The Hawaiʻi Island Agriculture Partnership, or HIAP, was created to be a platform for collective action for local agricultural development. Many farms, government agencies and non-profits are working hard for Hawaii Island’s agriculture. HIAP strives to connect their efforts and help them work together in ways that build collective impact. HIAP’s inaugural annual forum was held on December 5th, 2023, at the Paniolo Heritage Center in Waimea. This half-day event was dedicated to exploring and enhancing the rich agricultural system of Hawaiʻi Island. It brought together a diverse group of individuals and organizations committed to the growth and sustainability of agriculture in the region. The forum aimed to showcase the various elements of Hawaii Island's agricultural system, facilitate a collective update on current and future initiatives, and encourage a shared vision for the upcoming year.
Member Posters & Displays
The first hour of the forum from 9:00 to 10:00 am provided a visual showcase of individuals, organizations, initiatives, and services within Hawaiʻi Island’s agricultural system. People used this time to network and find out about available programs, services and support from government agencies and non-profits on the island at the small displays, posters of informational material about and handouts placed on tables.
Keynote Addresses
The forum then kicked off with an opening address from Eric Tanouye, President of HIAP and CEO of Green Point Nurseries. Eric outlined the overall objectives of the forum and encouraged the participants to recognize the critical importance of collaboration to enable our agricultural economy to survive.
He then introduced Senator Tim Richards, who provided a presentation of key agricultural statistics highlighting the importance of agriculture in our island and state economy and food supply, explaining why a shared effort of “all hands on deck” is needed for us to ensure agriculture is not only viable, but that we can sustain food production to support ourselves in the face of future supply shortages, pandemics or other crises. He explained efforts he and others are making to try and increase support for agriculture in the Hawaii State Senate.
Senator Richards then introduced Representative Kirstin Kahaloa, advising that he works closely with her in promoting new legislation in the state legislature. She provided a review of the legislation currently being introduced in the State House of Representatives relating to agriculture, explaining to participants how these bills are progressing and what are some of the key issues.
Group Discussions
Participants met at six separate tables, each with a mixture of people representing different interests and stakeholder groups. Groups discussed what key actions can be taken to strengthen our agricultural system and identified champions for supporting those actions. Following is a summary of some of the key actions participants highlighted:
· Identifying and supporting our next generation of farmers.
· Buying and eating locally produced foods.
· Take a farm to shelf approach, increasing revenue channels, ensuring food is safe and shelf stable. Use creatively for mass consumption.
· Aggregating production from our many small farms
· Taking care of our land and taking care of our farms.
· Build manufacturing partnerships that can utilize local ingredients.
· Increasing awareness about financial assistance, such as FSA loans.
· Establishing resource hubs for producers with joint support from county, state, federal, private, nonprofits, etc.
· Building networks amongst government agencies that support farmers at both the state and federal level.
· Aligning policies and regulatory reform efforts across multiple commodities and sectors.
· Addressing the growing problem of Ag Theft, which represents a bottleneck in value chains. There is a need for enforcement. Presence on farm makes a difference. Would help if contract workers were allowed to stay on farms. We need to address the root causes, looking at where stolen crops are sold (farmers market/black market).
· Increasing composting and soil restoration. Certification through DOH is a barrier. Need a flow chart/process map to understand.
· Addressing Invasive Pests. Need support for a DOA biosecurity program. Without biosecurity farmers cannot farm. Could establish an Imports control tax to fund biosecurity mitigation.
· Increasing value added processing and storage, addressing the disconnect between our available infrastructure and the need. Identify the best locations to serve producers.
· Addressing the potential issues surrounding legalization of recreational marijuana, drawing upon experiences in other states to develop an appropriate regulatory regime.
· Providing centralized processing infrastructure with wash stations, cold storage, fencing, processing facilities, access to water.
· Holding monthly Community Meetings/ Town Halls in person and via Zoom
· Conducting needs assessments for farmers, building on the data already gathered by the Hamakua Institute.
· Facilitating holistic approaches to support communication, as it too siloed. Better communications with, and within, UH entities and other agricultural stakeholders.
· Securing grants to seed fund new initiatives
· Connecting the dots to help community understand the process and details of agricultural activities and the scope of our food chains.
· Helping people learn and identify where they can plug in to agricultural initiatives.
· Developing a centralized vision for agriculture.
· Improving communications between sectors, working with County’s new Office of Sustainability.
Champions
Participants offered to champion a number of these efforts and others in moving forward as HIAP seeks to build upon the shared interests of its members.
· Invasive Pests (Eric Tanouye, Suzanne Shriner)
· Value chain analysis (Tony, Eric, Sarah)
· Access to Land matching (Maya, Parish)
· Protect Ag Land from becoming residential (Tony)
· Connect educators and farmers and culinary programs to schools (Tony)
· Ag housing legislation (Tane, Rep. Kahaloa)
· Shared Value added processing (Maya, Kirstin, Sarah)
· Meat Processing (Eric, Sen. Richards)
· Access to water and water development (Maya, Parish, Tane)
· Farmer investments through food hubs (Tane, Maya)
· Network support to include voices of producers and associates in County Planning around Ag and Food access(Leslie-COH)
· Communications: sharing what’s happening and resources (Olelo)
· Distribution (HFA, Kanani): Integrate local products when possible. Network producers to potential markets and troubleshoot logistics.
· Resource (Jennifer – FSA): Info regarding funding. Connect to other resources. Network at events.
· Policy aquaculture production: Policy initiatives that support aquaculture production. Hawaii Aquaculture collaborative. (Jean)
· Value Added Product. (Jane) Creation and innovation. Food safety. Farm to shelf.
· Education and Collaboration (Kenta-Ulu Coop). Helping others to build capacity
· Nutrition education to drive demand for local produce (Anne)
· Mulch biosecurity (Anne)
· Insights from national experience for recreational marijuana regulations (Anne)
· Pathways for South Kona Farmers Co-op (Anne)
· USDA Food Security/Group Gap (Peter)
· Aggregation of tiny/small farms. Food Hub hui support (Maureen)
· Transportation of food and integration to other activities, maximizing local sourcing where possible (Jared).
· Sourcing from local farms/food hub hui (Vibrant Hawaii)
· Community communications about ag (James)
· Holistic communications with UH (Bruce)
· Needs assessment for farmers (Aubrie)
· Centralized vision for ag (Odysseus)
Hawaii State Farm Bill
Sarah Freeman, Vice President of HIAP and the County of Hawai’i’s Food Systems Specialist, explained the process currently underway to develop a new Farm Bill for the state. She advised that she and others will be gathering input from producers and other stakeholders in the new year on what people would like to see included in the bill and help ensure those issues are explored by the groups synthesizing input from around the state.
Hawaii Data
Dennis Flemming, Executive Director of the Hamakua Institute, then briefly explained the information currently being gathered for HIAP and forming part of studies that will help guide the projects and strategies HIAP’s members are pursuing. He mentioned the Market Systems Development Initiative (MSDI) and current efforts to carry out value chain analysis for three agricultural value chains: staple food crops, export crops, and agribusiness services. He mentioned that they will be seeking input and data for these studies and will be making information available on HIAP’s website as it is completed.
Closing
Eric Tanouye offered closing remarks, emphasizing that historically, funding for Hawaiian agriculture has been a low priority and this must change. He emphasized the need to collaborate and act collectively, using HIAP as a conduit for collective action. He thanked the speakers and everyone for participating and advised them that HIAP’s facilitators would follow up the forum’s discussions in the new year.