H.B. 1505 Summary

• Establishes a Farmer Apprentice Mentoring Program within the Department of Agriculture to teach farmers whole farm system approaches focused on soil health improvement.

• Program methods must practice sustainable agriculture as defined by the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 and recycle locally available organic and diverse plant and animal agricultural nutrients using processes such as Korean natural farming.

• Chairperson of the board of agriculture shall establish the curriculum for the mentoring program.

• Appropriates funds from general revenues for fiscal years 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 to support mentoring on whole farm system approaches to agriculture (specific dollar amount left blank in bill).

• Aims to improve food security and self-sufficiency in Hawaii by reducing reliance on imported food and developing sustainable agricultural methods that appeal to new farmers.