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<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> r <br /> Hawaii Farm Bureau <br /> F R D R R A T I D N <br /> 2343 Rose Street, Honolulu, HI 96819 <br /> Phone: (808) 848-2074; Neighbor Islands: 1-800-482-1272 <br /> Fax: (808) 848-1921; e-mail: info@hfbf.org <br /> <br /> <br /> January 24, 2008 <br /> <br /> Chair Pete Hoffmann <br /> County of Hawaii <br /> Hawaii County Council <br /> <br /> Res. 462-08, A Resolution Supporting SB 968hdl to Impose A 10-Year Moratorium on <br /> Developing, Testing, Propagating, Cultivating, Growing and Raising Genetically <br /> Modified Taro in the State of Hawaii, January 8, 2008 Environmental Management <br /> Hearing <br /> <br /> Chair Hoffmann and county council members: <br /> <br /> My name is Alan Takemoto, Executive Director of the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation <br /> (HFBF), which is the largest non-profit general agricultural organization, representing <br /> 1,600 farm family members statewide. <br /> <br /> The HFBF does not support moratoriums or restrictions on responsible, federally and <br /> state approved genetic engineering research. It is our policy as well as the American <br /> Farm Bureau's policy to support all growing practices and research and development for <br /> organic, conventional and biotechnology methodologies. <br /> <br /> We respect the cultural and traditional growing of Hawaiian taro cultivation. However, <br /> we do not believe that we should be legislating such a ban on safe research and <br /> technology that may set precedence that will negatively impact the overall agricultural <br /> industry in Hawaii. We believe that all methods and tools should be made available to <br /> the farmer or rancher so that they remain competitive in a global marketplace. <br /> <br /> Our organization believes that miscommunication and misunderstanding of the <br /> technology has spurred concerns in the agricultural community. As such, we have <br /> coordinated a series of farmer to farmer dialogue on coexistence between organic, <br /> conventional, and biotechnology. We believe this process of communication and the <br /> recognition of many commonalities between farmers have brought a bought some <br /> positive results. <br /> We respectfully ask that Res. 462-08 be held in committee. Thank you for the <br /> opportunity to present testimony. <br />