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SELF: Just for the record, I’m Amy Self, Deputy Corporation Counsel
<br />representing the Planning Director.
<br />ALAMEDA: I guess I need to swear you in, both of you. Do you swear or affirm to tell
<br />the truth now before the Hawai`i County Planning Commission?
<br />YUEN: Yes, I do.
<br />SELF: Yes.
<br />ALAMEDA: Okay, thanks. Go ahead.
<br />SELF: Mr. Yuen, what are the laws regarding right to farm, and how do they
<br />work in this situation?
<br />YUEN: Just for the record, I’m Chris Yuen, Planning Director, 101 Pauahi Street,
<br />Suite 3. As one of the Commissioners mentioned, there are right-to-farm laws that, I won’t try to
<br />go into any detail about them, but they do protect farmers to engage in the common farming
<br />practices, like riding tractors, running equipment, spraying chemicals, spreading fertilizer,
<br />spreading manure, branding cattle. All those kinds of things are, you know, basically protected
<br />in the law against private nuisance complaints.
<br />SELF: And do these offer complete protection for farming?
<br />YUEN: No, they, well, from, certainly from the farmers’ prospective, there is at
<br />least two aspects where they don’t completely protect the farmer. The first is that, the first
<br />aspect is that individuals can still make complaints. They may eventually not be substantiated.
<br />But in a meantime, say, the neighbor who is offended by a particular farming activity can call the
<br />Department of Health, the Planning Department, the Police Department, the EPA to come out
<br />and investigate and see whether there are violations in fact occurring. At the end of the
<br />investigation, it may be determined that the activity that is being complained of is protected by
<br />the right-to-farm laws, but in a meantime the farmer is experiencing the complaint. The second
<br />thing is that there are standards that are, for many of these activities.There are, there is for
<br />example a noise standard by the Department of Health; and if a farmer in agricultural activity
<br />exceeds the noise standard, they are not protected or -. So is this good or bad? Well, you know,
<br />from the farmer’s point of view, you know, he’s not happy, you know, but there are these
<br />standards that exist for protection of neighbors and public health. Another example would be
<br />pesticide use, all right? You know, sometimes there are farmers actually violating the pesticide
<br />rules in terms, it might not be a licensed operator, or they might not post -, there are sometimes
<br />signs you are supposed to post, there is equipment you are supposed to use. They might be in
<br />violation of that. And so it doesn’t mean that -, the right-to-farm laws don’t mean that you can’t
<br />ever have a complaint that either causes some inconvenience for the farmer. Or actually it may
<br />be substantiated and the farmer has to change the practice that they have.
<br />ALAMEDA: All right. Ms. Self, is there anything else you have to ask Mr. Yuen?
<br />SELF: Yes. Have similar conflicts come up, similar to this conflict?
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