North Kohala Food Forum

Written by Andrea Dean.

North Kohala

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Andrea Dean co-facilitates the North Kohala Food Forum, which took place in Kapa'au on Saturday, August 22, 2009

How does a community move towards producing 50% of its own food? This past Saturday, about 200 North Kohala residents came together at the North Kohala Food Forum in Kapa'au to find out. The North Kohala Food Forum began by surveying about 70 people in the food community in the following categories: food retailers, commercial food growers, commercial and institutional buyers, government-planning-education, and infrastructure managers. The survey results formed the basis for Saturday's event.

In the morning session, the facilitators, Bob Martin of the North Kohala Community Resource Center, Andrea Dean, Green Business Coach, Forrest Arnold of Sustainable Kohala, and Guy Kaulukukui of the Kohala Center, focused on "defining the gap"—the reasons that North Kohala does not supply more of the food the community consumes.

Some key survey findings on the commercial production side are:

On the consumption side of the equation:

Overall, the North Kohala Food Forum survey data points to the conclusion that localfood represents only 2-4% of all food consumed in North Kohala, compared withour goal of 50%. As facilitator Bob Martin pointed out, "Houston, we have a problem!"

A highlight of the day was the extraordinary local-food-only lunch, organized by Steering Committee member Karen Rosen. Local vegetables, fruit and meat wereserved in about twenty separate, wildly colorful entrees for participants tochoose from.

Andrea Dean facilitated the afternoon session which focused on identifying collaborations and potential partnerships. Over a dozen projects and business opportunities emerged from the session. If you live in North Kohala and want toget involved, you can contact the identified point person for the following initiatives:

Learn more, view survey results and presentation slides

The North Kohala Food Forum is a project of the North Kohala Community Resource Center.Funding was provided by: County of Hawaii Department of Research and Development, Ulupono Initiative, Hoea Agricultural Park, Starseed Ranch, and Steering Committee members.

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