 |
| Kale grown on Mao farms |
Twice the answer came back: no.
John, who's devoted much of his life to fighting to maintain rural Windward Oahu stated that there is a time and a place for development, and it can be done properly.
Fred, nephew of John, who grew up on a poi plantation made possible by government subsidies, also says that this is not the answer or the end all of things.
I'm on a chair at a table beneath a roof sitting outdoors, sharing a breeze with Ma'o Organic Farms. Ma'o isn't your normal WWOOFing organic farm with wild'eyed hippies that spend most of their time juggling and playing a banjo while not farming, Ma'o isn't interested in just producing food, but also educated Hawaiians. For those who know the system of the Polynesian Cultural Center, it seems similar. Coordinated closely with a neighboring community college, the college provides interns for the farm and intern the farm pays the interns way through school as they work on the farm across two years.
 |
| newly acquired land |
The farm perhaps realizes that it may not be as sustainable as its philosophy implies. One-third of its funding coming from revenue; two-thirds coming from competitive government grants. In a past world where land was free and the military wasn't stealing your water, the title "sustainable" may have been more duly applied. But Ma'o seems to understand that it is a part of the rest of the world.
The question though is this: Ma'o aside, should all the world be sustainable organic farms, or are these miracles only made possible by the outside world that some of them attempt to forsake?
 |
| An intern washes chard. The bulk of the labor is actually in preparing the food for use. Much of it is shipped to fancy island restaurants for same-day use |
 |
| delightfully sour orange |
