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r~.o. ~s~ <br /> <br /> Kea'au Banana Kea'au, HI ss~as <br /> <br /> Plantation <br /> May 20, 1997 -~7 <br /> No 1 <br /> Jimmy Arakaki Chairman C. <br /> Hawaii County Council ~ <br /> County Building ~ ~ <br /> Hilo, HI 96720 <br /> u <br /> Dear Jimmy, <br /> I am in favor of irradiation as a method of disinfestation of pests on various crops for <br /> export. I believe that irradiation can be an acceptably safe method of treatment. I <br /> also believe that enough consumers would purchase irradiated produce to make it <br /> economically viable. I believe that opening up export potentials will encourage many <br /> more small family farms to start up. <br /> I just returned from a three week trip to Australia for a banana congress. Australia has <br /> nearly 2,000 banana farmers almost all are family farms. Most of the sugar growers are <br /> family farms. Similar to Hawaii, Australia has high labor costs. I think that opening the <br /> door for exports will see more family farms rather than corporate farms startup in Hawaii <br /> County. What impressed me about the Australian family farms was their <br /> innovativeness, industriousness and ability to make decisions on the fly. These are the <br /> same qualities that our family farmers have. They just need the oppurtunity. <br /> Bananas do not need irradiation for export. Fruit flys do not infest green bananas <br /> and bananas are shipped green. <br /> Sincer <br /> / . <br /> ichar a res de~ <br /> [ <br /> Cermrxt. Dla <br /> N~iE N~._~Nb~P <br /> (k f Presenre~? <br /> Rni_ l~~.te_MAY 2 0 1997 <br /> <br />