#Department of Agriculture

Maui County Council Member Kauanoe Batangan has proposed an across-the-board 1.25% budget cut for non-first-responder departments that would yield somewhat more than $5 million in savings from Mayor Richard Bissen’s fiscal 2027 $1.61 billion budget proposal.

Local farmers told Maui County Council members Thursday that the government is falling short of providing island agriculture the help needed to sustain operations. Representatives of the Maui Humane Society also warned that the island’s only open-admission shelter is facing a “perfect storm” of rising costs and record demand.

Farmers and ranchers say prices have gone up after a year of Trump’s tariffs, making their operations even more costly on an island where everything has to be shipped or flown in.

The US Department of Agriculture’s Summer Food Service Program is seeking sponsor organizations on all islands to help provide children in low-income communities with free meals during the summer months.  The SFSP provides nutritious meals that help children to learn, play, and grow during the summer break when many schools are not in session.

A new partnership between Maui Gold Pineapple and Amazon Air is being called a “game-changer” for Hawaiʻi’s agricultural industry, providing a direct, fast and cost-effective shipping solution to the continental United States. Beginning with a test shipment early this month, the collaboration has already slashed freight costs by up to 60% and opened up new markets for the product.

After a long “regular” meeting Friday-Saturday, the Maui County Council reconvened Monday morning and made short work of the rest of its agenda items in less than two hours.

This morning the Maui County Salary Commission rescinded its two-week-old decision on pay raises for the mayor, managing director and deputy managing director. Then, it recalibrated raises for those top leadership positions, using as a benchmark a recent Hawaiʻi State Salary Commission pay raise for Gov. Josh Green.

The Maui County Salary Commission voted unanimously, 5-0, last month in favor of double-digit percentage salary pay hikes aimed at attracting and retaining top talent to elected and appointed executive and legislative branch seats held by public officials. The pay raises go into effect July 1 and range from a high of $325,104 and $292,594 […]

A notice to proceed with construction of the Haʻikū Fire Station is scheduled for April 2026, if all permits and entitlements are approved. Then, in July 2028, the fully outfitted station is expected to be ready to house firefighters, fire trucks and other equipment, Fire Chief Brad Ventura told Maui County Council members in an […]

Maui County highlights in the House Finance Committee draft budgets for fiscal years 2026 and 2027 include $1.6 million in both fiscal years for Kamehameha III temporary school in Lahaina and $12 million in fiscal 2026 and $6 million in fiscal 2027 for Maui Health System.

The Hawaiʻi House of Representatives has approved all seven bills in the House Majority Package on third reading ahead of the first crossover deadline on Thursday. The bills move on to the Senate for further consideration. 

A highly venomous yellow-bellied sea snake was found washed up on the shore at Honoliʻi Beach in Hilo last week. While these sea snakes are rarely seen onshore in Hawaiʻi, the Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture’s Plant Quarantine Branch strongly advises beach and ocean goers not to touch the venomous sea snakes which are often mistaken for eels. A sea snake is easily distinguished by the bright yellow markings on its underside.

A House bill introduced by Maui County and Oʻahu legislators is seeking $3 million each in the next two fiscal years for the state Department of Agriculture to prevent and control little fire ants and coconut rhinoceros beetles on Maui, Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi.

At a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) pressed federal officials on the recovery efforts on Maui and called for additional federal funding.

Illegal and harmful marine aquarium species are being set loose on Hawai‘i’s reefs, according to the state departments of Agriculture and Land and Natural Resources. And, the threat of non-native species to nearshore ecosystems has led to the launch of the “Don’t Let It Loose” campaign.

Interested visitors and residents are welcome to dive into a community-based, water-catchment project beginning at 8 a.m. Oct. 23 in Upcountry. 

The Hawaiʻi State Department of Education on Friday announced new standards for produce suppliers to ensure students receive consistently high-quality and safe meals.

Hawaiʻi’s parking lots, roadways, parks and neighborhoods have become hangouts for fine-feathered flocks of roosters and chickens. They’re a noisy, dirty nuisance, destroying gardens and farm crops. A bill signed today by Gov. Josh Green requires the state Department of Agriculture and the counties to implement feral chicken control programs.

Grants administered by the Maui County Department of Agriculture are available for nonprofit and for-profit organizations. The deadline for grant applications is 4:30 p.m. June 30.

At Friday’s proclamation ceremony celebrating Hawaiʻi Invasive Species Awareness Month (HISAM), Governor Josh Green, M.D., helped bring focus to the risks that invasive species pose to the environmental and economic health of Hawaiʻi, the good work taking place to combat them, and the importance of a cooperative approach in the effort.