Boone, Nara

Office Seeking: Maui Council Member (Makawao-Haikū-Paia)

Party: Non-partisan
Website: votenaraboone.com

Food security is defined by the USDA as "access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life." How will your platform address food insecurity in Maui County?

This year, free breakfast/lunch is no longer being offered for all students in public schools. My first priority would be to re-establish this program, as far as the Council has reach to do so.

Please list any initiatives you have supported in Maui County to increase food access and food production that you are proud of:

I was a sounding board and unofficial advisor to the creation of a food hub design and the Common Ground Collective, a program that harvests the over-abundance of produce in people's yards. It's food would otherwise go to waste, now made available for the community at large.

Hawaiʻi imports roughly 85% of our food supply. How will your platform address increasing local food production?

By supporting equal water distribution for farmers, hunters' access to deer/pigs/goats and their subsequent processing, encouraging homeowners on Ag land to produce food for their families and the community at large and champion the new Dept. of Ag's efforts as the program gets underway.

Please indicate your position on the following policies:

Creating County funding mechanisms to support DA BUX Double Up Food Bucks. SUPPORT
Increasing local food procurement for Maui County schools. SUPPORT
Increasing Farm to School initiatives including school gardens. SUPPORT
Pursuing County Farm to Food Bank Funding. SUPPORT
Developing regional organic waste and composting services. SUPPORT
Restructuring the Department of Water Supply and Department of Wastewater to encourage strategies for conservation, efficient water use, storage, and growing water resources. SUPPORT
Increasing the budget for the Maui County Department of Agriculture. SUPPORT
Offering subsidies to local farms that have shown the ability to sustain production. SUPPORT
Supporting policies that allow for increased affordable housing for farmworkers. SUPPORT
Improving policies around hunting and utilizing invasive protein sources. SUPPORT
Funding updated shared processing facilities, including slaughterhouses and food hubs. SUPPORT
Implementing new inspection policies to reduce the spread of invasive species. SUPPORT
Establishing local control of water resources through a Maui County Community Water Authority, with the ability to establish regional community boards. SUPPORT

Please elaborate on any of your above positions here.

Farmworkers--along with all essential personnel--should receive affordable/subsidized housing in exchange for their huge contributions to the functioning of our society. I am in full support of the establishment of a Maui County Water Authority and hope it will move us away from plantation/foreign overseer/exploitation format back towards Native Hawaiian water distribution and care. Our farms, stream life and reefs will be healthier, more abundant and more capable of providing food for the islands.

Are there other issues, County-wide or within your own residency area, about food security that concern you, and how do you plan to address these issues if elected?

We have a lot of potential food that goes to waste; wild food we could be harvesting. The abundance of guavas, mangos, avocados etc., could be banked for times of need. Programs that do just that, or more classes on harvesting wild foods (something already taught by some) would be a great addition.