HR23

WHEREAS, Hawaii's economy relies on small businesses, which account for 99.3 percent of businesses and 49.3 percent of employees across the State; and

WHEREAS, a report on small businesses by the Economic Research Organization at the University of Hawaii recommended that the State create centralized networking systems to help small businesses build connections and collaborate on projects; launch initiatives in partnership with educational institutions for technical skills, training, leadership development, and employee retention strategies; and foster small business growth and sustainability by implementing policies from comparable cities, including business incubators, innovation hubs, and public-private partnerships; and

WHEREAS, Act 237, Session Laws of Hawaii 2025, established the food and product innovation network, a statewide network of open-access food and value-added product development facilities to enable businesses to scale up new products, by supporting research and development, manufacturing, and commercialization; and

WHEREAS, the food and product innovation network is modeled on New Zealand's public-private innovation network, which includes food innovation hubs that are strategically located and coordinated nationally to deliver complementary services across the nation; and

WHEREAS, similar to Hawaii, Singapore faces severe geographic and agricultural land constraints and has strategically shifted its food innovation focus toward developing high-value, technology-driven food products and premium exports, recognizing that traditional volume-based agriculture is not economically viable in a resource-scarce environment; and

WHEREAS, shared-use scaling facilities, such as Singapore's FoodPlant, provide critical insight into how the State can utilize small-batch production infrastructure to mitigate prohibitive initial capital costs, thereby enabling businesses to systematically engineer products specifically for high-margin, premium consumer markets; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii's ability to compete in global markets depends on its capacity to use similar coordinated and strategic planning to refine processes, scale production, and manufacture high-value, export-ready ingredients and goods; and

WHEREAS, the State's food and product innovation network uniquely integrates entrepreneurial education, workforce development, agricultural production, and value-added innovation into one coordinated system; and

WHEREAS, the successful implementation and growth of the food and product innovation network requires further examination of Hawaii's food manufacturing strengths and the identification of strategic markets for local high-value, premium products; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2026, that the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism is requested to conduct a study on Hawaii's food manufacturing strengths and strategic markets, including an assessment of the competitive advantages of Hawaii-made products and the specific high-value, premium products that the State should focus on manufacturing for export; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that, as part of the study, the Department is requested to establish clear economic metrics defining what qualifies as a high-value product and to identify specific markets matching those metrics with specific product categories that possess the highest probability of export success; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department is requested to include in the study a comprehensive cost-of-production analysis, factoring in Hawaii's high operational costs, including energy, labor, and imported ingredients, to mathematically determine the minimum profit margins required to make local food manufacturing economically viable; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department is requested to assess any logistical or transportation barriers that currently prevent entry into identified strategic markets and to propose state-level solutions; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the University of Hawaii is requested to use the findings of the study to update the curriculum at the Maui Food Innovation Center and Wahiawa Value-Added Product Development Center to ensure that local entrepreneurs are taught to engineer products specifically for high-value, export-oriented markets from the very beginning; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism is requested to collaborate with the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity, Agribusiness Development Corporation and its innovation centers, and the University of Hawaii to ensure that the results of the study are integrated into existing workforce development and business incubation programs; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Agribusiness Development Corporation is requested to utilize the findings of the study to guide the development and operation of its next-phase scaling facilities, ensuring that businesses developed through University of Hawaii programs are supported with the necessary infrastructure to manufacture high-value products and achieve sustainable economic growth; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that, based on the study's findings, the Agribusiness Development Corporation and University of Hawaii are requested to collaborate to instill market discipline early in the food and product innovation network process, teaching entrepreneurs which products are high-value and viable for export; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism is requested to propose policy recommendations on how the State can realign and prioritize existing economic development resources, grants, and funding mechanisms to specifically support businesses that manufacture the identified high-value, premium products; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism; Director of Agriculture and Biosecurity; President of the University of Hawaii; Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Agribusiness Development Corporation; Executive Director of the Agribusiness Development Corporation; Director of the Maui Food Innovation Center; and Director of the Wahiawa Value-Added Product Development Center.

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

DBEDT; DAB; UH; ADC; Study; Hawaii Food Manufacturing Strengths and Strategic Markets; Hawaii Food and Product Innovation Network; Local Goods; Hawaii-Grown; Locally Produced; Logistics; Supply Chain; Feedback Loop; Entrepreneurs; Small Business

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	23
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026
STATE OF HAWAII