The Taste of Ag — presented by the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation and the Hawaii Crop Improvement Association — is intended to appropriately engage our state leaders in a dialogue with farmers, growers and ranchers so that we can collectively address Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s vision for Hawaii.

In his “New Day” strategic plan, the Governor states “It’s time for an Agricultural Renaissance in Hawaii.”

We have the agricultural land, we have the expertise, we can rebuild the infrastructure, we can inspire and train our young people, we can build local markets, we can export more, and we can all participate in meeting the challenge before us.

The Taste of Ag is hosted by our organizations and other agricultural industry partners including the University of Hawaii and Hawaii State Department of Agriculture to educate community, business and government leaders about the opportunities and challenges impacting the viability and sustainability of agriculture in Hawaii. The event allows farmers — who would not otherwise be available — to attend the event and showcase their various local grown organic, conventional and genetically engineered produce and products while talking story about their challenges and solutions. The event typically precedes Ag Day at the Capitol (a two-hour farmer’s market) in March, but because the American Farm Bureau Convention was being hosted in Hawaii, the event date was changed to accommodate the many visiting farmers from the mainland.

The recent decision by the State Ethics Commission that restricted attendance by legislators was disappointing but it did not adversely impact our event. Although their lack of attendance was a missed opportunity to further engage them on our issues, with almost 200 people representing leaders from across the state in attendance, we successfully delivered an important message about the future of agriculture and the need to work together. The HFBF and HCIA as well as our partners all embrace a strong ethics law and at no time did we challenge the law. However, we are concerned about the inconsistent and subjective manner in which the law is being interpreted and the effort we made to comply with the law.

After a 90-minute meeting on Dec. 27 with the Ethics Commission Executive Director, Les Kondo, we modified our event to comply with the concerns that he raised. During the meeting, Mr. Kondo often prefaced statements concerning the law with “in my subjective opinion.” After questioning the appropriateness of being “subjective” versus “objective,” his response was that the state Legislature allows him to be subjective in his interpretation of the statute.

We also presented significant information about the role of agriculture in Hawaii, explained that a legitimate and significant state benefit exists, and defended the nexus between the educational nature of this event and the official duties of invited guests. At that time, he stated that he failed to see a nexus that would allow all 76 legislators to attend the event — with the exception of the Agricultural Chairs and Vice Chairs. When questioned about why the other members of the Agricultural committee at least could not attend, or for that matter all 76 legislators since they all vote on issues impacting agriculture, his response was that the Chairs and Vice Chairs make all the decisions about legislation. But since the chairs know the most about agriculture, we suggested that the legislators needing the most education were the non-Ag committee members.

Following the meeting, we drafted a letter clarifying the changes we made to the event as discussed in our meeting and per Mr. Kondo’s instructions. Two days before our event, the Ethics Commission sent an email to legislators advising them against attending the event. Two hours before the event, we were informed by the State Ethics Commission that legislators could now pay to attend the event.

Our state constitution says that “The State shall conserve and protect agricultural lands, promote diversified agriculture, increase agricultural self-sufficiency and assure the availability of agriculturally suited lands.” This is our mandate on behalf of farmers. The Taste of Ag is one opportunity amongst many to educate the leaders of our state — business, community, government and elected. The “Agricultural Renaissance” doesn’t happen until we have the discussion about the real problems facing farmers. And since farmers are on their farms during the day, this type of opportunity to educate legislators at an informal evening event is one of the few chances they get to interact with each other.

We believe that we made every attempt to comply with the state ethics law but the process that we followed and the decisions that were made by the State Ethics Commission doesn’t offer any clarity. Instead, today we are left with more questions and concerns about the subjective way in which it is being interpreted and enforced. We’re not looking for any loopholes. Just consistency and clarity.

About the authors: Dean Okimoto is President of the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation. Alicia Maluafiti is Executive Director of the Hawaii Crop Improvement Association.