Malama ʻĀINA...

Increasingly, large areas of agricultural land, representing over 70% of the area devoted to the production of diversified and edible crops in Hawai’i, have been acquired through lease or purchase by five large seed-and-pesticide corporations (Monsanto, Syngenta, Dow Chemical, BASF and DuPont-Pioneer) that have come to Hawai‘i over the last five decades. Their purpose was not to improve or increase Hawai‘i’s food production but rather to exploit Hawai‘i’s ideal soil and climate conditions in order to grow and test genetically-engineered and pesticide-resistant seeds for export to other areas worldwide. It is surely questionable whether, in terms of a land-grant institution’s mission, such corporations should even be treated as members of “Hawai‘i’s food and agricultural system” at all. Yet CTAHR does not merely regard them as an indispensable part of “diversified agriculture”, it gives the appearance of favoring them over other branches, and has provided its full support, in articles, workshops, and outreach programs, to the various activities of these corporations. Time and energy used in such ways have inevitably detracted from time and energy that could have been spent in support of Hawai‘i’s food producers.
ʻĀINA: That Which Feeds Us from Living Ancestors on Vimeo.
ʻĀINA (pronounced "eye-nah") means “That Which Feeds Us” in the Hawaiian language. The film highlights a way to address some of the most pressing environmental and health crises facing the island of Kauai - and of island Earth. That may sound like an outstanding claim, but as ʻĀINA vividly illustrates, such is the power of agriculture and food for people and the planet.

"To malama `āina is to take care of the earth that feeds us. The minute we lose site of that, we have signed our own palapala make, our death warrant."
--Sabra Kauka, from ʻĀINA