Scott Crawford, speaking for the Hawaii Farmers Union Hana chapter, urged the committee to support a budget item to acquire a property adjacent to the Hana airport for a resiliency hub and food-aggregation center. "The special purpose revenues item I3 ... funds for the acquisition of the Hana Hub property at 20 Euwallo Road, just adjacent to the airport," Crawford said, noting the site’s 14.5 acres and existing small kitchen and pavilion.

Why it matters: supporters said a certified kitchen and aggregation facility would let local producers do value-added processing, coordinate transport to other-island markets and support community events such as the Taro Festival and Festivals of Aloha. Crawford said short-term work could make the site usable quickly while longer-term capital funding is pursued: "In the short term, we hope to be able to get the existing facility up and running ... In the longer term, we're also really thankful to the Department of Agriculture included funding in the congressional funding request to Senator Schatz's office."

Supporters outlined the site's advantages: existing utilities, structures that could be certified quickly, and scale for aggregation and transport logistics. They argued the hub would reduce waste by giving small producers a shared place to process and pack produce for shipment and would provide a base for events and vendors that now lack certified facilities.

County- and state-level funding discussions are under way. Crawford said the mayor included the acquisition in the proposed budget and that the group intends to pursue CIP funding with the council's Ways and Means Committee once acquisition funds are secured.

No formal vote or commitment was taken at the Hana public input session. Committee members and staff said they heard the testimony for consideration during upcoming budget deliberations.