Marking the Path

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  Wai'anae, Hawai'i
  October 28th, 2013
  
  Sweaty, smiling and ready for business, this is how Mark Suiso picks his mangoes. Suiso’s formal title is a banker, but he is a farmer at heart.
  
  “I have a day job, I work at a bank, but by night and by passion I have my mango tree,” Suiso said.
  
  Suiso owns the Makaha Mango farm, which is one of the last remaining local farms in Wai’anae. The farm was passed down from his grandfather, to his father, and not to him. To be sustainable, means to consume less than needed and conserve intake of food and maintain steady produce. “I hear a lot of people talking about sustainability, but I see rarely very few people doing anything constructively about it,” Suiso said.
  
  In Hawaii, a majority of groceries are imported from the mainland. In 2008 it cost Hawaii $6,349 to ship imported foods. Hawaii ranks 42nd nationally for total agricultural sales within the United States. As recent as forty years ago sustainability was simply a way of life in Hawaii. “There were dairies up Waianae valley road, you know they had local farms,” Waianae Store owner Kris Okimoto said.
  
  With the growth of the population and big business, demand for imported goods took up more shelves in the store, pushing out locally grown food. Locals are concerned about food being shipped from the mainland and how it effects local crops and business. “I do think it’s taking away from the economy in Hawaii, I believe that they should buy locally and support our local farmers,” said Hawaii resident Katherine Ikehara.
  
  Imported goods are fueling Hawaii’s shift to unsustainable options as the state depends more on imports than home grown development. “For Hawaii to be sustainable we just don’t have enough farmland. We don’t have enough people to work the farms,” said Okimoto.
  
  Sustainability comes at a cost. “I think there was a pricing worn milk, where legislation got involved and they said basically, they told the farmers, you know you can only sell milk for this price,” said Okimoto.
  
  Which cripples Hawaii’s farming. With sustainability Hawaii residents will go from the grocery store to their yards, making it a much greener state. “Picking groceries from your yard instead of groceries from the store. That gives you a strong feeling that you are gonna be independent,” said Mark.

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Looking Back

It doesn't seem as big at first because it happened so gradually.  We need to change our mindsets to change the situation we're in.

Shayla Bradley, Reporter 

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It was surprising to learn how dependent we are on imported food and how unnecessary it is for Hawaii.


Kerstye Kau, Photographer 

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Awards/Honors

Season 4 Official Selection