In January of this year, Hawaii extended a series of workshops for the specialty crop block grant and marketing assistance programs. The workshops were in response to funds released by the U.S. Farm Bill and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to make local farmers internationally competitive in the area of specialized crops.

The six workshops focus on providing specific guidelines and assistance for the application process. In a statement from an official state release, Hawaii Board of Agriculture Chairperson, Scott Enright encouraged individual interested to apply and take advantage of the marketing and financial resources being released by the federal government. Hawaii’s push for the specialty crop grant program, illustrates the importance of federal programs on the state level that support domestic agricultural strength.

Once again we see how the U.S. Pushes the growth of its agricultural industries by intervention on the state and local level—even targeting specialty crops. These are crops that are not readily farmed by most farmers in the America. Again, the model for the United States agricultural dominance came from focusing on agricultural competence on the smallest and largest levels. Other nations in Africa, South America and even regions in Asia can create real revenue and feed their populations by competitively focusing on agriculture down to the smallest farmer. Local small farmers matter.