Right now in our community there is lively discussion taking place when it comes to agriculture. Who will do it, how to do it and where will we do it. But while the details are debated, there seems to be
Right now in our community there is lively discussion taking place when it comes to agriculture. Who will do it, how to do it and where will we do it. But while the details are debated, there seems to be universal agreement that local diversified agriculture is something vitally important to sustain and grow.
The recently published “Increased Food Security and Food Self-Sufficiency Strategy” introduced by Governor Abercrombie’s administration emphasizes increasing production by strengthening agricultural infrastructure and also marketing, including distribution systems and facilities.
This strategy supports a multi-functional system where three core areas are addressed: increasing demand for local food, increasing supply from local farms and ranchers, and putting in place the policies and programs to support our food security. It identifies 85 to 90 percent of our food as currently imported, and states: “There can be no local food without local farms. Increased food self-sufficiency in Hawai’i requires a sustainable agricultural industry.”
We are now faced with the question of how can Kauai’s agricultural sector be sustainable and grow to meet our food security needs. I am often asked, “Can Kaua‘i become food self sufficient? Do we have the resources to do it?”
I believe that the short answer is that we can, but it is a question of how to strategically deploy our resources. Much of this requires aligning diverse priorities, and also engaging the community to better support our farmers. Collaboration and cooperation will be critical to making this work. Kaua‘i County Farm Bureau is and needs to be pro-dialogue in this process.
Right now on the demand side, the interest in local food has grown tremendously – farmers markets have become increasingly popular, and a growing number of chefs and retailers are requesting access to local farm products. That is encouraging. But we still have work to do to increase supply to deliver a quality product, consistently, and at the price that customers will pay.
Like the rest of Hawai‘i, Kaua‘i is at a disadvantage because of the high costs of land, labor and inputs. Also the increasing demands for food safety means it is becoming less affordable for farmers to do food processing or produce packing on their own properties. At the same time, we have an opportunity to leverage our 136,000 acres of agriculturally zoned land and the water resources and irrigation systems we inherited from the plantation era.
The food hub concept emerged about a decade ago to enable small and mid-sized farmers to tap into the increasing demand for local food and get local products to market. The USDA defines a food hub as “a business or organization that actively manages the aggregation, distribution, and marketing of source-identified food products primarily from local and regional producers to strengthen their ability to satisfy wholesale, retail, and institutional demand.”
Food hubs have proven to be a financially viable strategy for supporting local producers and strengthening local food economies. Accordingly to the USDA, the number of food hubs in the U.S. has grown exponentially from 45 to 225 since 2000. One article estimates food hub sales at $1 million annually, and highlights them as a creator of jobs.
Kaua’i is well positioned to embrace the food hub model because of a number of ongoing efforts. The County supports brand marketing programs that highlight locally made and locally grown products: Kaua’i Made and Kaua’i Grown. In addition, in-depth studies have been commissioned to assess the viability of retaining more cattle for local consumption and to explore the feasibility of a commercial kitchen/incubator facility to enhance our supply side infrastructure.
A Kaua‘i food hub could potentially include:
• a flagship store for Kaua‘i Grown and Kaua‘i Made products where local customers and visitors could shop, and new products could be launched
• meat processing and packaging of local meats
• produce packing and wholesale distribution
• a commercial kitchen incubator to help new food based businesses get started, and existing businesses carry their model to the next level
The proposed location, the Pi’ikoi Building was formerly a Big Save and it is part of the centrally located County offices complex. It served the community well for many years with its produce, meat, deli and dry goods sections and could be adapted to this purpose. Preliminary discussions have already begun to further assess and garner support for the food hub strategy.
The question is are we ready for a new concept like this? My answer would be yes but that we need the community’s support for it to succeed. Right now we are seeking funding for an integrated business and operational plan to review viability and identify the path forward. It will take multiple stakeholders getting in the same canoe and paddling together toward a shared goal to develop the kind of thriving agriculture that is needed for long term food self sufficiency of Kaua’i.
For more information on the Kaua‘i County Farm Bureau, visit www.kauaicountyfarmbureau.org. For a directory of locally grown products, visit www.kauaigrown.org.
