A little more than two years ago, 'Aiea farmer David Sumida saw about $66,000 worth of watercress destroyed by flooding.

A few years before that, a new pest, the "aster leafhopper," hitchhiked to Hawai'i and gobbled up more than half of Sumida's crops.

Heavy rains and invasive species can be devastating to the thousands of small farms across the state, making those who own and operate them glad that the government is searching for ways to keep these agricultural enterprises viable.

The Legislature this session is considering numerous bills that would increase the amount of emergency loans available to farmers, repair aged irrigation systems across the state, help train a workforce for the future and invest more in research and marketing to further diversify the industry.

"The No. 1 priority this year is to improve the state irrigation system," said Sen. Russell Kokubun, chairman of the Water, Land and Agriculture committee.

The proposal, which would start by repairing five irrigation systems across the state and create a special fund to fix more, was included in both the House and Senate majority packages as a follow-up to legislation last year to designate important agricultural lands across the state.

"(Last year's initiative) was an acknowledgement on our part that land is critical to the agriculture industry," said Kokubun, D-3rd (Ka'u, Kona). "The next component is water."

TODAY'S FARM SCENE

Farmers agree that water is of vital importance, but they have even more suggestions about what the state can do to support farming, such as exploring new strategies to prevent invasive species from entering the state, keeping agricultural lands for farming rather than homes and finding a way to rehabilitate fallow plantation lands so they can be used for other crops.

Once dominated by sugar and pineapple plantations, the agriculture industry in Hawai'i has shifted to more diversified farming enterprises focusing on specialty items such as Kona coffee, organic greens, exotic fruits and tropical flowers.

There are about 5,400 such farming operations across the state, employing roughly 39,000 people and adding $2.4 billion to the state's economy.

Although recent statistics show a dip in agriculture revenue of less than 1 percent in 2004, in general, the industry has seen slow but steady growth over the past decade — about 2 percent a year, according to Dean Okimoto, president of the Hawai'i Farm Bureau Federation and owner of Nalo Greens.

Hawai'i's lawmakers who want to support that growth have introduced several bills to assist existing farms, as well as encourage new ones.

As Kokubun pointed out, agriculture is not just important for the economy, but also to help the state achieve self-sufficiency in the event of an emergency. "I think it's important that we recognize that we're potentially vulnerable to being cut off from food supplies reaching the state," he said.

WATER, GOOD AND BAD

One key bill would help farmers who have seen crops destroyed by recent rains. The Department of Agriculture currently offers low-interest emergency loans, but any amount above $25,000 would require approval by the Board of Agriculture. The bill would allow Board of Agriculture Chairwoman Sandra Lee Kunimoto to approve loans up to $75,000 without a vote before the board, thereby speeding up the process.

"That part is significant right now as we're facing all of these storms," Kunimoto said. "At times like this you want to make sure that you can get the funds to the farmers quickly."

She also supports the bill to improve five irrigation systems around the state, where some of the water systems are more than a century old. "There are many needs, but this is definitely a good start," Kunimoto said.

The availability of water at an affordable price can make or break a farm.

"That's probably our most important issue," Okimoto said. "If we don't have water, we can't grow anything."

In Hana, on Maui, water is plentiful and Lillian Boerner of Ono Organic Farms counts herself lucky not to be faced with the challenges of other farmers on the island.

That's not the case in upcountry Maui, where Boerner said water is tied to another controversial issue — building residential lots on agricultural land.

New homes have driven up water costs and farmers now find themselves charged residential rates, rather than agricultural rates, for the water needed to hydrate their crops.

Boerner said the upcountry farmers have also complained that along with houses, deer have moved into the area in great numbers and farmers are no longer able to hunt them. "They can't protect their fields because there's houses close by. A lot of people have seen their crops eaten," she said. "It's staggering to everybody."

In the Big Island's coffee belt, too much water is an issue, in terms of runoff, according to Dr. Joe Alban, owner of Kona Joe Coffee. "There's been more and more erosion of coffee land," he said. "Floodwater comes down from mauka and washes down to the farms."

While no one is sure what the cause is, local farmers suspect that development in the area is channeling more water onto farmland.

"We'd like to see some sort of plan for how to deal with this water run-off and funds allocated toward implementing a plan that helps protect valuable farmlands and topsoil," Alban said.

VISITORS, PESTS

Alban said another important issue is agricultural tourism, which is important to the sales and marketing of local products. "As Hawai'i farmers we're disadvantaged because of our relative distance from our customers," he said. "Visitors and direct sales can overcome some of that disadvantage."

Kona Joe sells about 20 percent of its products to tourists who visit the farm. These sales represent an even greater percentage of the profit, however, because the farm can sell its products at retail prices through its own store, whereas it gets only wholesale prices for other sales.

According to Sumida, the 'Aiea watercress farmer, the state does a great job in supporting farmers and was of tremendous help during the aster leafhopper invasion, but he and his sister, Barbara, agree that bringing in more agriculture inspectors could help.

"Right now there is a shortage of inspectors and we think there are insects that are coming in that are kind of under the radar," he said.

Okimoto, of the Hawai'i Farm Bureau Federation, said he would like to see incoming cargo scrutinized for pests in the same way as cargo and baggage leaving the state. "Almost every year we have to deal with at least 12 new pests because these things come in unchecked," he said.

While there is no legislation to address inspectors this session, lawmakers are considering ways to increase the agriculture workforce in general.

Matthew Loke, of the Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Development Division, sees a bill that would help finance vocational agricultural education in the high schools as key legislation.

With the federal No Child Left Behind Act putting pressure on schools to focus on the core subjects such as reading and math and a weighted student formula that will allow schools more flexibility in spending, one fear is that schools will pull back on subjects that don't appear on the battery of standardized tests.

"If a trend persists, then it may impact the Neighbor Islands a lot more than O'ahu," said Loke, who noted that the outer islands tend to have more agriculture industries.

Because farms tend to be small, those who work at them need a broader education than those who worked for plantations, which were owned by corporations and managed by experts in different areas such as production, transportation, distribution and marketing.

Today's specialty farmer needs to have knowledge in all these areas.

"You must know how to grow the crops, you must know how to apply the pesticides, you must know how to market your products, and, of course, you must know accounting, too," Loke said. "Farmers have to be agriculture entrepreneurs. It's a little bit more challenging, but I think it's a lot more rewarding."

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.