HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0212.397 1996-1998 r~.o. ~s~
Kea'au Banana Kea'au, HI ss~as
Plantation
May 20, 1997 -~7
No 1
Jimmy Arakaki Chairman C.
Hawaii County Council ~
County Building ~ ~
Hilo, HI 96720
u
Dear Jimmy,
I am in favor of irradiation as a method of disinfestation of pests on various crops for
export. I believe that irradiation can be an acceptably safe method of treatment. I
also believe that enough consumers would purchase irradiated produce to make it
economically viable. I believe that opening up export potentials will encourage many
more small family farms to start up.
I just returned from a three week trip to Australia for a banana congress. Australia has
nearly 2,000 banana farmers almost all are family farms. Most of the sugar growers are
family farms. Similar to Hawaii, Australia has high labor costs. I think that opening the
door for exports will see more family farms rather than corporate farms startup in Hawaii
County. What impressed me about the Australian family farms was their
innovativeness, industriousness and ability to make decisions on the fly. These are the
same qualities that our family farmers have. They just need the oppurtunity.
Bananas do not need irradiation for export. Fruit flys do not infest green bananas
and bananas are shipped green.
Sincer
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Rni_ l~~.te_MAY 2 0 1997