Romantic ideas about locally grown food and a lack of statewide planning could be getting in the way of making real progress addressing food insecurity, climate change, and the economy.

Double food production in Hawaii. Triple the percentage of locally grown food consumed in the state. Make state agencies source at least half their food locally.

Hawaii has some very ambitious goals for revitalizing the state’s languishing agricultural sector—a desire that has only been intensified by the food shortage scares and supply chain disruptions that have accompanied the coronavirus pandemic.

Meeting any of the state’s production goals would be an enormous achievement. But there’s no comprehensive plan for how the state will get there—or even a clear idea of what a goal like doubling food production will accomplish.

That’s a problem, agricultural experts in the state say.

“We have this kind of fixation or this fetish around agriculture,” said Albie Miles, an assistant professor of sustainable community food systems at the University of Hawaii West Oahu. “But we need to be intellectual about this.”

Part of our collective fixation on locally grown food comes from a desire to get back to the land and have a deeper connection to the food that nourishes us, Miles said. But while those desires are valid and important, they can often muddy what we think farming can accomplish.

“The governor says we’re going to double local food production, but it was framed as ‘that’s how we’re going to build food security in the state,’ and it’s like, no. No, we’re not,” Miles said. Agriculture alone is not going to achieve food security. “Food security is an economic issue.”

What, then, are we trying to do? Do we want to grow more local food to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions and climate change? To keep economic dollars in Hawaii? To make fresh food more affordable to struggling families? To address obesity and public health concerns? To make the state less reliant on imports?

The answers to these questions should be guiding our goals for farming in Hawaii.

Read the full article about Hawaiian food production by Jessica Terrell at The Counter.