Sustainable Initiatives by Andrea Dean

Check out Craig Elevitch’s photos of the North Kohala Food Forum, held yesterday.

“The North Kohala community will produce 50% of the food it consumes” is one of the goals the community set forth in the North Kohala Community Development Plan. It is hard to know exactly how much of the food North Kohala residents consume is locally produced, but 10-15% is probably a good estimate.


The “local food” movement has been gaining traction all over the world and in Hawaii. Data is now bearing out the fact that eating locally grown foods are good for your health, the community and the economy.


A recent study by the University of Hawaii- College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (UH-CTAHR) entitled Economic Impacts of Increasing Hawaii’s Food Self Sufficiency concluded that if Hawaii replaced just 10% of the imported food it consumes with locally produced food, this would generate $188 million in sales, $47 million in earnings, $6 million in tax revenues and more than 2,300 jobs. Without an economic study, it would be hard to know what the economic impact of purchasing more locally grown foods would be, but we know for sure that there is an economic “multiplier effect”- when money for food is spent in the community it multiplies in the community.


There is a lot of interest in North Kohala in food self-reliance and there are many new agricultural projects springing up. The Food Forum seeks to bring together all of the parties interested in community food self-reliance in North Kohala. The North Kohala Food Forum has invited 70 panelists- commercial food producers, food markets, wholesalers and commercial buyers, as well as people representing infrastructure (water, land, energy, processing facilities), government and education- to talk about what the challenges and opportunities are for meeting our community goal of producing 50% of our own food. The North Kohala Food Forum does not have a plan for achieving this goal- rather the idea is to bring people together to share information and see where collaboration can happen.


The North Kohala Food Forum will be held on Saturday, August 22, 2009, from 9 am – 4:30 pm at the Kohala Intergenerational Center (behind the gym at Kamehameha Park in Kapa‛au.)


The public is invited to the North Kohala Food Forum and tickets are $10, which includes a delicious all local (North Kohala) grown lunch prepared by local chefs. Tickets are available at the Kohala Coffee Mill, North Kohala Community Resource Center, Nanbu Courtyard Café, and The Kohala Center in Waimea.


The Food Forum is a project of the North Kohala Community Resource Center and is partially funded by the County of Hawaii- Office of Research & Development, Ulupono Initiative, Hoea Agricultural Park, Steering Committee Members, Starseed Ranch, Susan Barnes, and community donations.


You can learn more about the North Kohala Food Forum, share information and participate in the online discussion at www.nkfoodforum.com.

LEARN MORE AT NKFOODFORUM.COM
“The North Kohala community will produce 50% of the food it consumes.” This is a stated goal in the North Kohala Community Development Plan. The North Kohala community has many existing and emerging commercial and community projects that could lead to increased food self-sufficiency, the goal of the Food Forum is to bring everyone together for information sharing. The sharing of information is the first step in building collaborative partnerships towards a stated community goal.


There will be invited participants in the forum and the public will also be welcome, with provision made for including public participation in discussion. Forum participants have been identified from the following sectors in North Kohala:

The members of Food Forum steering committee are Bob Martin, Forrest Arnold, Shannon Casey, Karen Rosen, Guy Kaulukukui, and Andrea Dean.


The goals of the North Kohala Food Forum are to:
• Share information by providing a forum for communication.
• Allow synergistic partnerships to form.
• Identify the key barriers to local food production and working together.
• Glean insight as to what the public is thinking about local food self-sufficiency.
• Begin to get a “lay of the land” with regards to who is doing what and why.
• Begin to track progress towards food self-sufficiency.


North Kohala Food Forum, Saturday, August 22, 2009, 9 – 4:30, Intergenerational Center. Save the date, ticket info coming soon- $10 for a locally grown lunch.