You can't eat an IPhone

Copyright 2017 Austin Photography

Living on an island, you get a close-up view of how urban sprawl can affect the availability of good farmland. There needs to a balance. On a related note, there is a high need for farmers. In our tech-driven world, we are minimizing or forgetting about the value and honor that farmers deserve. They raise, grow and develop food for us. You can't eat an iPhone.

Here's one place to learn about it, if you live in Hawaii.

There's also a group on Maui called the Hawaii Farmers Union Haleakala Chapter. They graduated their first cohort of farmer apprentices!

I am concerned that if we, Hawaii, don't put enough of an emphasis on encouraging farmers and preserving land for agricultural purposes, we may be put into a corner, similar to Haiti. Haiti is an impoverished island for many reasons. I don't want to oversimplify their situation. But we can see that the poverty of Haiti's is linked to their its inability to build a proper infrastructure for local agricultural production.

If you know a young person who loves the outdoors, animals or just enjoys seeing things grow, talk to them about farming as a career. Hawaii is doing its part about creating programs, but the word needs to get out to more people about 1. the need and 2. the programs.

In times past, farming was passed from father to son (or daughter), but today, we have to actively seek interested citizens who wish to be a part of an increasingly global need for farmers. Here's more information.

God bless our farmers and those who seek to pursue that essential career, a career that sustains our lives and our society.