December 8 & 9 2025
Hawaiʻi Food System Summit Recap
More than 180 leaders from government, private sectors, public health, education, and community organizations gathered for the Hawai‘i Food System Summit on December 8 and 9 to explore actionable strategies for building a stronger, more accessible, and disaster-resilient food system.
Held at the Wahiawā Value-Added Product Development Center, the two-day event offered a comprehensive understanding of Hawai‘i’s food system and state-level planning efforts. With the theme, “Food System Resilience and Disaster Preparedness,” panels and showcases highlighted frontline perspectives, including lessons from the Lāhainā wildfires and the O‘ahu Feeding Task Force. Discussions focused on the practical challenges of emergency food distribution, gaps in access, and opportunities to strengthen local production and resilience.
Summit Reflections
This year’s summit focus on disaster preparedness and resilience in Hawaiʻi food and agriculture comes at a critical time, on the heels of federal cuts, uncertainty and ongoing crisis for many in our communities. From a policy perspective, the summit is an important place for us to gather lessons, develop solutions, activate networks and collectively shape the path ahead
The 2025 Hawai‘i Food System Summit highlighted that building a disaster-ready food system is possible, but it requires coordinated action, sustained investment, and shared responsibility. Hawai‘i has the expertise, resources, and community leadership to make it a reality.
Highlights from Summit Day 1
Summit Reflections
“Food system resilience is the capacity to absorb, adapt to, and recover from disruptions while ensuring equitable access to nutritious food. It depends not only on physical assets like storage and supply chains, but also on strong social infrastructure – relationships, networks, institutions, trust, and coordination. The 2025 Food System Summit is designed to help build this essential social infrastructure”
Highlights from Summit Day 2
Summit Reflections
“The Summit has become a place for community leaders and officials to gather and have genuine discussions around the sustainability and thriveability of our island food systems in a way that supports transformation, knowledge sharing and breaking through silos for genuine connections and opportunities to collaborate”