Lead Facilitators: Harmonee Williams and Megan Fox of Hawaiʻi Good Food Alliance

Executive Summary: The Hawaiʻi Good Food Alliance (HGFA) is a state-wide diverse network of community-based food systems practitioners working collectively to rebuild thriving community food systems. Their mission statement: We join together—with a sense of urgency—to raise community voice and support one another in the belief that each and every person in Hawaiʻi can share in healthy, locally produced food. HGFA’s current membership consists of 10 community-based organizations in Hawaiʻi working to rebuild our local food systems by increasing the production, distribution, and consumption of healthy food.

Key Takeaways

Land Use

& Access

  • Regulate and enforce agriculture land use with more accountability
  • Utilize both incentives (for using ag land for active ag) and increased taxes (for not using ag land for  active ag) to modify landowner behavior
  • Increase farmer access to government-owned agricultural lands with long-term leases
  • Increase ability to develop farmworker housing
  • Water management systems require significant attention on all islands, but are even more  pressing given new Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) requirements

Private & Public Investments In Agriculture

  • Funding for various processing facilities including composting and local fertilizer development,  feed development, cold storage/processing/packing, slaughtering, etc.
  • Grant programs for farmers with a much more simplified application process; use a third party  to manage for government if needed to streamline paperwork and provide assistance
  • Financial subsidies for shipping costs; current programs are insufficient and have a high  paperwork burden not always worth the time and effort
  • Workforce programming investments at many levels are needed, including in-school programs,  internship and apprenticeship programs, job matching services, and subsidized workforce  programs for adults