrator and
I travel across the country, the number one challenge we hear from
small businesses is about access to capital. And especially when it
comes to small dollar lending, Senator, especially under $150,000,
that has dried out and it has gone down significantly over the past
decade.
So, to address this gap, SBA has unveiled two very important
new rules this year to reduce the unnecessary burden that prevents
some lenders from participating in our programs. Based on feed-
back we see from our lending partners, we have simplified the
process for lenders to make an SBA loan.
We also are working to drive more competition in the market-
place so that business owners in Hawaii have more options to se-
cure financing that is backed by SBA. We removed an outdated
moratorium on small business lending companies, SBLCs, which
will expand access to capital in the underserved market. And let
me underscore that point, that moratorium on SBLCs had been in
place since President Reagan’s Administration.
For 41 years, we could only support 14 SBLCs in our entire
union. And now, thanks to the lifting of the moratorium, we have
the opportunity to open three more SBLCs that will serve commu-
nities such as Hawaii. Again, Senator, thank you so much for the
opportunity to be here and look forward to your questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Syed follows:]
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Senator HIRONO. Thank you very much. Now we are going to
hear from Chris Kanazawa, who is the State Director for Hawaii
and Western Pacific Rural Development, USDA. And this is your
second iteration, right, in this position.
So, I am really glad that we have someone who is already famil-
iar with many of the issues that come to you, and I have known
Chris for a long time, and he is a can-do guy, and that is the kind
of person—as is Administrator Syed, by the way.
We want only can do people to come and talk with us about how
we can support our businesses, especially in the Ag sector. So,
Chris, please.
STATEMENT OF CHRIS KANAZAWA, STATE DIRECTOR FOR HA-
WAII AND WESTERN PACIFIC RURAL DEVELOPMENT, U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, HONOLULU, HAWAII
Mr. KANAZAWA. Aloha. Thank you, Senator Hirono, Congress-
woman Tokuda for the opportunity to speak before the Senate com-
mittee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship to share the role
of the United States Department of Agriculture’s role—mission
area, how it plays in advancing prosperity for farmers and ranch-
ers, as well as always, rural communities. I am Chris Kanazawa,
Hawaii State Director for USDA Rural Development.
My area of responsibility covers the State of Hawaii, the U.S. ter-
ritories of Guam and American Samoa, the U.S. Commonwealth of
the Northern Mariana Islands, and three freely associate States of
the Republic of Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micro-
nesia, and the Republic of Palau. Hawaii Rural Development has
five offices in the Hawaiian Islands of Maui, Kauai, Molokai, and
here on the Big Island of Hawaii.
On behalf of the USDA Rural Development, I would like to offer
my heartfelt condolences to those who have lost loved ones in the
wildfires in Maui. My mother was from Maui, and so I have much
aloha for the island and the community. It is impossible to measure
the devastation that these wildfires have brought to Hawaii and
Maui when you consider all the lives that have been lost and up-
ended.
For as long as it takes, the Biden-Harris Administration and
USDA will deploy every resource at our disposal to help the fami-
lies and communities rebuild their lives and homes. We are thank-
ful that all of our employees and families are safe.
However, Maui is a small community, and we all know someone
who has been affected by the wildfire. Our employees grieve for the
community of Lahaina, just as all of Hawaii grieves. The loss of a
historic community with rich culture, while tragic, cannot compare
to the devastating emotion felt by our employees and all the people
of Hawaii.
Rule development continues to be strong and is already working
to utilize resources at our disposal to help displaced communities.
Rural development programs, while not designed as emergency re-
sponse programs, will help rebuild the quality of life and increase
economic opportunities for the community with financial assistance
for housing, small businesses, farms and ranches, health, edu-
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I have submitted written testimony that provides more detail on
Rural Development’s ongoing programs that support small busi-
nesses and agriculture producers, and I am happy to follow up on
any questions you may have. But I would like to spend my time
with you today to talk about the Rural Development is doing—
what Rural Development is doing as it relates to the current dis-
aster efforts.
We are reaching out to all of our housing borrowers affected by
the wildfires with we care letters, offering claims and payment as-
sistance packages. Rural Development has increased its housing re-
pair grants from $30,000 to $40,000, and waiving age require-
ments.
We are taking inventory of vacancies in Rural Development’s
multifamily housing projects that may be used to offer temporary
housing for displaced residents. Rural Development also has emer-
gency and intermittent—and imminent community water assist-
ance grants that are available to help communities prepare and re-
cover from an emergency that threatens the availability of safe, re-
liable drinking water. Rule Development is the long term rebuild-
ing partner.
We are here for the duration and standby ready to support our
rural communities. Rural Development programs will play a key
role in rebuilding the devastated communities from the ground up.
Rural Development’s rural housing services will provide financial
assistance for affordable housing and community facilities, for med-
ical, education, social, and public service needs.
The Rural Business and Cooperative Services will assist small
rural businesses for facilities and equipment, technical assistance,
energy efficiency systems and improvements, and working capital.
And the Rural Utilities will finance basic water and wastewater in-
frastructure, telecommunication, high speed internet, broadband,
and electrical infrastructure.
This committee, and the agencies on this panel, have the great-
est opportunity to support these businesses to rebuild and reopen,
and Rural Development and USDA are prepared to stand by and
help.
Mahalo, Senator Hirono, Congresswoman Tokuda for this oppor-
tunity to share with the committee, USDA Rural Development’s ac-
tivities in supporting small businesses, agriculture, and rural com-
munities.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Kanazawa follows:]
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Senator HIRONO. Thank you very much, Mr. Kanazawa. Sharon
Hurd is the Director of the State Department of Agriculture.
I know you have a lot of experience in supporting agriculture,
but it remains a very challenging for us to really support Ag in the
way that will contribute much more to our food sustainability.
So, please go ahead with your testimony, Ms. Hurd.
STATEMENT OF SHARON HURD, CHAIRPERSON, HAWAII
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, HONOLULU, HAWAII
Ms. HURD. Thank you, Senator Hirono, Representative Tokuda.
With Maui at top of mind, with Hawaii Island top of mind, I am
going to—I am honored and privileged to have this opportunity to
speak on behalf of the Department of Agriculture.
On my testimony, on behalf of the topic, promoting a resilient
economy for Hawaii businesses, is basically going to be ways to im-
prove and expand on the Federal programs that support Hawaii
businesses in the agricultural sector.
Our Congressional delegation does a fabulous job bringing us the
kinds of grants that we need. They really do. If you—grants.gov,
you can see all the grants that they bring. But I am here to testify
that the main challenges that Hawaii small farmers face in seeking
Federal grants are, the first thing is that applying and admin-
istering the grants is really tough.
It is very complex. You really need a simplicity HR, or some kind
of a back room to help you with it, because it is complicated. The
second thing that is difficult for small farmers to attach themselves
to a Federal grant is that sometimes the concepts that the Federal
grant supports, it is pretty, I am going to say, ivory tower and kind
of a theoretical type concept.
Sustainability, climate change, climate resiliency, cooperative
interactions, all really important concepts, but to a small farmer,
they don’t find a way to attach themselves to that to secure the
funding that they need.
And the third thing that I am going to see is a challenge to the
small farmers in accessing Federal grants, is that while they are
doing that, there is actually a loss of productivity while executing
the grant. In the 2017 Census of Agriculture, of the 7,328 farms
in Hawaii, 78 percent of the farmers reported farm value sales of
less than $25,000.
So, 78 percent reports less than $25,000. Those are subsistence
farmers or farmers that do farming on the side. We have to help
these farmers scale up, provide them some sort of resources be-
cause they are ready. They are ready to bust out. They just need
to know how to do that. 62 percent reported farm value sales of
less than $10,000.
And small family farms make up 91 percent of all the Hawaii
farms. Many of the new farmers are immigrants from Southeast
Asia or new farmers from the local population. So, while there are
various solutions to these three barriers that I just mentioned—for
instance, include funding in the grant to—for a service provider to
help them actually administer the grant.
Develop grant programs that focus on the farmer, how to support
their operations, provide what they need, and meet the conceptual
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goals that the nation needs to meet. And then the third is to create
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18
outcomes and indicators that the small farmer find—sorry, create
outcomes and indicators that the small farmer finds value, he can
benefit from that, and continue to benefit from that.
The outcomes and indicators need to be relevant to them. Okay,
so what I want to say is those are good challenges, but what is
going on today is really helpful. And what it is, is that recent Fed-
eral programs such as the Regional Food Business Center Program,
Hawaii was awarded $30 million, UH. The Resilient Food Systems
Infrastructure Program was a $3.2 million award block grant. Part-
nerships for Climate Smart Commodities was $40 million.
The reason I highlight these grants is because they are top down
grants. They are large amounts of money, but they make—they
force the community to collaborate. Department is not competing
with UH, is not competing with groups who are working together
to come up with a program that is rich and robust, then we were
able to help the farmer with their programs. If their farmers are
not writing it, we are.
These really robust grants are really good for the direction that
we are going. I think it is wonderful. Programs, however—pro-
grams such as the specialty crop block grant program or micro
grants for food security, they also are wonderful and really make
a difference, are game changers for the small individual type farm-
ers.
So, the programs you are providing, excellent. I like to focus on
the regional type partnerships as well as the individual farmers.
And I think the pandemic has really focused this on resilience. And
I think a lot of our programs today are focused on resilience.
So, thank you for the opportunity. Waiting for the questions.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Hurd follows:]
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20
Senator HIRONO. Thank you. We will now move to approximately
20 minutes of questions from me and Congresswoman Tokuda.
So, Ms. Hurd, since we heard from you last, you talked about a
lot of Federal grants that are available. Are they—first of all, are
the grants applicable enough in terms of the criteria for small busi-
nesses, particularly farmers, to apply for these grants, or are there
aspects to these grants that make it hard for our people to qualify?
And also, if there is enough in grant funds that go to our farm-
ers. And I think I heard you say that the 75 percent of our people
in Ag what, make less than $25,000? So, are those some of the lim-
itations in applying for Federal grants in the Ag sector?
Ms. HURD. I think what you are doing today is really——
Senator HIRONO. Can you get closer to your mic, please.
Ms. HURD. Yes, sure. I think what you are doing today is really
good. You are actually targeting that group of people that are re-
porting income of less than—sales of less than $25,000, with grants
like the current Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure grant.
The one component in that grant that was really insightful was
the equipment piece. You awarded between $10,000 and $100,000
to small businesses for equipment with no match.
Now, that is a really impactful piece because if you are a food
hub and all you need is additional refrigeration to take in food from
an additional 20 farmers—refrigeration is expensive for a food hub,
but with this $100,000 limit, they can go out and buy four different
freezers and start really scaling up, and helping the farmer then,
passing it on to the farmer to grow more and make more.
So that is—that was good. As far as what you said earlier, do we
need more money? Senator, the micro grants for food security was
a wonderful grant. It was difficult to administer, but the amount
of money, $5,000 made such a difference to the individual home-
owner.
Senator HIRONO. And are those grants from USDA?
Ms. HURD. Yes, USDA AMS.
Senator HIRONO. So, I think that we need to recognize how im-
portant it is for flexibility for USDA. And Mr. Kanazawa, I visited
with the largest food bank in Hawaii. And one of the most desir-
able things that their clients need are fresh fruits produce.
They cannot use, as far as I understand, USDA money for those
items that they—our food banks have to use private sources of
funds to acquire the fresh produce. And we don’t get enough of it,
and this is something that I want to very much follow up with you
that we don’t get, I think, our share, Hawaii, our share of the kinds
of this kind of produce that goes to other food banks in the rest of
the country because of just distance, because of other limitations.
And for Ms. Hurd, we would like our food banks to purchase food
from our farmers, and right now they can’t use Federal resources
to do that. So somewhere along the way, we need to have these
things come to, you know, a cooperation and to identify that this
is an issue, and to work on it because this is another way that we
can support Ag in Hawaii. And Ag in Hawaii needs a lot of support.
And even the food banks being able to purchase our farmers
produce, that would be, I think, a very positive step. So. Mr.
Kanazawa, I would really like your assistance in figuring out this
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part of USDA’s limitations.
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21
Mr. Syed, I know that SBA is one of the agencies in what we
refer to as the, all of the family of State—Federal agencies that are
present on Maui, and SBA is going to be a long term partner in
our recovery.
So how long will SBA be on Maui, can you tell us, in terms of
helping the recovery efforts there, because there are some 700 busi-
nesses, small businesses. I don’t know whether they have already
signed up. I mean, they are still going through a huge time of loss.
So can you just talk a little bit about how your presence will con-
tinue on Maui, which is my hope and expectation.
Mr. SYED. Absolutely, Senator. So, we were on the ground lit-
erally as soon as the disaster hit. And what I can assure you is
that we will stay on the ground as long as it takes to support those
who need us. Small business owners, as well as residents, because
we also process home loans, as well as folks who have lost personal
property, including cars.
And you can see in pictures, virtually everyone lost their vehicle
as well. So, in short, we are going to stay there, as the President
said, follow the response, and SBA, I can speak on behalf of the
SBA Administrator, that we will be on the ground for as long as
it takes.
Let me also share with you that when you look at what has hap-
pened in the country when it comes to fire disasters, Paradise,
California, my home State, it was big news about a year ago, two
years ago, devastation that we had never seen in the State. The
city has yet to recover. This takes a long time——
Senator HIRONO. Yes.
Mr. SYED. And this is even frankly, more challenging here. You
know, we were talking with the disaster teams and normally they
have been—experience with flooding and tornadoes, and often that,
you know, folks that are stranded, they are helping them. And they
go door to door, and there are no doors here, Senator. Like there
is nothing in this community.
So, the playbook is different. It is going to have to take us to stay
there for a long haul, talk to resource partners, build relationships
in the community. The community is dispersed all over the place.
They have gone to the families. They have obviously, some of
them are in shelters. So, we are going to have to put this for a
very, very long time, and we are committed to doing that.
Senator HIRONO. Thank you. And when I mentioned the Federal
family of agencies, I am talking about not only SBA, and I think
the SBA has been there at every disaster and their long term com-
mitment is very much appreciated. But the Federal family includes
the Department of Defense, Energy, of course, USDA, EPA, DOT,
Army Corps.
So, this is what we refer to as a Federal family of agencies. And
the continuity of effort will be very much required because the re-
covery of Maui, as well as on the Big Island, will take time and
resources, and we need to have a continuing commitment.
As we focus on the support for Ag, with especially as Congress-
woman Tokuda is on the Ag committee and we are working on the
five year new Farm Bill, it is going to be really important that that
bill reflects a lot of support for the kind of agriculture that we have
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in Hawaii.
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22
We are not the commodity crops. We are specialty crops. Every-
thing in Hawaii is considered specialty crops. And for too long, in
my view, our Ag programs have supported the commodity crops.
That would be cotton, soybeans, you know those are the big com-
modity crops and we do not have any of those.
So, I want to make sure, working with Congresswoman Tokuda,
that the next Farm Bill very much reflects the commitment to the
small farmers that we have. Mr. Syed, you also referred to the cof-
fee growers yesterday at Kona, and I think they said that they
don’t have that much familiarity with SBA and what programs
SBA offers.
So, what is the thing that you mention to them that you would
be committed to doing in working with them?
Mr. SYED. Absolutely. And well, actually, let me echo what you
said. Hawaii is the only State in the union that produces coffee.
And I think many of us are coffee drinkers and we should appre-
ciate that. So, I hear you that there should be greater awareness
of SBA resources to our agriculture businesses here, including cof-
fee growers.
So, what I proposed was that I want to lead a session, a virtual
session, where we can expose our breadth of our services and pro-
grams to Kona based coffee growers so they know what are the var-
ious loan programs, other entrepreneurial programs, so they can
benefit from. We have welcomed the new head of Rural Affairs.
You know, Ania is here with me, and so she will help lead—and
I will personally be involved in that as well, to make sure that
folks know what programs we have to support them.
Senator HIRONO. I am really glad that you heard from the coffee
brewers directly, because one of the challenges that we always face
is really the awareness of the people here, and I would say espe-
cially in the rural communities, awareness of the support they can
get from Federal programs. So, they need to know about it. Out-
reach is really important and follow through. So, it was really great
that you were there. Congresswoman Tokuda.
Ms. TOKUDA. Thank you. And I just wanted to reiterate as well,
Senator Hirono did mention our desire to be able to purchase more
food for our food banks from our local producers.
She and I are actually leading up the effort to really make sure
in the 2023 Farm Bill that we have the TEFAP direct purchase go
through, so noncontiguous States like ourselves can really make
sure we can do direct purchasing and we can purchase right from
our farmers and get nutritious food into—to our people, onto their
tables. So really appreciate her leadership on this particular effort
and working with me on this.
Mr. Syed, you know, I want to take it from two approaches, one,
the lender’s perspective, and one, the applicant’s perspective. So, I
wanted to start with the applicant’s perspective, which I think is
important. You mentioned a decline in small dollar lending that we
have seen likely primarily among the 7(a) small loan programs, so
$150,000 or less.
Is SBA able to offer technical assistance, and for us here in Ha-
waii, language access for those individuals that really need it to
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make these loans more accessible for people? Can we look at even
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23
more streamlining and simplicity because of the disastrous situa-
tion that we are in?
And I know collateral requirements are still in existence for
loans of $50,000 to $150,000. Is there some consideration to maybe
removing some of those collateral requirements? And as you look
at Lahaina, going up to $500,000, we are going to see significant
loans needed given the scale of the damage.
Can we also consider some additional easing back of the collat-
eral requirements, given the kind of money that is going to be re-
quired of people who right now have nothing?
Mr. SYED. Absolutely. So, it is two very important points that
while we are on the ground, we want to make sure we assist appli-
cants who, by the way, are traumatized right now as we speak, as-
sessing what all they have lost, which is virtually everything and
what their decisions are about rebuilding their lives and busi-
nesses.
And when I was looking at the data, there is a significant, you
know, minority population, obviously, the Vietnamese communities,
the Filipino community, native Hawaiian population, and we are
looking at what language assistance we can provide.
I was talking to our Lieutenant Governor Luke the other day
when we were at the food bank, and she made a very good point,
and she said, while some of the folks may be language wise okay,
but when it comes to filling an application of this nature, it gets
pretty technical, and you want to provide that support.
So, we will bring in language resources to that and to make sure
that there is no friction in the process of them filling out forms.
With respect to collateral, my understanding is that collateral is
not a requirement, but we do ask folks, in the current process to
actually, if the ability to have collateral in there.
We will explore what is possible here, again, to take those bur-
dens off, given that folks have lost everything. There is no—in
many cases, perhaps there is no collateral to be even provided, and
we have to see that. We have to be empathetic to that. So, we will
look what we can do there, what the rules there are, and if we need
to also make some changes——
Ms. TOKUDA. Very much appreciate that. Yes, and maybe looking
now at the lenders portion, you mentioned in your testimony that
earlier this year, you took steps to simplify and streamline the
process, so we have more lenders, more competitions.
Just given where we are right now in a disaster situation, we
need to increase the amount of lenders and competition. Is there
anything more we can do to remove additional complexities to the
program so we can get people timely access to the funds that they
need?
Mr. SYED. So, I think the pandemic, you know, taught us this
lesson that you had—it was really community banks and CDFIs,
local banks that actually reached underserved, that reached black
owned businesses, brown owned businesses. The big banks did not
do that. And here again, we have a similar situation.
And that is precisely why, Congresswoman, we have been mak-
ing these steps, realizing that we are going to see more instances
of these disasters in the face of climate change, and we want to
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make lending more available at folks’ doorstep.
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24
So, what we are hoping is that when it comes to Community Ad-
vantage Program that we do have, which we didn’t talk about in
my testimony, that there are—my understanding is there are lend-
ers from Hawaii who are applying. I hope it will encourage more
lenders to apply.
And if they of course, if they go through the process, that they
could be one of the—one of the sources of capital that is backed
by—supported by SBA that can be made available in the commu-
nity.
What we have to recognize is, I think you all have said this, this
is not a one-week, two-weeks, one-month, two-month, six-month,
one-year problem. This is a multi-year problem. Even if some of
those banks are not, let’s say, available today, and even if they
come online, let’s say, in a year from now, they would still add a
ton of value because there is so much that has to be built. We are
literally in a war zone like situation, and everything has been
raised to ground.
So, the good news is that we are—our reforms have created an
environment where we are welcoming these local banks now, learn-
ing from the pandemic lessons, and thanks to the Administrator’s
very strong leadership.
And we want to invite non-local banks institution to apply so
they can be in the communities offering these loan products backed
by SBA.
Ms. TOKUDA. We definitely would love to see more local partici-
pation——
Mr. SYED. Absolutely.
Ms. TOKUDA. They understand our community and are very sen-
sitive to where everyone is at right now. I would also encourage—
I am heartened to hear that you will be leading a virtual session
for more of our producers.
I would encourage as well, if it is possible to do some in-person
throughout our islands. Broadband access is sometimes difficult for,
you know, some of our communities, and even having the time to
log on to a virtual session can be difficult. So, I am sure working
with our offices, if we can take it to the people, I think that would
be outstanding as well. And language truly is an issue.
This county is the most populated with non-English speakers in
the entire State. So, it is not just Tagalog or Spanish, it is Ilocano,
it is many of our, you know, different languages as well. So, you
know, please top us to assist in this particular process. Mr.
Kanazawa, I just have one quick question.
You really covered a lot of good things. Now, in terms of the
Value Added Producers Grant, this is long term really that we are
looking at—in order for people to rebuild and to continue to sustain
and build their operations throughout our State, we know that they
need processing facilities, they need access to things that will allow
them to create value added products.
Now, it is hard for a producer to do one by one. Have you been
looking at funding, perhaps co-op type of opportunities for a num-
ber of different growers or producers in a region line?
Lahaina could actually be one of these particular areas where,
whether it is commercial kitchens or processing facilities, being
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able to access this is something they can afford to do on their own,
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25
but as a group it might really propel an industry forward and sup-
port numbers of different applicants.
Mr. KANAZAWA. Yes. I totally agree. Given the size of our farms,
our small farms, it is important to ensure that there is some indus-
try infrastructure that is available. And so Rural Development does
have funding for food hubs, innovation centers that will provide for
centralized processing.
So, we do provide that broad regional infrastructure. In addition
to that, though, specific to, as you mentioned, the Value Added Pro-
ducers Grant, we are—Rural Development provides funding to help
the profitability of our farmers, whether it be through our Value
Added Producers Grant, whether it be even our Rural Energy for
America Program that lowers costs.
As an example, here on the Big Island, there is a Hawaii Oulu
producers cooperative that has used our Rural Energy for America
Program Grant, and they have been in—and this cooperative is
made up of over 100 small farms across four islands.
They have been able to generate over 65—67 percent of their en-
ergy through a solar photovoltaic system, and they have been able
to save over 84,000 kilowatt hours through this. So, all of this,
what we look at in supporting our Ag community, is how do we
find ways to improve their profitability.
And so, through individual programs that help individual farms,
as well as the regional infrastructure, Rural Development is pre-
pared to support.
Ms. TOKUDA. Thank you. And Mr. Kanazawa, I would just ask,
I know you eloquently stated the ways that you are supporting our
community now, but if you can help provide our office with infor-
mation how immediately you are providing relief to folks in Maui
on housing, access to drinking water, and broadband.
These are three critical areas to keep people safe and connected,
which we are prioritizing right now. But we would love to go to
continue to put that out towards the community, to let them know
what you are doing. And we know in the long term, you are going
to be a valuable asset to providing in these areas.
Mr. KANAZAWA. Yes.
Ms. TOKUDA. And Ms. Hurd, I would just state that I do know—
I appreciate the comments of all the things that are needed from
a technical assistance perspective, and the needs of farmers, and
the grants that are available.
I just commit to continuing to work with you to make sure we
have the capacity to actually apply and execute these grants be-
cause we know that there is money out there, but these are very
busy folks that are helping to feed everyone, and we need to make
sure we have that technical assistance, the capacity to apply for
the money they deserve. Thank you, Senator.
Senator HIRONO. Thank you. And Congresswoman Tokuda, I am
really glad you happened to mention the importance of food hubs.
As it turned out, I visited the Malama Kauai food hub, and this
is an actual building where the farmers, some small farmers who
could never afford to have a building like this, where they can
bring their produce process to value added, a certified kitchen, all
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of that, without some support.
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26
And I have provided $2.4 million in earmarks, so, for that. And
so there are things that we can do along those lines. But I would
say that food hubs are a really important way that we can support
the small farmers in scaling up value added, all of that.
I have one question more for Mr. Syed. Can you tell me whether
the Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision has impacted
SBA’s ability to target women and minorities in your programs?
Mr. SYED. Senator, I am glad you asked the question. Obviously,
we are tracking this. We are—we don’t see an impact, or we have
not seen any guidance made available. But I can also follow up
with you to see whether something that I am not aware of that we
are doing differently.
Senator HIRONO. I think to the extent that SBA programs target
women for a particular kind of support, that—I think that is some-
thing that the SBA could have an impact. So, you know what, I
just want everyone to know, the Supreme Court’s decisions have an
impact on a lot of different things that you may not think is being
resolved or addressed by the Supreme Court.
But this is one area that we are tracking because the Small Busi-
ness committee spends quite a lot of time talking about and asking
SBA whether they are meeting their target growth goals for sup-
porting minority businesses and women owned businesses.
With that, we are going to take a five minute recess for the sec-
ond panel. I thank the first panel for your testimony. Mahalo.
Mr. SYED. Mahalo.
Senator HIRONO. Five minute break.
[Break.]
Senator HIRONO. The hearing will resume. We will now convene
our second panel. Just to reiterate, in panel one, we heard from
Federal and State witnesses who have experience working on pro-
grams that support businesses.
And these witnesses shared their knowledge of the programs and
answered questions about how the programs work. And, of course,
there is always room for improvement. We thank them again for
being here.
In panel two, we will hear from private and academic witnesses
who have firsthand experience working with businesses and who
are familiar with the challenges they face. They include Mark
Wright from the College of Tropical Agriculture and, what is it,
Human Resources—sorry, CTAHR, Joe Burns from Hawaii Small
Business Development Center, Randy Cabral from the Hawaii
Farm Bill, and Murray Clay from the Ulupono Initiative, a non-
profit organization focused on locally produced food, renewable en-
ergy, and clean transportation.
Thank you all for being here. So, with that, we will start with
our first witness, Dr. Wright.
STATEMENT OF MARK WRIGHT, PROFESSOR AND EXTENSION
ENTOMOLOGIST, COLLEGE OF TROPICAL AGRICULTURE
AND HUMAN RESOURCES, UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT
MANOA, HONOLULU, HAWAII
Dr. WRIGHT. Good morning. Aloha. I am Mark Wright. I am
speaking on behalf of Dr. Ania Wieczorek, our Interim Dean, who
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is just recovering from COVID. I am here to come and speak on
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27
her behalf. I am with the College of Tropical Agriculture, Univer-
sity of Hawaii at Manoa, statewide responsibilities for research ex-
tension and education in agriculture and a broad range of topics.
With a funding college of the University of Hawaii, as you prob-
ably all know, we play a role in wide ranging transdisciplinary edu-
cation, which provides extensive support in agriculture and natural
resource management, including things like invasive species man-
agement and so on, which are fundamentally important, as we
know, to the State.
During the past few years, our college underwent a strategic po-
sitioning effort, during the whole pandemic in fact, during which
we collected data from more than 5,000 individuals regarding re-
quirements of various stakeholders in the State.
And the result was a strategic document outlining four main ini-
tiatives. Among those was enhancing economic development for an
adaptable and resilient community and well-trained workforce.
And among this economic development was one of the main ini-
tiatives. One of the big things that came up was the needs of small
agricultural operations that require access to free resources for
education and training to strengthen their well-being and their
ability to contribute to economic development and the people of Ha-
waii.
We need to be proactive in making locally produced food widely
available to our population and a vibrant tropical agriculture of
value added products to global communities, particularly in the
State vulnerable to natural and human disasters, as we have seen
recently, that can certainly have significant negative impacts on
our food and food security and economy.
I will give you a few examples of impacts that the College of
Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources have and continue to
have. We are particularly active in the area of biosecurity and food
security, particularly the management of invasive species. Insects
and disease pests caused 20 to 100 percent crop losses in many
cases, as I mean, I am sure you have seen as you have been trav-
eling around.
We have entomologists and plant pathologists to work on man-
aging these problems, developing environmentally friendly options
for managing these pests. Some examples of the recent develop-
ment of integrated pest management for coffee berry borer, a se-
vere pest of coffee, which has saved approximately $132 million for
that industry in terms of pest management alone.
We work in other crops such as macadamia nuts, papaya, vege-
table crops, the whole range. Turf and landscape pest management
is another huge issue. You are probably aware of the issues we are
having on Oahu and now Kauai with coconut rhinoceros beetle
which decimates coconut palms. CTAHR is also involved in food
safety training.
We have a program that has been able to train almost 560 farm-
ers recently in complying with food safety requirements. We work
on culturally important staple foods and specialty crops, things like
taro, ulu, and then floriculture as well, of course. We have a sus-
tainable organic Ag program that contributes to training people in
organic agriculture statewide, as well as contributing to workforce
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28
We have Hawaii-One-Ag Program, which focuses on students de-
veloping their education in terms of being able to work imme-
diately in agriculture. Our GoFarm Program does a similar thing
where we have immediate training for people who are interested in
entering the agricultural sector.
Natural resource and environmental management is another
substantial component of what we do with people working on nat-
ural environment, working on invasive species management, fire
management, and many other issues related to environmental
management. Our college research addresses family and consumer
issues.
For example, healthy family development, the role of older people
in society, providing environments that are healthy for young peo-
ple, and developing a good economic sense and so forth.
So, in summary, we require lots and lots of resources to be able
to contribute to continuing to do these things and be an economic
driver in the State. And I will stop there. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Ania Wieczorek follows:]
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35
Senator HIRONO. Thank you. Joe Burns from the Hawaii Small
Business Development Center.
STATEMENT OF JOSEPH BURNS, INTERIM STATE DIRECTOR,
HAWAII SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER, HONO-
LULU, HAWAII
Mr. BURNS. Thank you, and aloha, Senator Hirono. Aloha, Con-
gresswoman Tokuda. Thank you very much for the invitation today
to testify here, and also thank you very much for what you are
doing for all the residents of Maui who are suffering terribly.
So, the Hawaii SBDC is a program of the University of Hawaii
at Hilo and is funded in part through a grant from the Small Busi-
ness Administration. We opened in 1990 and have been hosted con-
tinuously since then by UH Hilo. We have five service centers
statewide on the four major islands, and we are one of 63 accred-
ited SBDC programs across the country created by Congress in
1980.
So, in the first two quarters of this year, we advised 945 unique
clients, and materially assisted with just under $20 million in at-
tributed capital acquisition. So, my comments today, I have three
of them. First, I want to talk about Federal agencies which support
Hawaii small agricultural businesses.
So, I have three. The first one is obviously the USDA. And we
work closely with the USDA, especially through two of their flag-
ship guaranteed loan programs—one is the Community Facilities
Guaranteed Loan Program, and the other is the Business and In-
dustry Loan Guarantee Program. So, our role is to provide advisory
services in terms of writing the required feasibility studies.
And doing so, we contributed to the funding of agricultural and
rural development projects for probably over the last 13 years since
I have been here at least. And so, I want to mention three exam-
ples.
One is a coffee school with career and workforce development
training on the cultivation, processing, roasting, and cupping of cof-
fee. A cattle ranch refinance right here on the Big Island, lowering
their financing expenses and supporting their expansion into the
agritourism sector.
And the third one is a rural, urgent care medical clinic on Kauai,
which is not really an agricultural project per se, but the clinic
helps to attract and retain rural residents such as farm owners,
farm workers, by providing urgent medical care in the rural com-
munity that surrounds it. So that is USDA. Second one is the SBA,
Small Business Administration.
So, the Hawaii SBDC, as a resource partner of the SBA, provides
export business advisory services to Hawaii businesses involved in
the SBA State Trade Expansion Program, which Mr. Syed men-
tioned, the STEP Program, and that is administered through
DBEDT at the State level in Hawaii. And we call it the ‘‘HiSTEP’’
Program.
So, we cover areas such as export planning, international market
research, export financing, including the SBA’s excellent guaran-
teed export finance programs. And the reason I mention that is be-
cause these services and export loans are very, very helpful for
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local, value added Ag product creators.
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Senator Hirono talked about commodities. We don’t produce com-
modities, but we do produce specialty products. So, these would fit
in that category. And then some examples of HiSTEP assistance
that we provided to value added Ag businesses include a vertically
integrated cocoa grower and craft chocolate manufacturer and ex-
porter, a distiller of heirloom Hawaiian sugar cane varietals pro-
ducing high quality rum, and a manufacturer of reusable cloth food
reps using 100 percent Hawaiian beeswax.
And then the third program we probably don’t think about in
terms of agriculture, but that is the Treasury Department’s Small
Business Credit Initiative, SBCI, which provides funding support
for both equity and debt access to capital programs.
And there is also a technical assistance element of the program
under which the Hawaii SBDC will be receiving funding to provide
businesses, financial literacy and management improvement serv-
ices to socially and economically disadvantaged entrepreneurs and
very small businesses outside of Oahu.
So potential recipients of this technical assistance would tend to
be farm and rural businesses just because of their location. My sec-
ond comment relates to how to improve Federal programs that sup-
port agriculture and rural communities. One specific idea refers to
the USDA Community Facilities Guaranteed Loan Program, which
I mentioned.
There is a requirement that under certain circumstances appli-
cants must obtain the examination opinion of a CPA attesting to
the validity of the assumptions in the financial feasibility report.
In our experience, it has been very difficult to find those local CPAs
who are willing and capable to do that examination opinion when
it is required.
So, then our applicants have to turn to the mainland CPA firms,
which in our experience are very expensive and sometimes not will-
ing to do it because they don’t know Hawaii very well. And that
creates a barrier to completing a potentially valuable project.
So, I would just like to ask if there is not such a mechanism al-
ready, I wonder if the USDA would consider making available spe-
cific funding to facilitate that CPA examination opinion when it is
required.
And my last comment is, I would very much like to thank Sen-
ator Hirono for co-sponsoring the SBDC Improvement Act of 2023,
which reauthorizes the national SBDC Program, enhances its effec-
tiveness.
There are three provisions of the bill that I would like to high-
light before I close. One is Section 2, which adds depth and detail
to the existing mandated reporting to Congress with respect to the
SBDC’s annual entrepreneurial development activities. Section 3
allows SBDC to use a limited amount of SBA cooperative grant
funding for marketing purposes. And Section 7 strengthens the pro-
tection of client confidentiality.
So, in closing, may I say that we are grateful for the committee’s
continuing support of Federal programs which help to sustain agri-
culture and rural businesses in Hawaii for the accomplishment of
the shared goals of reducing food insecurity, removing barriers to
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37
sistance necessary to foster a robust agricultural community.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Burns follows:]
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41
Senator HIRONO. Thank you. I just want to note that I think
there is an echoing in here. It is a little bit hard for us to hear you
all but speak into the mic.
And apparently our mic is picking you up, but if you can, you
speak very clearly into the mic. Randy Cabral, Hawaii Farm Bu-
reau. You have vast years of experience in being an advocate for
our farmers, so——
Mr. CABRAL. Unfortunately, five minutes, not going to be able to
cover it.
Senator HIRONO. What was that?
Mr. CABRAL. Five minutes is not going to be able to cover a
whole lot of stuff. [Laughter.]
Senator HIRONO. You have a lot to impart. Thank you. Please
proceed.
STATEMENT OF RANDY CABRAL, PRESIDENT, HAWAII FARM
BUREAU, VOLCANO, HAWAII
Mr. CABRAL. Aloha, Senator Hirono, Congresswoman Tokuda.
Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony. My name is
Randy Cabral. I am President of the Hawaii Farm Bureau. Orga-
nized in 1948, the Hawaii Farm Bureau is comprised of 1,800 farm
families members statewide, and we serve as Hawaii’s voice of agri-
culture. The Farm Bureau is the biggest general agricultural orga-
nization in Hawaii.
We represent our members’ interest in public policy at a county,
State, and national levels. We operate as a trade group for agri-
culture. The Hawaii Farm Bureau believes that if we want to focus
on improving Hawaii’s agriculture industry, we need to assist our
farmers and ranchers by addressing the many challenges that they
face, such as land use, access to affordable water, labor, transpor-
tation, invasive species, disaster preparedness, crop insurance, food
safety, agricultural theft and vandalism, research and develop-
ment, pesticide regulations, access to capital and marketing, just to
name a few.
I would like to take the time to discuss a few priority issues that
we would like to see more Federal support for. Number one is
invasive species have become one of the most challenging problems
impacting Hawaii. Many invasive species are damaging Hawaii’s
environment and State’s economy.
Agriculture has a vested interest in this matter and is one of the
major casualties when invasive species are introduced. Every year,
numerous new pests are introduced into the State, such as the
coqui frog, coffee berry borer, axes deer, macadamia felted coccid,
little fire ant, coconut rhinoceros beetle, small hive beetle, varroa
mite, two-lined spittlebug, just to name a few. We must do a better
job of protecting Hawaii’s agriculture industry’s environment and
the general public by preventing the introduction and establish-
ment of harmful pests. Our port of entry biosecurity program is es-
sential to prevent invasive species from entering the State. USDA
inspect, check in, and carry-on luggage for outbound passengers
from Hawaii.
But there is no USDA inspection of luggage pre-entering into the
State. The only barrier is the State Hawaii plant and animal dec-
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42
It is essential that more effective measures be put in place and
that Hawaii needs to have USDA help.
Second item is farm labor. Shortage of agricultural labor has
been an ongoing problem for years but has gotten worse. The short-
age of willing and able workers, affordable housing for farm work-
ers, and competition from alternate employment are several of the
pressing farm related issues that need to be addressed.
The H–2A program was created to fund—provide farmers with
legal workforce to fill jobs on a seasonal basis when there is insuffi-
cient number of willing and available U.S. workers. An H–2A em-
ployer’s labor costs frequently approach 40 percent or more of their
total production cost. And for many of these producers, H–2A labor
costs typically constitute 80 to 90 percent of their total annual pay-
roll.
Many of Hawaii small producers simply cannot afford to partici-
pate in H–2A program. There is a need to be an alternative H–2A
State programs that would work for the small producers. Transpor-
tation. Hawaii’s position as the world’s most isolated location, as
well as being in a series of islands, presents major challenges to
the State’s agriculture industry.
One of the barriers to expanding agriculture in Hawaii is the cost
to transportation. Hawaii’s farmers and ranchers rely heavily on
air and ocean transportation to bring agricultural inputs such as
equipment, feed, fuel, fertilizer, agriculture machinery for their
production.
Inter-island transportation has been a major issue with neighbor
island farmers and ranchers. The majority of agricultural lands are
on the neighbor island, yet the population center is on Oahu.
Neighbor Island farmers and ranchers are disadvantaged when
competing with fellow farmers and ranchers on Oahu due to the
additional transportation cost of bringing in supplies and sending
products out.
Each increase in interisland shipping rates means increased cost
to these farmers and ranchers, cost that usually cannot be passed
on to the vendor. USDA FSA’s Reimbursement Transportation
Costs Payment Program provides some relief for the high cost of
transportation but is currently nowhere near enough to support
enough relief.
We need the cap increase to recognize the transportation costs in
Hawaii are expensive and necessary. While costs rise, the reim-
bursement program is capped at $8,000 per year. Renters spend
hundreds of thousand dollars in ocean freight per year. For exam-
ple, one rancher spent almost a quarter million dollars on transpor-
tation in 2022, but based on their reimbursement program, they
got only $8,000, 3.6 percent of the cost.
I guess with that, I will stop—thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Cabral follows:]
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52
Senator HIRONO. Thank you. Murray Clay from the Ulupono Ini-
tiative. So, you have been in—your organization has been an advo-
cate for sustainable food, etcetera, etcetera, and you know, are we
making improvements?
Mr. CLAY. We are. Do you want me to——
Senator HIRONO. Please, go ahead.
STATEMENT OF MURRAY CLAY, PRESIDENT, ULUPONO
INITIATIVE, HONOLULU, HAWAII
Mr. CLAY. Okay. Yes I have—so sounded like a question. So,
aloha, Senator Hirono and Congresswoman Tokuda, and any mem-
bers of the committee. Appreciate the opportunity to speak with
you all today.
The Ulupono Initiative is an impact investing firm, as you al-
luded to. We work across the State to try to increase local food pro-
duction, renewable energy, clean transportation, and better man-
agement of our freshwater resources just to help Hawaii be more
sustainable and resilient.
So, we are talking today about the significance of Federal pro-
grams and how Federal dollars can be leveraged to support the
food system and producers across the State. For the past 14 years,
Ulupono has worked and engaged with various sustainable projects
in food to really try to increase that local food percentage in Ha-
waii. We provide financial and technical assistance.
We partner with Government, profit, and nonprofit organiza-
tions, including many who have testified here today. So Federal
funding resources do play a key role in ensuring our remote island
State is able to increase its self-sufficiency, especially as we are
highly dependent on imported food.
During the COVID pandemic, Ulupono supported the agricul-
tural industry by connecting Federal monies with local needs to
support local farmers and ranchers who had lost many of their
markets due to restaurant and hospitality industry closures.
One particular example is the Farm to Foodbank Program, where
Government, private, and philanthropic funds were leveraged to
purchase locally grown food for food banks to distribute to those in
need in our community.
This did several things. It kept farmers afloat with a new market
opportunity that they didn’t have before. It supported local food
banks who struggled to get the normal shelf, stable food that they
would regularly carry. And it fed thousands within the community
that were needy because they lost their jobs virtually overnight be-
cause of the shutdown of tourism.
Our unemployment went from 2 percent to over 20 percent vir-
tually overnight with the lockdowns. So, another way that Ulupono
has supported the agricultural sector is by funding grant writers
to help the local farmers and ranchers get those Federal program
funds.
The majority of Hawaii’s producers, as was mentioned, I think by
Director Hurd, are less than $25,000 a year in sales, and they oper-
ate on farms that are less than 10 acres in size. So, through many
conversations with these stakeholders, we know that small farmers
often don’t have the time or resources to apply for those grants
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Having a dedicated resource to support them in doing so has
been really instrumental. So, over the last 10 years, Ulupono has
funded a number of grant writing programs, and the total cost of
all those programs over 10 years was $1.5 million.
Those grant writers over those same 10 years brought in $133
million of Federal funding. That is 88 times what it cost to fund
the grant and loan writers. So, it is a huge leverage opportunity.
In anticipation of the 2023 Farm Bill, we also engaged with stake-
holders to help identify which Federal programs would be the most
effective for helping producers here in Hawaii.
And we collaborated with many of the folks that have testified
here, including the USDA Rural Development, the Hawaii Farm
Bureau, the Hawaii Department of Agriculture, and other smaller
and statewide groups.
So, of the 21 Federal programs that were identified as being use-
ful, we narrowed it down to six priority programs. These are, the
Reimbursement Costs Transportation Program, which addresses
part of what Mr. Cabral was talking about, the Rural Energy for
America program, the Specialty Crop Block Grant, the Non-Insured
Crop Disaster Assistance Program, the Livestock Forage Disaster
Program, and the Micro Grants for Food Security Program, which
were also mentioned today.
So, for your consideration, you will find that our written testi-
mony suggests that amendments for each of these programs, which
we think will make it more effective for what producers are actu-
ally facing here in Hawaii. In light of what happened on Maui and
Hawaii Island last week, these and future Federal programs will
be especially critical to support the local agriculture industry and
providing relief to local farmers, ranchers, and food producers as
they recover from these devastating wildfires.
It is worth exploring opportunities to make better use of the Ag
land that we do have. Much of it, as we know, is fallow. Reuse
water in the area to produce productive green firebreaks rather
than just barren strips of land with no fuel. And increasing capac-
ity around securing Federal funds that you, as our Congressional
delegation, have helped make available.
So, I do thank you for the opportunity to testify, and I am happy
to take questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Clay follows:]
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59
Senator HIRONO. Thank you very much. We will now go to our
20 minute questions. I am really fascinated by the way, Mr. Clay,
that you have a grant writing program. And what are the—what
kind of people sign up for the kind of training that you provide to
enable them to successfully receive grants? Just very briefly.
Mr. CLAY. Sure. So, we presently fund grant writer. Our longest
funded grant writer is here on the Big Island at the Kohala Center.
We also fund grant writers at OCA, which is more focused on
Oahu.
And then with the Farm Bureau that kind of works, of course,
statewide. So those three grant writers work with their constitu-
ents in their geographic or across the State region to help them
even know what they should be applying for and how to apply for
it. Because without those skills, you are taking a very, very busy
farmer and trying to get them to apply this very complicated thing.
And it is all well intentioned, but they just don’t know how to
do it. And so rather than having those funds go to just those that
have the best writing skills, they go to those where they have the
greatest need and can impact our food sector the best.
Senator HIRONO. So clearly, there are a lot of grants that have
been made available, by the way, through some of the really huge
bills that have been enacted by Congress. So, the infrastructure
bill, the COMPETES Act, the omnibus bill, and there is more
money, for example, to fight climate change—some $300 billion.
A lot of—there is substantial amounts in grants. And that is why
what you are doing to train grant writing is really important, al-
though part of it is that we could make the, say the application
process more clear or shorter, whatever we need to do along those
lines.
Thank you very much. By the way, that you said that you iden-
tify six priority grants that really make a difference. Are all of
these grants being reauthorized? Is there any danger of any of
these grants ending?
Mr. CLAY. I am not certain about risk of them ending, but in our
written testimony, we put in specific recommendations for award-
ing changes and requirement changes that would make it more
beneficial to folks here in Hawaii based on our outreach to local
folks, local farmers and ranchers here.
Senator HIRONO. Please let us know. And then we do have the
Deputy Administrator of SBA, to the extent that SBA grants are
very complicated. And in fact, there was a reference that, Mr.
Burns, about the CPAs, having a hard time where—and they need
to be certified.
Whatever you were talking about, that makes it harder for our
people to apply for these particular loans. Not sure, but we need
to—if you can get with our Deputy Administrator on, maybe we
make it easier for us to access the programs that we need. Mr.
Cabral, can you explain how the management of rangelands on Ha-
waii Island helped with wildfire containment?
Mr. CABRAL. Yes, absolutely. I think most pastureland is well
managed by the tenants or landowners through grazing. They
make sure that they keep down invasive species, which has been
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You know, they have the resources and equipment necessary to
control what they have growing on their particular parcels, and
they can control the grazing so that you don’t have this high fire
load. I think that makes a big difference.
Around the Lahaina, there was no control of the invasives and
grasses around it, and that I think is a major factor in that fire.
Senator HIRONO. So, did these farmers work with any organiza-
tion to alert them to what they could be doing to make sure that
the wildfires are contained? Should that occur? I think there is a
statewide organization, the Wildfire Management Group——
Mr. CABRAL. Yes, I think we have been——
Senator HIRONO. Have the farmers worked with——
Mr. CABRAL. We have participated in some of these wildlife man-
agement groups in the past. And so, it is something that I think
we can be part of, and I think we would be more than happy to
be part of that group to find solutions to the problem.
Senator HIRONO. There is an organization, I believe their name
is the—I am looking at my staff because I meet with a lot of people.
Yes, there we go, the Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization,
and they have pretty much mapped the entire State as to wildfire
vulnerabilities. And I think they also worked with your farmers
and—on the Big Island to enable them to do what they needed to
do.
And I think that kind of awareness and cooperation is really
going to be part of the lessons learned. And once again, for you, you
mentioned that a top priority is invasive species. And that is some-
thing that Congresswoman Tokuda and I are going to continue to—
she just joined the U.S. House, but I know she has an awareness
of the need to continue funding research into combating invasive
species.
And you have indicated that is the number one priority that im-
pacts our Ag community. And so, you know, I would appreciate any
other kinds of requests that you would like to put to both me and
Congresswoman Tokuda in how we can continue to combat invasive
species.
Mr. CABRAL. I will tell you, Senator, under the past Administra-
tion, when Secretary Purdue was their head of Department of Agri-
culture, he came on a visit and I asked him point blank about help-
ing with invasive species, that the USDA needs to do more.
And his answer to me was, we do enough for Hawaii. I was
floored by that response. Unacceptable, you know, as far as I am
concerned. But that was the thinking back then. And I hope this
Administration thinks differently and realizes that Hawaii is basi-
cally the invasive species capital of the world, I think. And we
need—desperately need help.
Senator HIRONO. Thank you. I think that—you know, that is one
of the things that I talk about a lot on the committees that I sit
on. That for one thing, on the Energy committee, that focuses a lot
on wildfires and to alert the committee members that Hawaii has
its share of wildfires and the acreage burned is on a par with what
happens on the mainland.
And we don’t have a Forest Service presence here as such, but
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we did meet with some Forest Service people. We do not have any
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61
national forests in Hawaii, and I am trying to bring that kind of
a presence here.
For—again, for Mr. Clay, how can ongoing efforts by Ulupono
and other organizations to bolster our internal food supply chain
and grow the volume of food we are producing in Hawaii help us
better respond to disasters moving forward?
Mr. CLAY. So, I think we are all aware that we are, as was men-
tioned, the most isolated, populated landmass in the world. We are
85 to 90 percent dependent on imported food. We rely on just in
time delivery of that food, and then not to mention tourism is our
number one industry, which as we have seen, can go away virtually
overnight.
So, we are very, very vulnerable. I would say when it comes to
food security, I would almost reclassify natural disasters in two dif-
ferent categories, when it comes to food security. One are disasters
that impact our ability to import food.
So, it doesn’t matter whether it is a hurricane, a wildfire, a tsu-
nami, that is one category. And that is mostly about damage to our
ports and harbors that restricts our ability to import food. The
worst possible situation would be damage to Honolulu Harbor and
Honolulu International Airport because most of the large ship-
ments of food come in via those ports.
The other type, which is more like what we are seeing with some
of the wildfires, not just on Maui but elsewhere, is damage to local
infrastructure, which ironically makes it difficult to get both im-
ported or local food in.
Now, if you have the difficulty with imported food as we saw dur-
ing the COVID pandemic, local food can step up and make a big
difference. For example, when the slaughterhouses, the meatpack-
ing plants in the mainland were being shut down almost across the
nation because of COVID infections, it became very, very hard to
find a lot of different meat products in the grocery stores, but
across the entire COVID pandemic, Paniolo Cattle Company and
Parker Ranch that we worked with did not miss a single delivery
of local beef to the Safeway stores over that entire period of time.
In fact, they increased production over that period of time.
So local food can make a very big difference. But one of the other
things that we got to remember is when these disasters happen,
tourism often goes away with it. And when tourism goes away, the
most lucrative market for farmers and ranchers, the restaurants
and resorts, close down as well.
So, we have to switch that funding, like we talked about before,
as farm to food bank, so that the food banks that are having trou-
ble getting food can buy directly from the farmers and ranchers be-
cause you have got farmers and ranchers that have food but no
markets.
You have got people out of work that need food but have no
money, and you just put those two together and it can be really
successful in growing. I would also point out that we are very fo-
cused on institutional purchasing efforts, including especially with
the Hawaii State Department of Education and their legal require-
ment to get to 30 percent local food by 2030. Right now, that num-
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ber is a fairly abysmal, 6.2 percent according to the report.
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62
Farmers and ranchers will grow. They will expand, especially
with Federal resources. But they are only going to do that if they
think the State is really going to follow through on this and really
increase local production.
And reaching that goal of 30 percent would mean an extra $14
million of market for local farmers and ranchers. So, we are fo-
cused on the institutional side of that problem as well.
Senator HIRONO. I think that kind of focus effort to purchase
local by the Department of Education, you know, is—I have been
trying to get them to put fresh pineapple in our school lunches.
And for a long time, all of our cafeterias are so used to just open
up the canned pineapple, that when we finally got some fresh pine-
apple, people have to figure out how to cut the pineapple, if you
can believe it. So, there are a lot of things we can do. And one of
the other things mentioned was the need for workers. Mr. Cabral,
that is a nationwide need for farm workers.
And there is a lot more focus in the Judiciary committee even on
the visas that will enable our farms to keep going. And so, you
know, there is a lot of, you know, connection to the awareness of
what we need to do, and especially after COVID.
We have a lot of areas where we can—immigration reform needs
to happen. All of that. And obviously I will talk with you, mister—
I am sorry, regarding the CPA issue. My time is up, so I am going
to go to Congresswoman Tokuda.
Ms. TOKUDA. Thank you. Really quickly, I will just piggyback
then on Senator Hirono’s last comment about the CPA examination
opinion. I am just wondering, I know you are asking for more fund-
ing to provide support since people are having to seek out CPAs on
the mainland, as well as it gets very costly.
But is there any look at an alternative process to ensuring some
of the financial validity without having to do the CPA examination
opinion? It is very hard for folks, especially on the neighbor island,
to be able to actually access this kind of professional service, and
so, are you looking at an alternative process to the CPA examina-
tion opinion?
Mr. BURNS. Thank you for the question. So that is a requirement
of the USDA. So, we don’t have the ability to change that. So that
is why I mentioned in this specific program, which is the commu-
nity facilities program, that at a certain level, they do require that.
So normally when we write the feasibility study, if it is at a cer-
tain level, that requirement is not necessary. But at a certain level
it kicks in, and that is where we have encountered that difficulty.
So, we don’t have the ability to change that requirement. That is
part of the USDA.
Ms. TOKUDA. USDA. Okay, so that is something we can discuss
with the USDA about alternatives to even having this examination
process, which is particularly onerous for our people.
I just also did want to reiterate and confirm that I know SBA
is opening a business recovery center, has already in Maui and
Kihei, and you have SBDC representatives on site to assist with
connecting people with resources. So, thank you for doing that.
Just want to move over to Mr. Cabral.
Randy, thank you so much for your advocacy and help. We could
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spend all day talking about the areas of knowledge that you have.
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In particular, I want to focus in on the disaster, you know, assist-
ance programs that we have. I know even before the fire I spoke
with farmers who have spoken about the fact that the disaster eli-
gibility cycle is not meeting up with the demands we have to date.
You know, for some of these programs, you can only apply twice
in 10 years, and we know disaster is striking much more frequently
because of climate change. And, you know, so we actually have
been pushing some reforms in the Farm Bill to decrease that, you
know, that time of period because people need to access funds when
disaster strikes.
And so, to the point of the disaster assistance programs of var-
ious ones, I know, Mr. Clay, you mentioned a number of those in
your testimony. What are farmers finding prohibitive or chal-
lenging in terms of being able to apply for these disaster assistance
programs? How can we reduce some of the barriers?
What are they seeing they really need? Because whether it is a
bridge washing out and they can’t get their produce to market,
whether it is something taking out entire crop, invasive species,
axis deer, you name it.
What can we do better when it comes to disaster awareness—as-
sistance programs, excuse me, that our farmers need to make it
easier to draw down and apply for?
Mr. CABRAL. I know there is talk of like a small business or
loans, right, low interest loans. But I think a lot of the farmers are
already in debt. So, getting another loan is not going to help them.
So, I think grants would be the preferred method for these farm-
ers. And also, there are a lot of immigrant farmers, that there is
this language barrier. They don’t understand the programs.
So, we need to have somewhere where they can go and get inter-
preters to help them process whatever it takes to be able to get
help. So those are the kinds of stuff I think that could help.
Ms. TOKUDA. Absolutely. You know, are they also finding—at
this point, grants definitely versus loans because they are already
cash strapped, but are there other challenges you are seeing with
some of these loans just in terms of whether it is the amount of
money and resources we are able to support folks with, reimbursed
folks with?
You mentioned that with the RTCP program, the Transportation
Reimbursement Cost Program is being helpful, but quite frankly,
not enough to match the, you know, the costs and whatnot.
So just giving us some insight in terms of where we need to beef
up certain programs, whether it be grants, reimbursements, or
loans, because farmers, quite frankly—it is becoming a make or
break, whether you are part of the fire damage or not, to be able
to survive.
So, any thoughts on these—?
Mr. CABRAL. Yes, I mean, if you take the, for example, the ranch-
ers that got impacted on Maui. They are going to need feed. But
the cost of importing that feed is really hard for them to do. So,
they need help in being able to get either reimbursement costs or
grants to be able to import this feed for the cattle while they re-
cover from that.
And I think like some of the farmers lost their market in
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Lahaina, so they need help in finding new markets. And one way
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64
of helping them, we talked about the food basket, food banks. Pur-
chasing local food.
And by giving grants to the food basket, food bank, they can then
purchase from these farmers and help them recover from that mar-
ket. During the pandemic, we were able to get around three quar-
ters of a million dollars from private resources, and we took that
money and bought from struggling farmers and ranchers, and then
gave it to the food basket on the Big Island.
So, programs like that could really help.
Ms. TOKUDA. Thank you. I know those are very, very helpful for
a lot of different people and for all of our farmers. I wanted to jump
to Mr. Clay. You know, as Senator mentioned, you folks did some
significant investments over the last decade in terms of supporting
farmers and their efforts to draw down what is a very large
amount of Federal grant money.
So, there is money available on the table. Based upon what you
have seen in terms of the technical assistance work that you have
provided, what kind of changes and supports do we need to be pro-
viding to make it easier for farmers, ranchers, and producers to be
able to take advantage of all the Federal funds that are available
to start, sustain, grow, rebuild their businesses?
We have talked a lot about language access. We have talked a
lot about increase—you know, streamlining forms. But based upon
your real life experience, really what do we need to do to connect
farmers and producers with the money they so desperately need
right now?
Mr. CLAY. So, to start, I am going to piggyback because it is rel-
evant to something that Randy just said, which is translation serv-
ices, essentially. So, I know we are here mostly talking about Fed-
eral programs, but just as an example.
The city and county of Honolulu recently did a small grant pro-
gram for $50,000 of grants to a whole bunch of farmers. And we
worked with the Pacific Gateway Center to fund translation serv-
ices. And I believe that because of that ability for them to under-
stand and apply, I want to say three-quarters, but don’t quote me
on that, but it is definitely more than half of the winners of those
grants speak English as a second language.
So, if they can’t access that, they can’t understand it, they don’t
even know what they qualify for. Translation can be a big deal. An-
other one I would say is these grant writers, keep in mind that
they are just gems. They are so valuable because they are not just
taking farmers and ranchers that come to them and say, hey, I
would like to apply for a value added producer’s grant.
They don’t even know what is out there. They don’t know what
is available. And so, these people kind of counsel them on what
grants are available and then help them with the application,
sometimes with the business plan and some other things to get
these monies in. So, I would say we have a kind of scarce resource
here.
There is only maybe a half dozen of those types of folks in Ha-
waii that I am aware of that are really good at pulling down that
Federal funding, that know how to do it, and can counsel farmers
and ranchers to know what to apply for and how to do it. And we
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have got to hold onto them.
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There is not many of them here in Hawaii. And training them,
I think was mentioned, training more of such people would be a
benefit as well.
Ms. TOKUDA. Thank you. You know, and I would—I know there
has been a number of different panelists here and some of these
questions I feel like are made for many of them.
But just broadly, and Senator did touch upon this in terms of the
role, and Randy, you talked about this too, the role agriculture and
our Ag practices to play in climate change mitigation.
I mean, for example, when we take a look at wildfires and brush
fires, you know, are we maximizing our placement of farms, maybe
targeting, you know, grazing lands, agroforestry techniques to real-
ly be able to slow down a lot of the fire that we are seeing.
Obviously, invasive species, as Randy mentioned, plays a role in
accelerating the impacts on our land as well, whether it be, you
know, fallow lands, whether it be barren lands, all of these dif-
ferent things.
We are, in fact, the invasive species capital of the world, as was
mentioned. We are also the extinction capital of the world. Two
very, you know, unfortunate things that we are known for. But
sadly, when we do nothing in terms of resources and actually ad-
dressing this, it turns deadly.
We can’t feed ourselves, and you have wildfires like what we
have just seen. So, there are real consequences and costs, life costs
if we do not act quickly on managing our invasive species threat.
So just wondering, I am speaking to CTAHR now, to Dr. Wright,
is there anyone also working closely with our Department of Agri-
culture, with our Farm Bureau, our actual producers, to take a look
at how we are studying this role of agriculture, how we need to be
more proactive in terms of the use of our Ag lands, much of which
are fallow, that now need to be productive, whether it be agro-
forestry, whether it be grazing lands, to really understand that we
are dealing with climate chaos right now and we will continue to
see more and more of these types of incidents, and we have an op-
portunity to preempt and prevent some of this using these par-
ticular techniques?
Dr. WRIGHT. Yes. So, we do have a program in the Department
of Natural Resources and Environmental Management that con-
siders wildfire prediction modeling and so on, and I think they are
looking at the way land is used and the spillover effects of fallow
lands with invasive species.
And in general sort of since the college recognizes that invasive
species is a major impact and that it results in these horrendous,
disastrous events like wildfires and so on, so it is a big driver in
the college. We are constrained by lack of resources such as quar-
antine facilities for biocontrol for invasive species, for example. And
those are things we plan for. We have a number of groups of people
that work in those areas. Does that answer your question?
Ms. TOKUDA. Well, I think it just points to the fact that we have
a lot more work to do. And as is brought up in this hearing, while
right now our only protection is a sheet where you check off a box
when we have threats of invasive species, we have noxious weeds,
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we have guinea grass. We have so many things that are quick
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burns. We have to do more, or it will turn deadly for many of our
communities. So, thank you, Senator.
Mr. CABRAL. Congressman, if I could make one comment. In
Ag——
Senator HIRONO. Can you speak into the mic—?
Mr. CABRAL. We are not able to do a whole lot without water.
Water is going to be the key to a lot of stuff that we need to do.
And unfortunately, there is a lot of controversy over water.
If you look at Lahaina and the controversy of taking that extra
flow to fight fire versus the farmer, you know, that was an issue
that I think played out across the islands. East Maui water system
is so controversial, but we need to be able to share water.
We need water development to make sure we can protect these
areas, create green space. If we are going to put in agricultural
crops, we need water, otherwise, we are not going to be able to do
anything.
Senator HIRONO. Excuse me—thank you very much. As we focus
on sustainability and resilience in our communities, agriculture has
a very large role to play. And yes, agriculture faces many chal-
lenges.
Part of what we do in Congress is, is to point out how unique
Hawaii is, not the least of which that we are very isolated, the
thousands of miles of ocean. That presents unique issues for us in
terms of transportation and all kinds of other elements, invasive
species that other States may not have—not faced quite to the ex-
tent that we do, and the need to research at CTAHR and other
places for all of that.
So, this is a hearing that brings together agencies from the Fed-
eral Government, as well as State and local advocacy groups, to
bring to bear how important our focus is on food sustainability and
resilience. And this is one of the ways that we can be much more
focused and proactive in what we need to do. But it is a lot.
And things like our ability to get grant money, if we don’t apply
successfully for those grants, we are leaving money on the table
that can be brought to bear. So, it is a lot of organizations, Federal,
State, and local coming together to address the issues that we face.
And by the way, I am glad that the Pacific Gateway Center was
mentioned because they are a group that provides language serv-
ices, etcetera, and they enable a lot of immigrants who come to our
State to succeed. And I know for a fact that they have enabled res-
taurants, for example, to get the kind of help that they need from
Pacific Gateway Center. And one restaurant that we have been to
is Istanbul, and they got their start at Pacific Gateway Center.
So, there are organizations that not very many people here know
about, but they are plugging away, just as all of us are and all of
you are. Thank you very much for the two panels. And for the
record, our committee will remain open for two weeks for questions
for the record. And of course, we would ask the witnesses to re-
spond promptly to those questions.
And I want to thank Congresswoman Jill Tokuda for joining us,
because she sits on the Agriculture committee and is going to be
very focused on putting into the Farm Bill those kinds of provisions
that will be very, very focused on what we need to be pushing for,
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for Hawaii.
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So, thank you, Jill, for being here. There being no further busi-
ness, the committee stands adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:25 a.m. HST, the hearing was adjourned.]
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