Sustainable Initiatives by Andrea Dean

Tonight I attended the “Listening Session” for the draft County of Hawaii Agriculture Development Plan, aka the “Ag Plan”. The Kohala Center’s Betsy Cole and Guy Kaulukukui presented some of the plan’s action items for public comment. You can still attend the public listening sessions or read it and email your comments.

Is your community interested in local food self-reliance? The North Kohala community came together on August 22nd at the North Kohala Food Forum to discuss how we can supply more of our food from local sources. Check out the North Kohala Food Forum video on You Tube:

On August 22, 2009, the North Kohala community convened the North Kohala Food Forum. The Food Forum focused on the commercial production, distribution and sale of food in the community. The Food Forum looked at consumption from the viewpoint of the local retailers, restaurants, & caterers.


The North Kohala Food Forum recognized that home food production, hunting, fishing and gathering are critical to overall food self-sufficiency in the community. In addition, the Forum recognized that there is a long-standing tradition of the informal sharing of food with one another. However, the measurement and discussion about how this informal economy contributes towards our community goal was beyond the scope of the North Kohala Food Forum. Gathering information on home food production and sharing was just too big a fish to fry.


Now, under the guidance of Guy Kaulukukui, Director of the Kohala Center’s Food Self-Reliance Project, student volunteers from the University of Hawaii-Hilo are conducting a pilot study in North Kohala surveying consumer behavior and preferences with regards to local food.


From the Kohala Center’s Guy Kaulukukui, Director of Food Self-Reliance Project:


North Kohala Consumer Food Survey


What:
Community canvassing to conduct a consumer survey looking at issues related to household consumption and production of food in North Kohala.


When:
On Saturday, October 17, 2009 between the hours of 10:30am and 3:30pm, volunteers will be going door-to-door in North Kohala to conduct the consumer survey.


Where:
North Kohala, focusing on residential areas between Kokoiki and Keokea.


Why:
The survey aims at gaining a better understanding of the North Kohala community’s consumer preferences as it relates to home production and consumption of FOOD. Results of this survey will help guide the North Kohala community in reaching it’s goal of producing 50 percent of the food that it consumes.


How:
Under the guidance of The Kohala Center, student volunteers from the University of Hawaii-Hilo will be distributing surveys to households in North Kohala. Surveys are in print form consisting of approximately 30 questions and should take approximately 10-15 minutes to fill out.


Mahalo in advance for allowing us in your community and for participating in the consumer survey.

In this podcast I interview Guy Kaulukukui, Director of the Kohala Center’s Food Self-Reliance Program.

Guy has been tasked with developing a “critical path” to food self-reliance for Hawaii Island- mapping a strategy for how the island will decrease food imports and the increase consumption of local food. Guy Kaulukukui, who has a Ph.D. in economics education is uniquely suited to this complex task of how to transition from a import economy to a locally-based economy. Guy feels that it is important to increase the demand side of the food equation by reinforcing the message of eating locally produced food as well as working on increasing efficiency on farms to decrease the costs of local produce to the public.


If you are an itunes user, you can subscribe to my podcast through itunes and receive automatic weekly updates. Or you can listen below:

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