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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0271.283 2012-2014 Council Testimony From: J Yoshimoto <jyoshimoto @co.hawaii.hi.us> Sent: Monday, July 01, 2013 9:19 AM To: counciltestimony @co.hawaii.hi.us Subject: FW: An Open letter to Margaret Wille from the Hawaii Cattlemen's Council Attachments: Open letter to Margaret Wille July 1 2013.pdf From: Alan Gottlieb [mailto:gottlieb @hawaii.rr.com] Sent: Monday, July 01, 2013 8:53 AM To: mwille @co.hawaii.hi.us Cc: vpoindexter @co.hawaii.hi.us; jyoshimoto @co.hawaii.hi.us; donishi @co.hawaii.hi.us; gilagan @co.hawaii.hi.us; zkern @co.hawaii.hi.us; dkanuha @co.hawaii.hi.us; keoff @co.hawaii.hi.us; cohmayor @co.hawaii.hi.us; 'Chris English'; 'Hawaii Cattlemen's Council' Subject: An Open letter to Margaret Wille from the Hawaii Cattlemen's Council Sending on behalf of Chris English, Vice President, Hawaii Cattlemen's Council 808-936-7551 o c-1 w CD n rte- —ate -4 --C `1 n rn w 3>?. • Comm. No. 27/. °Z 8°3 Ref.To: P/PSM re- Ref. Date JUL 2 2Q13 1 Hawaii Cattlemen's Council, Inc. P 0 Box 437199 Kamuela HI 96743 Phone (808) 885-5599 • Fax (808) 887-1607 e-mail: HlCattlemens@hawaii.rr,com July 1, 2013 An Open Letter to Hawaii County Councilperson Margaret Wile Dear Councilperson Wille: My name is Chris English, and I am Vice President of the Hawaii Cattlemen's Council and a Hawaii Cattle Rancher. On behalf of the Hawaii Cattlemen's Council we respectfully ask you not to speak on behalf of the Hawaii Cattle industry, or promote your anti-GMO agenda using the Hawaii Cattle industry, unless and until you understand all the intricacies, issues and complications of raising cattle in Hawaii. The Hawaii Cattlemen's Council, Inc. (HCC) is the Statewide umbrella organization comprised of the five county level Cattlemen's Associations. Our 130+ member ranchers represent over 60,000 head of beef cows; more than 75% of all the beef cows in the State. Ranchers are the stewards of approximately 25% of the State's total land mass. You have cited interest by Japanese investors to open a $40 million slaughterhouse on the Big Island, if the Big Island were GMO Free (West Hawaii Today June 11, 2013: Wille said she's heard rumors of Monsanto, one of the largest producers of genetically modified seeds, asking a Hawaii Island ranch for a 1,400-acre GMO corn test. But she's also had Japanese investors talk with her about their desire to buy "noncontaminated beef. " There are "people coming in willing to put in a $40 million slaughterhouse if we can guarantee a supply of noncontaminated beef" she said, adding that could be a major economic boost.). In fact, a "Japanese Investor" has been talking about starting a slaughterhouse in Hawaii for over 10 years, with no action to this point. GMO free has never been the issue... their "non-contaminated" issue has been the fact that Hawaii is isolated and BSE and Foot and Mouth free. Nevertheless, the plans of these "investors" have included and required that Hawaii Ranchers raise cattle according to their methods and specifications (without understanding the growing conditions in Hawaii) and that the Hawaii Ranchers be their investors. For this and other reasons, to date there has been no action on this proposed slaughterhouse. However, if it does go forward, their Business Plan, updated as recently as .Lune 2013 makes absolutely no mention of GMO Free, but does mention a number of times the advantage of Hawaii is that it is BSE and Foot& Mouth Disease Free. In any case, if you understood the issues of the Hawaii Cattle industry, you would realize that a new slaughterhouse (competing with existing operators) is the last thing on the list of the things we need, unless we have many more cattle for throughput. Having a large capacity slaughterhouse would have little or no throughput unless and until Hawaii Ranchers had available to them affordable water, more land for grass finishing their cattle, and potentially Hawaii grown feed to finish cattle. Since the mid to late 1980's, the majority of Hawaii Calves have been shipped out of the State of Hawaii for grazing, finishing, slaughter and processing elsewhere, in the Mainland U.S. and Canada. Hawaii rancher's made this paradigm shift seeking more profitability for their cattle, and this has worked well for existing consumer demand for feedlot finished beef. This model followed trends across the country wherein it is cheaper to ship the cattle to the feed, than the feed to the cattle, and to take advantage of Hawaii's ability to raise a high quality, low cost weaner calf. Today, the Hawaii cattle industry's strategy is to reduce our dependence on transportation by keeping more livestock "home"to be finished on grass or conceivably on Hawaii produced feeds and rations. To the extent we have the land, infrastructure, and consumer demand, we aim to "take back" what a quarter century ago was our fair share of the local meat market with a product that must be consistent in quality and quantity while returning a competitive profit to our producers. As mentioned above, over 90% of Hawaii calves are shipped to the Mainland for pasture and feeding. While in Hawaii we have demand for local beef, the past eight years of drought simply does not allow us to keep more cattle here for finishing and consumption. In fact, one highly successful Hawaii grass finished beef program has had to scale their production back by over half due to the on-going drought. Our industry continues to work on securing favorable water rates for irrigating pasture for grass finishing cattle, but we may also need to rely on growing our own grain and/or silage to supplement the finishing of our cattle. Without reliable,year round grass or feed,we cannot keep cattle here for finishing. If we have to grow corn or other crops for silage, there is a good chance that some of those crops may need to be from Genetically Engineered seed. In the past, people have tried to grow feed grain in Hawaii, and it simply could not be done affordably, because varieties available would not grow well and economically in the tropics. Grain grows best in the grain belt of the United States. However, with the technology available today there is an excellent chance that a variety could be developed to grow grain economically in our environment as has been done in many other areas in the world. Another challenge is that if we are going to stop shipping some or all of the 90% of the calves now being shipped out of State, we will need more, not less land to grass finish the cattle. The Hawaii Cattle Industry continues to lose land to bio-energy crops and development so we are heading in the wrong direction. Almost 80% of the beef cattle produced in the State and nearly 100% of the dairy cattle are on the island of Hawaii. Ranchers cannot sit by idle while an anti GMO bill like this threatens our families and livestock businesses. We are very interested in finishing more cattle at home, particularly on grass and play our part in contributing to the food sustainability for Hawaii. To do that we cannot always count on grass growth all year long. It works well to have silage or some grain towards the end of the feeding period to supplement along with the grass to put a finish on the cattle. It is also good insurance against drought to have feeds like silage or grain stored away to supplement our cattle during times of drought. We lost nearly all of our dairies in the State as a result of high feed and feed transportation cost. Without Genetically Engineered seed, decreased yield and higher herbicide applications would be required to grow corn for silage. Don't take away the tools everyone else in the country has to sustain their farms and ranches and put Hawaii producers back in an economic tailspin that results in our extinction. HCC along with our National Organization, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association has always supported all types of farming & ranching; Natural, organic, conventional and cutting edge (including GMO, or other science advanced forms) and does not try to endorse one over the other. We don't see that the advancement of one, should be at the risk or detriment of the other. In fact, in the beef industry, we believe it is detrimental for all, if one attempts to market their product by saying or implying the other is bad for consumers. We believe we need to support each other and market our own niche with sensitivity. While many of our Hawaii cattle ranchers grow grass-finished, natural or organic beef, and may never use Genetically Engineered feed, we believe HCC as an Association must stand in solidarity with other Hawaii farmers, including the papaya industry and the seed corn industry. The whole farming community together creates a critical mass, and we need each other to survive. The demise of the dairy industry is a good example of what can happen when the dominos start to fall. Today there are 2 dairies in Hawaii which supply less than 10% of our locally consumed milk. Just 25 years ago there were 19 dairies supplying 100% of the locally consumed milk, plus ice cream production! Together, wider use keeps down the cost of water rates, helps support research (such as the University of Hawaii and PBARC), and helps keep the price of supplies and inputs we need lower by sharing in the cost of transportation. United We Stand, Divided We Fall. Hawaii is the U.S. leader in invasive species, including plant pests, viruses and disease. Science through Genetic Engineering helped save the Hawaii Papaya Industry, and it is just a matter of time that some other major crop important to Hawaii's economy will be similarly threatened, and having an option to come up with future Genetically Engineered solutions is imperative. With the pressure of this legislation our family farmers & ranchers' ability to produce food will be severely hampered. As an Island we must have the ability to feed ourselves as nothing is more important than being able to afford food. Our farmers & ranchers must have the ability to choose their own method of farming & ranching in a manner consistent with economic viability and environmental sustainability. Hawaii Agriculture is at a critical point of its development. Its future requires all of us to work together and co-exist without inflammatory rhetoric to preserve our heritage and provide for a sustainable agriculture industry ,., all farmers should be accorded their right to farm as they choose with whatever approved technologies are available to them. It's just a basic lesson we learned long ago — get along with your neighbors ..,communicate and co-exist even if your views differ. Hawaii continues to import nearly 90% of our food and that has risen from 85% only a few years ago despite all of the efforts of various groups to highlight the "Buy Local" message. We must reverse this trend and improve our food self-sufficiency and once again become an integral component of Hawaii's future diversified economy - all factions must understand their responsibility to Hawaii Agriculture as a whole.