Committee shifts ‘bonafide farmer’ bill to a stakeholder working group

The House Committee on Agriculture and Food Systems on March 20 passed an amended House Draft of SB2153 SD2, sending the measure on with instructions to create a two‑year "qualified farmer" working group to evaluate a tiered definition framework for "bonafide farmer" and "bonafide agricultural activity." The bill originally required the Board of Agriculture to adopt a matrix‑based statutory definition, but the committee removed that requirement and placed the work into session law.

Supporters including the Hawaii Farm Bureau and Hawaii Farmers Union told the committee they back the bill's intent to prioritize limited public resources for active agricultural production but asked for clearer, tiered standards and protections for small holders. "We absolutely support this," said Brian Miiamoto on behalf of the Hawaii Farm Bureau, urging a careful approach so public funds target actual producers. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs told the committee that definitions should "recognize subsistence, cultural and community‑based agricultural production" and that meaningful consultation with Native Hawaiian practitioners is essential.

Opponents’ concerns focused on the risk that a fixed statutory definition could exclude evolving or culturally specific practices. Hunter Heavlin of the Farmers Union cautioned that tiers "conflate a few things" and recommended voluntary registration, regulatory assessment, and time for stakeholder engagement. OHA warned that prescriptive statute could be onerous for small farmers.

Under the committee amendment, the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity (DAB) will work with the newly formed qualified farmer working group composed of DAB staff and representatives from the Hawaii Farm Bureau, Hawaii Farmers Union, the Cattlemen’s Council, the Floriculture and Nursery Association, and OHA, with authority to add other stakeholders. The working group will assess the proposed three‑tier system in the bill, consider models used in other jurisdictions, and report to the legislature; the committee set a two‑year window and a 2028 sunset for the session‑law group.

The committee adopted the amendment and passed the bill out of committee by voice vote; the clerk recorded the chair and vice chair voting in the affirmative and several representatives verbally registering "I." Representative Quinnland was excused during the vote.

The working group will be charged to deliver recommendations and any draft statutory language the legislature may consider. The committee noted it preferred a deliberative, stakeholder‑driven process rather than inserting detailed, potentially exclusionary definitions directly into statute.