(BIVN) – A big part of State Senator Russell Ruderman’s talk story in Pahoa on June 27 involved bills relating to agriculture. Top among them is the Puna Agricultural Park, which Ruderman says will be located on a stretch of state ocean-front land between Maku’u and Hawaiian Beaches.

Ruderman’s Senate Bill 839 for the Ag Park did not pass, but a $250,000 feasibility study was allocated in the budget.

Another success was the passage of Senate Bill 776 relating to an Industrial Hemp Pilot Project. The Hawaii Department of Agriculture will be implementing the pilot.

A handful of other Ruderman agriculture bills came up short: SB 1168, an agricultural theft and vandalism pilot project; SB 830 relating to food forests (an income tax credit to incentivize leasing of land for community food forest); and SB 846 which permits the sale of raw milk under certain conditions.