December 9 & 10 2024
Hawaiʻi Food System Summit Recap
FOOD IS A FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHT. We have a moral obligation to ensure every Hawaiʻi resident has access to adequate and nutritious food.
The Summit brought together food systems and agriculture professionals, policymakers, community leaders, kūpuna, and youth to strengthen cross-sector partnerships, discuss transformative policies, and drive systemic changes aimed at alleviating household hunger. Mahalo nui to everyone who attended! Your presence and contributions made a significant impact. For those who couldn’t join us this year, we’d still love to stay connected and keep you involved in this vital work.
Summit Toolkit
Slides & Other Resources
Recordings
In the Media
Day 1:
Highlights from Summit Day 1
Day 1 of the summit focused on strategies and solutions to achieve zero hunger and equity in our food system. We heard recorded video remarks from elected officials including United States Representative Jill Tokuda, Governor Josh Green, Governor Josh Green, First Lady Jaime Kanani Green, and Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke. We also learned from Amy Miller, CEO of Hawaiʻi Foodbank and Dr. Keaweʻaimoku Kaholokula of UH Mānoa about the state of food insecurity in Hawaiʻi. In the afternoon, we participated in breakout sessions around the topics of food equity and access.
WHEN OUR PEOPLE ARE FOOD INSECURE, WE SUFFER IN MAY DIFFERENT WAYS. Food insecurity negatively impacts our communities’ health outcomes, educational attainment, and economic opportunities.
Day 2:
Highlights from Summit Day 2
Summit Day 2 dove into resilience and opportunities in our food system. We heard from Jennifer Karaca of Common Ground Collective about lessons learned by the Maui Emergency Feeding Taskforce after the 2023 Maui wildfire. We also heard about The Food Basket’s major plans to build Hoʻolako – a Food System Innovation Campus on Hawaiʻi Island – as well as other community-led initiatives to support food and agricultural production, processing, distribution, and local food consumption. We provided input on priority topics and strategies for the Interagency Food Systems Plan being developed by the Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture. Several fascinating panel discussions about food system financing and “Food is Medicine” programs brought us to the end of the day, where we gathered for our collective call-to-action.
COMMUNITY-LED RESILIENCE INITIATIVES ARE UNDERWAY TO STRENGTHEN LOCAL FOOD SYSTEMS. Resiliency in food production and distribution is essential for ensuring our food systems function well during normal times and during disasters.