AgFood System Study: Food Resiliency Team meeting

Hawai’i Island Agriculture and Food

System Study

Food Resiliency and Sustainability - Sub-team Meeting #1

July 17th, 2020

Held via Zoom

1.   Participants

2.   Meeting Objectives

Objectives for the meeting were to:

A.    Agree upon purpose of sub- team;

B.    Define food sustainability and identify key constraints

C.    Define food resiliency and identify key constraints; and

D.    Determine criteria for prioritizing food value chains to analyze.

3.   Strategic Framework for Sub-team

The following strategic framework for the sub-team was presented at the meeting and agreed to by the participants:

4.   Food Sustainability

Participants were shown the overlapping agriculture and food systems in the following diagram:

Participants in the meeting discussed how to define food sustainability.  The UN Food and Agriculture’s definition was shared and discussed in the context of Hawai’i Island. Participants identified a number of ways in which the sustainability of the island’s food system should be understood:

·       Recognizing the integration of the island’s agriculture system and food system as one;

·       Food security, having the food supply to sustain ourselves

·       The use of regenerative agricultural practices;

·       Local demand and consumption needs to be considered separately from the food needs of the tourism industry.  Food security and sustainability relate to island residents while the needs of the tourism industry relates to abundance.

·       The intersection point highlighted in the above diagram represents the ideal concept of food sustainability – what you eat is what you grow.

·       Be careful not to confuse local with sustainable. What is grown locally is not always sustainable. Social equity and ecological sustainability are stronger foundations to build upon than the concept of food sustainability alone.

·       Sustainability of farms needs to be considering what are farmers biggest costs and what can be done to alleviate those costs.

5.   Food Resiliency

Participants in the meeting discussed how to define Food Resiliency. The following definition was shared with the participants: “Resilience” is the ability to prepare for, withstand, and recover from a crisis or disruption. A “resilient food system” is able to withstand and recover from disruptions in a way that ensures a sufficient supply of acceptable and accessible food for all.  When asked how they define food resiliency on Hawai’i Island, team members identified the factors on Hawai’i Island that have a big impact on food resiliency here:

·       Availability of storage, particularly cold storage

·       Ability to take in small amounts of food into the system

·       Accessibility of distribution centers

·       Ability to distribute food where it is needed the most

·       The SNAP process is difficult and cumbersome for many people

·       The food system cannot be considered resilient if we are relying upon shipments

·       Location of critical infrastructure for our food system needs to consider the impacts from climate change. Facilities located at sea level will increasingly be at risk.

Some key indicators for assessing food resiliency include:

·       Land in agriculture

·       Number of full-time farmers

·       Amount of food produced

·       Number of days the island can go without food shipments

·       Number of food distribution centers

·       Diversity of supply and demand

·       Availability and location of storage facilities

·       Anticipated impact of climate change on local production

·       Observed impact of COVID-19 on value chain

6.   Other criteria for comparing Food Value Chains

Team members were asked to identify the criteria upon which food value chains can be assessed and compared in the study. Following is a summary of the key points raised during the discussions:

Increasing Local Content

·       Existing initiatives involving the crop

·       Trends in local demand

·       Opportunities for increasing local consumption

·       Opportunities for substitution of imported products

·       Opportunities for increasing production through backyard gardening/ subsistence farming

·       Identified bottlenecks in the value chain

Social Equity

·       SNAP purchases and quantities

·       Annual institutional purchases of the crop

Public health and education

·       Nutritional value associated with the crop

·       Opportunities to get children/schools access to better food

·       Preferences of Hospital and School Administrators

Feasibility of Change

·       Previous/existing pilot efforts

·       Potential loan or grant funding

·       Availability of technical support

·       Level of cooperation within the sector

7.   Next Steps and Conclusion

The meeting concluded with the Facilitators advising that the data collection team would be established in the following weeks and individual team members who have an interest in participating in the team were welcome to contact the facilitators if they are interested in participating.