Hawaiʻi Agriculture And Biosecurity Director Resigns
The departure of Sharon Hurd, longtime agriculture official, creates another vacancy in Gov. Josh Green’s Cabinet.
The search is on for a new state director for the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity.
Sharon Hurd announced her resignation from the post just days before Josh Green was reelected as governor, bringing her almost 20-year tenure in the department to a close and creating another vacancy in his Cabinet.
Hurd joined the department’s marketing division in 2007 and rose through its ranks before being tapped for the role when Green first took office four years ago. Myriad issues came to a head during Hurd’s tenure, including the rampant spread of invasive species, a rash of agricultural crimes and the devastating effects of successive disasters on farms statewide.
Hurd’s resignation came as a surprise to some, though she has repeatedly said she would only commit to one term.
There is now a vacuum in state agricultural leadership, as the department is also searching for a deputy director to oversee biosecurity and the state Agribusiness Development Corp. is job hunting for a new executive director.
Hurd’s tenure was rocky from the start, as powerful lawmakers chastised her approach.
She was seen by many within the industry as a cheerleader for agriculture, putting agricultural producers’ interests before everything else — for better or worse — as lawmakers pressed for action to increase local food production and boost the islands’ food security.
“She was super supportive of the family farmer in the state,” said Christian Zuckerman, vice president of the Hawai‘i Farmers Union. “She would always show up for them.”
Hurd’s department was renamed to include the focus on biosecurity while she was in office, and received more than $25 million in funding for biosecurity. Her office took several tangible steps toward improving the state’s agricultural infrastructure and took on tens of thousands of acres of ranch land under Act 90.
“She does deserve credit,” Hawaiʻi Farm Bureau Executive Director Brian Miyamoto said of the law that transferred acreage to the agriculture department from the natural resources department. That issue was mired in disagreements for years before she took office. “But there are still many challenges in ag.”
Perhaps the biggest criticism has been the department’s implementation of sweeping changes to its biosecurity work, including its slow onboarding of staff, its spending of program funds and alleged protection of the plant trade, which is blamed for most of the islands’ biosecurity woes.
Civil Beat was unable to reach Hurd for comment.
Sen. Tim Richards of the Big Island, who was announced as chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee last week, said he developed a decent working relationship with Hurd. She managed to set the department in the right direction in her time, he said, including with some of the biosecurity tasks she was given by lawmakers.
“Just coming from agriculture, I want to push hard,” Richards, a rancher and veterinarian, said.
This ongoing series delves deep into what it would take for Hawai‘i to decrease its dependence on imported food and be better positioned to grow its own.
The agriculture director role is one few want, seen as a thankless job subject to inordinate amounts of criticism. The department has also historically received less than 1% of the state budget, which many say is far too little to see out its mandate. Under Hurd’s watch, funding increased substantially.
“Leading DAB is an incredibly challenging and complex task. It has historically been underfunded and overlooked,” State Food Systems Coordinator Amanda Shaw said. “Anybody that’s willing to step up to that challenge — that’s really stepping forward.”
The governor’s candidate search will have to start soon. The agency’s current deputy director, Dean Matsukawa, a third-generation farmer and longtime state employee, will be acting director until Dec. 31.
Matsukawa joined the department’s loan division in 1991. He rose up the ranks to lead the division before retiring in 2022. He came out of retirement to be Hurd’s deputy last year.
Hurd is the latest Cabinet official to leave Green’s administration. Last week, Attorney General Anne Lopez confirmed her last day will be Dec. 7, which is when Green officially gets sworn in to start his second four-year term.
