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<br /> The reality is this. Most of South Kona -with the exception of a relatively <br /> small area in the true coffee belt, is marginal for agriculture at best. Most of <br /> it, without any State or County water supply, is much worse than this -and <br /> always has been. One of the earliest written accounts of the district in 1794 <br /> noted that the lack of water rendered the land close to uninhabitable. <br /> Without a major investment in retail marketing over the past 10 years, and <br /> the benefit of Federally subsidized crop insurance, MacFarms may have had <br /> to shut our doors in the past three years. A severe drought and increasing <br /> foreign competition fueled by the strong US$ have taken a severe toll. <br /> We buy NIS from over 500 independent farmers. We pay them more than is <br /> paid (equivalently) by our overseas competitors but I am still embarrassed as <br /> I know they are not doing well. <br /> So, I wonder where this wonderful "agricultural lifestyle" exists. It is not in <br /> coffee or avocadoes or cattle or exotics unless these farming activities are <br /> subsidized by <br /> • An inheritance of land or money <br /> • Another job <br /> Or <br /> Innovative financing for agriculture through agricultural development where <br /> investment can pay for an infrastructure that will allow the farmer to <br /> 2 <br /> <br />