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HAWAll <br /> ISLAND <br /> r-r^.-~. <br /> _ - Economic <br /> Development <br /> '97 APR 23 P(1 12 4i Board <br /> April 22, 1997 COUf~, ~ .r ~i< <br /> COUNTY Or HAWAII <br /> The Honorable Aaron Chung 8..~ H.w¦11- Hllc <br /> Chair, Finance Committee 2o0 Kanoel~hw AVe. <br /> SuIU 103, Box 291 <br /> Hawaii County Council Hib, H1 98720 <br /> Ph (805) 888.5418/17 <br /> 25 Aupuni Street Faz (508)868-8792 <br /> Hilo, Hawaii 96720 w..t H.wdl-IwS. <br /> Flret Fadarel Bldg. <br /> 76-5737 <br /> Re: Bill #62 RELATING TO THE POST HARVEST KuaMN Hwy. Y20I <br /> TREATMENT FACILITY PROJECT. rKialee~ o <br /> Resolution #71 (ON A RELATED ISSUE) Ph: (808) 328-4773 <br /> Public Heazing Apri124, 1997 - 8:00 Am <br /> County Council Chambers <br /> <br /> Honorable Chair and Members of the Committee: <br /> <br /> My name is Richard Henderson and I am President of the Hawaii Island <br /> Economic Development Board. For more than five yeazs, HIEDB has worked <br /> closely with county, state, federal and private-sector resources to assist in the <br /> <br /> ongoing transition from plantation economics to diversified agriculture. <br /> <br /> As you know, sugar represented mono-crop corporate agriculture with a <br /> <br /> single production season and processing methodology, established regulation, <br /> a single world-market price, delivery method and designated market, with <br /> <br /> minimal entrepreneurial activity and jobs at the field or mill levels in our <br /> <br /> former plantation communities. <br /> Diversified agriculture depends on reliable and consistent production and <br /> delivery of dozens of crops, produced and/or processed through vazious <br /> technologies, to several levels of commodity or value-added product, <br /> governed by hundreds of regulatory mandates, shipped through vazious <br /> distribution channels to hundreds of markets at dozens of different price <br /> <br /> levels, and offering entrepreneurial and/or employment opportunity at every <br /> level of commodity or process. Sustainable tazget markets exist in import <br /> substitution, value-added processing, and national/international commodity <br /> and product markets. The challenge and opportunity in diversified <br /> agriculture is unlimited. Much work needs to be done to collectively <br /> accomplish the myriad performance tasks before us. <br /> <br /> We applaud the sons and daughters of the plantations who are making this <br /> dynamic transition. We have pledged our commitment to their present and <br /> future success, and believe that the measures before you represent the <br /> starting-point in a lengthy collaboration towards economic sustainability. <br /> Comm. No. <br /> <br />