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Reference Information
See below the library of studies, surveys, plans, tables, graphs and other reference documents and infographics related to Hawai'i Island's agriculture and food system.
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Feasibility Study for Hilo Agricultural Hub
Studies & Reports
2024
A study that analyzed options and viability of a Hilo-based agricultural center.
County of Hawai'i Agriculture Development Plan
Plans
2010
Update of the 1992 County Ag Plan with the recognition that Hawai'i had become less food self-sufficient in the decade between 1995 and 2005 and that the County of Hawai'i was/is positioned to correct imbalance. Also, the demise of Sugar necessitated Ag plan that reflected current drivers of Ag economy in Hawai'i. Re: Cooperatives, mention of potential cooperation across sectors (p.22); the potential to solve equipment investment barriers by forming farm equipment cooperatives (p.24); the consideration of water cooperatives (responsible for the development, maintenance, and repair) (p.36); ag transport cooperatives (p.39); cooperative facilities (p.40); cooperative marketing (p.64-65). Also includes list of cooperatives (independent compilation) as Appendix G.
State of Hawai'i Increased Food Security and Food Self Sufficiency Strategy Vol II
Plans
2012
General comments include statements on cooperatives (p.63) that indicate difficulty in working in cooperatives citing a)the lack of successful cooperative models; b) the lack of success in diversified ag; c) the lack of communication among cooperative players including across sectors (with farmers and govt. agencies); d) the lack of incentive and the increase of risk that one person undercuts the others; e) the formality of the cooperative system/structure; f) the lack of training and education for farmers interested in cooperatives.
Hawai'i's Food System: Food for All
Studies & Reports
2017
Examination of current food systems in Hawai'i State with particular attention to low-income access to food. Argues that sustainability will come through building community food systems and strengthening ag networks Re: Cooperatives, see p.106 (Hawai'i 'Ulu Producers Co-op); p.85 Dean Okimoto on cooperatives and agricuture in Hawai'i; and p.139 Appendix E "Infrastructure Fund Models and Recommendations" with review of potential for coops to bridge capital access gaps by pooling community resources and the difficulty of forming solid, respectful cooperatives. Report funded by USDA SNAP-Education
Hāmākua CDP
Plans
2018
Section 6.2.5 Community Action, Community Action 46 point 5: Develop agricultural cooperatives to facilitate farming collaborations, cost- and resource-sharing opportunities, provide a mechanism for marketing assistance and educational opportunities, and coordinate with County, State, and Federal agricultural specialists; and point 7: Pursue the development of incubator community kitchens for the production of value-added agricultural products.
County of Hawai'i Agriculture Development Plan
Plans
2010
Update to the 1992 County Ag Plan. Re: Cooperatives see Appendix G. Please note that this list was independently compiled (by Kohala Center) in 2010 and the existence of all associations and cooperatives was not confirmed at that time.
Kohala Center Rural and Cooperative Business Development Services
Studies & Reports
2020
List of Hawai'i State cooperatives with links as available. Unclear how list was compiled (independently or voluntarily by Association/Cooperative).
State of Hawai'i Increased Food Security and Food Self Sufficiency Strategy Vol II
Plans
2012
Report addressing food security and self-sufficiency in Hawai'i. General comments include statements on cooperatives (p.63) that indicate difficulty in working in cooperatives citing a)the lack of successful cooperative models; b) the lack of success in diversified ag; c) the lack of communication among cooperative players including across sectors (with farmers and govt. agencies); d) the lack of incentive and the increase of risk that one person undercuts the others; e) the formality of the cooperative system/structure; f) the lack of training and education for farmers interested in cooperatives.
Hawai'i's Food System: Food for All
Studies & Reports
2017
Examination of current food systems in Hawai'i State with particular attention to low-income access to food. Argues that sustainability will come through building community food systems and strengthening ag networks Re: Cooperatives, see p.106 (Hawai'i 'Ulu Producers Co-op); p.85 Dean Okimoto on cooperatives and agricuture in Hawai'i; and p.139 Appendix E "Infrastructure Fund Models and Recommendations" with review of potential for coops to bridge capital access gaps by pooling community resources and the difficulty of forming solid, respectful cooperatives. Report funded by USDA SNAP-Education
Forging Food Justice Through Cooperatives in New York City
Studies & Reports
2018
Fordham Law Journal Article that examines coops (both food and farm labor) as an alternative to traditional capitalist/corporate models of ownership and control. p.926 Section IV: Challenges that Cooperatives Face include 1) awareness of cooperatives as vehicles to change food system; 2) readily available financing for starting cooperatives (especially given the difficulty of risk assessment of a community-owned asset that has not yet proven profitability); 3) management and leadership of the coop including navigating liability and other legal and policy issues/lack of knowledge about running a business including maintaining profit margins; 4) difficulty of finding affordable land on which to operate (for stationary food coops); 5) adoption of participatory and truly democratic structures and ability to deal with conflict in coop.
Impact of COVID-19 on Local Agriculture
Studies & Reports
Mar 2020
Brief column on COVID impacts on Local Ag. Lists major impacts as: 1) less demand for niche products 2) reduced demand for high-end/specialty produce by restaurants 3) limited sales outlets with closure/regulation of farmers markets 4) suspension of farm tours/agri-tourism 5) capacity challenges due to restocking critical inputs 6) timely availability of farmer relief capital 7) contingency planning for further/extended labor restrictions
EAT THINK DRINK 10: Food Supply Chain Disruption
Studies & Reports
June 18, 2020
Panel hosted by Hawai'i Agriculture Foundation. Re: specific impacts on farmers: Echoes impacts listed above esp 1) complete stop and then continued low demand for products. Smaller diversified farms were able to find local markets with the help of local food hubs (& local supermarkets) but larger farms who had reliance on massive exports to the U.S. mainland, Canada, and Japan (esp tourist crops) have experienced a glut of product and nowhere to sell, no local market for the product. Macadamia nuts and coffee (highly dependent on tourism) have lost 50-100% of their business. As well, producers who produced much of their product for high-end restaurants/consumers have not easily found outlet. Farms with highly perishable product also lost money because food was already in the ground when COVID hit and there was no labor available for harvest and without a market, no reason to hire laborers to harvest, wash, process large quantities of product.
EAT THINK DRINK 10: Food Supply Chain Disruption
Studies & Reports
June 18, 2020
Panel hosted by Hawai'i Agriculture Foundation. Includes discussion of disruptions to supply chain especially on the distribution and consumer ends. Re: distribution, Stoppage and ongoing slow-ness of inbound flights to Hawai'i meant distributors have needed to charter flights from Asia to meet consumer demands, and there has been a shift in demands for different products (i.e. toilet paper, etc.) and therefore difficulty in obtaining these goods to quantity. Import distributors have also recognized the impact of supply shortage on U.S. Mainland (i.e., eggs) and the resulting skyrocketing of price of particular goods that prohibit similar order quantities of item. Consumption market has also shifted due to shutdown of restaurants and schools, and low to no market for traditionally major exports and tourist crops.
Amid Threats to Supply Chain, Officials say Hawaii's Farmers Need Help
Studies & Reports
April 21, 2020
Hawai'i Tribune Herald article detailing some of the disruptions to imports due to mainland outbreaks of COVID-19 (meat packing plants, farms) and the lack of market for local goods due to the shut-down of tourism, restaurants, and farms involved in Hawai'i's farm-to-school program. Mentions lack of access to emergency funds for farmers and asks for State and local support for farmers.
O'ahu Agriculture and Conservation Association
Directories
Extensive list of grants and loans available for Hawai'i farmers and ranchers, small businesses, non profits.
HDOA Agricultural Loan Division
Directories
Listing of other grants available through OHA, Hawai'i Food Producers Fund, County Development Offices. Direct Links to relevant USDA grants.
Hawai'i Organic Farming Association
Directories
Listing of programs, resources, and fiscal support for organic farmers
Farm Credit Services of Hawai'i
Directories
Loans for Farmers through CoBank and American Ag Credit
USDA Grants and Loans
Directories
Broad listing of USDA grants and loans for farming, rural development, livestock, market.
Machinery and equipment in operation 2017
Tables & Graphs
2017
Inventory and cost of machinery and equipment on farms, 2012 & 2017
Hawaii Farmer Survey
Studies & Reports
2018
2018 survey compiled assessing regional needs surrounding food production in Hawai'i. Ranks farm labor as the top need across all Hawai'i regions, followed by land and access to capital. In Ka'u and South Kohala farmers noted capital as most necessary for expansion/growth, however it is not defined how capital would be used if received, and if for equipment, what percentage.
County of Hawai'i Agriculture Development Plan
Plans
2010
The County of Hawai'i Ag Development Plan (p.23-24) makes mention of potential opportunity for machine/farm equipment cooperatives in thinking about barriers to production for small farmers.
County of Hawai'i Agriculture Development Plan
Plans
2010
Update to the 1992 County Ag Development Plan. Highlights one of two major problems as the lack of infrastructure for agriculture. Lists p. 25 lack of beef and dairy industry processing infrastructure; p.35 lack of operational agricultural water systems infrastructure (storage and irrigation); p.39 lack of transportation infrastructure, both air and sea, and also cites limits of single lane highway. Section J p.40 "Infrastructure" notes opportunity/need in/for HACCP-certified packing and processing facilities to ensure sanitary and safe product, slaughterhouse and rendering facilities, wood-processing facilities, commercial kitchen facilities, value-added processing facilities.
Q&A with Phyllis Shimabukuro-Geiser, Head of Hawaii Board of Agriculture
Studies & Reports
2020
Very broad considerations for firming infrastructure across ag and food sectors. Includes mentions of access to land, access to water, processing facilities, labor, and consumer support.
Island of Hawaii Whole System Project: Phase I Report
Studies & Reports
2007
Illustrates statistical need for farm labor (pre-COVID); traces stated lack of labor to low unemployment in Hawai'i and the employment of unskilled labor pools in tourism industry. Would need recent report on unemployment rates and available farm laborers during COVID recession 2020 and beyond.
Hawaii Farmer Survey
Studies & Reports
2018
2018 survey compiled assessing regional needs surrounding food production in Hawai'i. Ranks farm labor as the top need across all Hawai'i regions, followed by land and access to capital.
Farm Labor Statistics 2020
Tables & Graphs
2020
HDOA Farm Labor Statistics (NASS compilation): numbers of laborers, average wage per hour, hours per week Jan 2017 - Apr 2020
Island of Hawaii Whole System Project: Phase I Report
Studies & Reports
2007
See p.43 Availability of Land and Appendix E: Land Issues which details/maps available public and private lands and landwoners. Indicates that, in 2007, 31% of 1.2 million acres of land zoned for agriculture lie fallow. Maps indicate that massive tracts of Conservation lands are also available. In 2002, only half of DHHL lands zoned ag were being farmed. Kamehameha Schools lands in Kona can be leased for $200/acre/year.
How Landscape Legacies Enhance Hawaii Agriculture
Studies & Reports
2020
Article reimagining how State conservation lands with indigenous infrastructure can be restored and maintained, and can support State initiatives to increase agriculture while simultaneously restoring human-nonhuman ecosystems and relationships to space and place. Encourages Public-Community partnerships and allows for simultaneous address of ecosystem/environmental preservation and Native Hawaiian rights and access to place.
Hawai'i Data Book (Agriculture section)
Tables & Graphs
2017
See Table 19.03: Farms by Size, Land in Farms, and Value of Land, Buildings and Equipment by County. Less availability of land than use of Ag lands for farming venture. Gives a sense of recent costs/values of farm lands and estimates of room for expansion of farm/ag.
County of Hawai'i Agriculture Development Plan
Plans
2010
Update of the 1992 County Ag Plan. Re: Cooperatives, includes list of cooperatives (independent compilation by Kohala Center) as Appendix G.
Kohala Center Rural and Cooperative Business Development Services
Directories
2020
List of Hawai'i Island cooperatives with available links
County General CDP
Plans
GP2.3(s), 14.1.2(b), 14.2.2(a), 14.2.3(i): Identify, protect, and encourage agricultural lands to assist in the further development of agriculture. GP14.4.3(b): Commercial facilities shall be developed in areas adequately served by necessary services or in concert with localized program of public and private capital improvements to meet the expected increased needs
County of Hawai'i Agriculture Development Plan
Plans
2010
Adopted via resolution no.61-11. Marshal resources for key infrastructure projects that would broadly benefit the ag sector.
Hamakua CDP
Plans
2018
Section 6.2, Strengthening Local Agriculture. Section 6.2.5 Community Action, Community Action 46 point 5: Develop agricultural cooperatives to facilitate farming collaborations, cost- and resource-sharing opportunities, provide a mechanism for marketing assistance and educational opportunities, and coordinate with County, State, and Federal agricultural specialists; and point 7: Pursue the development of incubator community kitchens for the production of value-added agricultural products. See also 6.3.1 Community Objective 9: Encourage the increase and diversity of employment and living options for residents, including living wage jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities that allow residents to work and shop close to home and that complement Hamakua's ecology, rural character, and cultural heritage.
Current HDOA Administrative Rules
Plans
2020
Guidelines for actions related to agriculture in the context of Hawai'i Revised Statutes.
County of Hawai'i Agriculture Development Plan
Plans
2010
Policies mentioned include shoring up existing infrastructure through policies that streamline County permitting processes for permitting agricultural infrastructure; research and development around Harbor development (Kawaihae and Hilo) for increasing potential of transport of goods; and County bonds and liens financing for support of infrastructural firming projects related to agriculture.
SR131, "Urging DLNR to adopt administrative rules to streamline the process for allowing traditional Hawaiian farming systems on conservation lands."
Plans
2020
Resolution calling for the confluence of articulated Session Rules of 2015 of increasing agricultural growth, encouraging development of small-scale farms, and encouraging the growth and development of traditional Hawaiian agricultural systems including loko i'a and traditional Hawaiian crops. Civil Beat's "How Landscape Legacies Enhance Hawai'i Agriculture" which notes general availability of State-controlled Conservation land with existing indigenous agricultural infrastructure. Suggests the potential to energize public-private partnerships that can restore and utilize these traditional agricultural systems to diversify and invigorate local ag industry in ways that are economically, ecolocally, and culturally sound.
A Calibrated Model of Local Food System of Hawai'i: What are economic implications of the State's food goals and policies?
Studies & Reports
2018
Full article available at cost. Abstract indicates that researchers utilized a mathmetical model to assess two proposed policies: GET exemption on locally produced foods and and investment in agricultural infrastructure. Assessment indicates that the GET exemption will lead to minor economic gain and that local food production will lead to triple the economic gain.
Districts and ahupua'a on Hawai'i
Directories
2011
Kamehameha Schools
Median Family Incomes and Poverty Maps, HI
Tables & Graphs
2013
GIS Mapping of 1) Median Family Income and 2) Percentage of persons below poverty; two indicators used to assess Food Desert Access. Shows portions of the Hamakua Coast and also Puna and Ka'u as having the largest percentage of persons below the poverty line.
Hawai'i's Food System: Food for All
Studies & Reports
2017
Examination of current food systems in Hawai'i State with particular attention to low-income access to food. RE: Barriers to Accessing Capital, see 1) p.65 historical preclusion of Hawaiians accessing infrastructure needed to thrive commercially / within capital structure and resulting exclusion from maintaining hold in commercial markets 2) p.104-105 and 110, need for technical support to access capital including grant writing, loan application, business planning, legal supports, low interest microloans 3) p.138 "agriculture does not fit into any lender's equation" as it is high risk, offer low returns, and lack liquidity 4) p.138 new farmers' inability to prove credit worthiness if they have never taken on large debt, and inability to show (traditional) inventory (as inventory is planted in the fields and without guarantee. Also can have trouble using capital effectively for the growth of their business.
Island of Hawaiʻi Whole System Project
Studies & Reports
2007
Listed barriers to accessing financial capital include: p.45 credit worthiness, lack of knowledge about available resources, lack of time (to complete grant applications, etc.), grant and loan literacy, language barrier. See also p.79 ability of small farmers to access funds made available to farmers in America by USDA and the strings attached to the funds; credit backing for small farmers/small business owners.
CFDI-Farmer of Color Capital Access National Project
Studies & Reports
2015
Year-long cooperative approach between Community lenders and Farmers of Color (FOC) to increase accessibility of capital to FOC.Case studies reflect historic, systemic, and technical barriers to capital access for Farmers of Color such as institutional racism, cultural and historical relationship to land, riskiness of farming venture and risk-aversion of lenders; business and legal acumen. Found needs are listed as capital access pathways that 1) are culturally appropriate and respectful, 2) designed to acknowledge AND mitigate systemic barriers, 3) meet borrowers where they are in the stage of budiness development and provide tools to help them advance along developmental continuum. Can be related to conditions in Hawai'i where discrimination and institutional racism intersect with potential for farmers' access to initial funding capital necessary to start farm.
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