HDOA urges those attending the first day of the Hawaii Agriculture Conference on Oct. 15 to attend Concurrent Sessions 3 & 4 from 2:45 to 5:00 p.m. on Reshaping Hawaii’s Agriculture: Developing a New Vision to Meet the Challenges.
HDOA will preview its updated strategic plan comprised of core priority actions and strongly encourages Hawaii farmers, ranchers and growers to attend this particular session and provide input on this new initiative to build a stronger agricultural industry.
Please see the AG2019 Keynote Speakers who will open the conference with insightful presentations on both international and local agriculture, followed by a moderated panel discussion around our AGdaptation theme.
Jamie Tuuta Chair, New Zealand Tourism Board, Urenui, Taranaki, New Zealand
In May 2019, Jamie was named Chair of the Tourism New Zealand Board, which is responsible for marketing New Zealand as a global destination. He has been on the Board since 2013 and brings to the role an understanding of the New Zealand tourism sector and the evolution of Tourism New Zealand. He is currently the Chair of Māori Television, Te Ohu Kaimoana (the Māori Fisheries Commission) and Taranaki Mounga, an ambitious project with a vision to restore ecological resilience to more than 34,000 hectares from the mountain to the sea. Mr Tuuta was the recipient of the 2010 Sir Peter Blake Emerging Leadership Award and the 2016 Young Māori Business Leader Award.
Jamie was born and bred in Taranaki, growing up on the family farm in Urenui, Taranaki and is affiliated to many iwi in Taranaki. Jamie has held various roles in the areas of iwi development, agribusiness, fishing, investment, health, Māori development, tourism and education. He is inspired by the opportunities for New Zealand to be an exemplar for other countries.
Jamie has a deep understanding of land use and land management. He held the role of Māori Trustee and CEO of Te Tumu Paeroa for 7 years retiring in 2018. In this role he was responsible for administering 100,000 hectares of Māori land throughout the country. He is also the former chair of Parininihi ki Waitōtara Incorporation a large land based farming business.
He is a former director of Wools of New Zealand (responsible for marketing strong wool), Port Nicholson Fisheries Ltd a lobster export business, Taranaki Investment Management Ltd which owned Van Diemen Land Company in Tasmania and the New Plymouth PIF Guardians Ltd a perpetual investment fund owned by the New Plymouth District Council. He was also a member of the Government appointed Investment Advisory Panel for the Primary Growth Partnership. Jamie is passionate about investing in innovation and increasing the economic and environmental performance of New Zealand’s primary industries, particularly the Māori pastoral and fishing sectors. He has a particular interest in building and developing the capacity and capability of Māori.
Michelle Galimba Cattle Rancher, Ka‘u, Hawai‘i, U.S.A.
Michelle Galimba is a cattle rancher in Ka’u on Hawaiʻi Island where she runs Kuahiwi Ranch with her brother, Guy Galimba. Their family ranch provides locally grown beef to supermarkets, farmer’s markets, and restaurants on O‘ahu and Hawaiiʻi Island. She grew up on dairy farms in Hawaiʻi and has been involved with her family’s ranch since it started on abandoned sugar-cane acreage in the early 1990’s. Having grown up in agriculture in Hawaiʻi, she has seen first hand the stresses and constraints which make farming and ranching particularly challenging in Hawaiʻi.
She is interested in the key role that agriculture in general, and small farms in particular, has to play in addressing the big challenges of our time: economic inequity, political dis-enfranchisement, biodiversity loss, and climate change. Michelle received a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from UC, Berkeley. Her dissertation was on the poetry of the 13th century Chinese poet/calligrapher/statesman/farmer, Su Dongpo.
Michelle has served on the State of Hawaiʻi’s Board of Agriculture and is currently a Director of the Farm Credit Service of Hawaiʻi and a number of other agricultural and conservation programs and non-profits.
For more information about the conference which runs from Oct. 15 – 16 at the Hawaii Convention Center, go to: https://www.hiagconference.org/