HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0493.081 2000-2002 June 25, 2002
To: County Council Members
Planning Department Staff
From: Rick Vidgen ,;;~.~_s~.__ ~f=_r_T~,T.
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Ladies and Gentlemen:
My name is Rick Vidgen and I manage MacFarms of flawaii, a 3,850-acre
macadamia orchard, factory, sales, marketing and distribution operation. I
appreciate the opportunity to present testimony as part of the periodic review
process for the County General Plan.
I have been to two previous meetings in Kailua and Konawaena School and
listened to the review and testimony. ~Uhile there are many aspects of what
was said about which I may have an opinion, I will restrict my comments to
one subject, i.e., the economics of agriculture. The reason I feel the need to
say anything at all is that I found many of the views, written and verbal,
regarding the need to limit development so as to maintain the "agricultural
lifestyle" to be naive and fanciful. In fact, only the comment from Mr.
Rosner, intended I suspect to be controversial, that "if you are not growing
an illegal substance, you will probably go broke," was close to the reality.
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Comm. No.~
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The reality is this. Most of South Kona -with the exception of a relatively
small area in the true coffee belt, is marginal for agriculture at best. Most of
it, without any State or County water supply, is much worse than this -and
always has been. One of the earliest written accounts of the district in 1794
noted that the lack of water rendered the land close to uninhabitable.
Without a major investment in retail marketing over the past 10 years, and
the benefit of Federally subsidized crop insurance, MacFarms may have had
to shut our doors in the past three years. A severe drought and increasing
foreign competition fueled by the strong US$ have taken a severe toll.
We buy NIS from over 500 independent farmers. We pay them more than is
paid (equivalently) by our overseas competitors but I am still embarrassed as
I know they are not doing well.
So, I wonder where this wonderful "agricultural lifestyle" exists. It is not in
coffee or avocadoes or cattle or exotics unless these farming activities are
subsidized by
• An inheritance of land or money
• Another job
Or
Innovative financing for agriculture through agricultural development where
investment can pay for an infrastructure that will allow the farmer to
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compete. This may not mean the fanciful dream of an independent family
farm for every person but it can mean jobs, security and an agricultural
lifestyle. It needs more agricultural water supply and it needs an
infrastructure that provides a market. It also needs planning by the County
and State that allows such development and investment to occur.
Thus, as you move forward in this process, please consider the art of the
possible. Taking away entitlements or imposing excessive restrictions will
simply take away the investment interest and put more and more people on
assistance programs. It is all a balance and I urge you to find the position
that keeps the investment interest.
Most of you will be aware of the now defunct Hawaiian Riviera Resort. I
did not agree with what was proposed for this and the fact is, it did not
happen and will never happen in South Kona. I-Iowever, it did propose an
injection of capital to 3000 acres of land that would have supported a lot of
jobs. iNithout capital the land will not effectively support any employment.
The same is true of much of South Kona. The alternative is an increase of
the "Welfare state."
V6~e employ almost 200 people at MacFarms on 4000 acres and I think we
are good employers but we need outside capital to maintain this situation
and the agricultural lifestyle it allows.
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