“What kind of farmers are we? Do we want to distinguish ourselves from other farmers?” Ben Sadeghi asks as he walks his small, family-run Kamuela dairy farm on the Big Island. Those “other farmers” he is referring to are some … Continued
At the beginning of the 1990s, Monsanto Corporation’s recombinant bovine growth hormone (also known as BST, for bovine somatotropin and by its brand-name Posilac) was on its way to becoming the first bioengineered food product to be mass marketed. But … Continued
The following article is reprinted from the April 9, 1998 edition of Rachel’s Environment & Health Weekly. In the fall of 1996, award-winning reporters Steve Wilson and Jane Akre were hired by WTVT in Tampa to produce a series on … Continued
Rift Arises in Conservation Community Over Benefits of Critical Habitat The conservation community in Hawai`i is divided over a proposal that would have the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designate critical habitat for 245 species of endangered plants. To some, … Continued
Genetically Engineered Crops Change The Face Of Hawai`i Agriculture On January 25, 1998, University of Hawai`i horticulturalist Richard Manshardt informed the U.S. Department of Agriculture of “a minor problem that has occurred in our papaya field.” At the time, Manshardt … Continued
What follows is a portion of Governor Benjamin Cayetano’s letter to then-Department of Land and Natural Resources Director Mike Wilson on October 8, 1998. Soon thereafter, the letter, drafted by Al Castro of the governor’s Hilo office, was retracted, with … Continued
The rainforest that spreads across the eastern flank of Mauna Loa is unlike any other. Where the Amazon’s sweep seems uniform, the Big Island’s native rainforest is a mosaic. The pieces are biologically distinct from each other because they were … Continued
Land Board Adopts Rules Governing Tropical Fish Collecting in West Hawai’i Cheers and applause exploded from the conference room at the Big Island’s Natural Energy Laboratory on September 24, when the state Board of Land and Natural Resources voted to … Continued