How To Keep Ჹɲʻ Better-Fed, According To Food-Security Advocates
Communities and government need to collaborate better, and disasters laid the problems bare, summit attendees told.
Even in the best of times, Ჹɲʻ isnʻt doing a good enough job of feeding itself, with 30% of households statewide experiencing food insecurity.
And disasters such as the 2023 Maui wildfires magnify the lack of collaboration between community groups and government agencies.
Addressing the underlying issues will require a lot of work, state food system planner Amanda Shaw told attendees at the Ჹɲʻ Food Systems Summit on Tuesday during a three-day event at the University of Ჹɲʻ West Oʻahu.
Shaw is leading efforts to create an Interagency Food Systems Plan to address food-security problems.
A new Sustainable Food Systems Working Group created by the Legislature last session solicited input from the community organizations and advocacy groups that joined the summit, which focused on gaps in Ჹɲʻ’s food system and eliminating hunger.
The Ჹɲʻ Food Bank in May released a painting a grim picture of Ჹɲʻʻs food reality, including the statistic that one-third of households are food-insecure. It also showed more than 40% of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders face food-security issues and one in 10 households go a whole day without food at least once a month. The 2023 Maui fires left 49% of affected households without a secure food supply.
The working group has been charged with finding ways to design and construct a more sustainable and equitable food system.
The dozen state officials and food systems experts in the group, created by , has a lot of work to do before it can publish a comprehensive plan, Shaw said, including gathering input from the public.
Various organizations identified issues in agriculture and food systems, such as biosecurity, agricultural data collection and land and water access.
The state has long held goals of increasing the local food supply. In 2010, then-Gov. Neil Abercrombie announced Hawaii would by 2030, and his successor, Gov. David Ige, .
The new working group is currently funded privately, but Shaw said she hopes the state will pony up during the next legislative session.
“I think this is really the first foray; it’s not the full shebang,” Shaw said after her presentation. “It does bring together really key players, so we think it’s really key.”
The group intends to address 10 factors to create a more sustainable and equitable food system, including resilience, sustainability, workforce development and disaster preparedness. It will ultimately provide a plan to the Legislature with policy recommendations and cost-benefit analyses.
Shaw, who is also Oʻahu Resource Conservation and Development Council’s food systems director, said a report will be released within the next few months.
Preparing For Disaster During Blue Skies
Disaster preparation was a top of mind at the summit, including problems that arose in the aftermath of the 2023 Maui wildfires, which displaced thousands of residents.
The Maui community initially bore the burden of feeding its displaced residents without much government help, largely due to a lack of planning and communication among the community and government agencies at county, state and federal levels, founder Jennifer Karaca said.
Karaca presented a Maui Emergency Feeding Taskforce on efforts following the wildfires, a group of several community organizations, including Karaca’s.
“It was a hard task to frame this without pointing fingers during this process,” Karaca said. “I think all of us expect that there are systems in place and safety nets for when things like this happen.”
That wasn’t the case, illustrating the huge scope of work to prepare for future disasters.
Better collaboration is needed “to really support food production in times of blue skies because that’s what prepares them at times of disaster,” Karaca said.
A Triple Win By Doubling Up
Advocacy groups have often pointed to grants for initiatives that improve Ჹɲʻ’s food security, though the state has often missed opportunities.
But in a recent win for Ჹɲʻ, the state was able to increase a $1.5 million investment to more than $8.4 million in U.S. Department of Agriculture funding for the local feeding and farming Double Up Bucks program.
Known as Da Bux, the program doubles the spending power for Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) beneficiaries when they purchase locally grown or produced food.
Jesse Cooke, vice president of investments and analytics at , considers the program a prime example of how local and state investments can leverage federal funding.
Advocacy groups like Ulupono have called the program that started in 2017 a “triple win” because it benefits farmers, reduces hunger and helps the local economy.
That is all the more important for SNAP beneficiaries, who have faced the double whammy of an average 25% increase in food prices since the start of the pandemic and a drop in Covid-related funding boosts for SNAP and other food assistance programs. On average that funding for Ჹɲʻ dropped from $81 million per month to $61 million, Cooke said.
“Hawaii Grown” is funded in part by grants from the Stupski Foundation, Ulupono Fund at the Hawaii Community Foundation and the Frost Family Foundation.
