The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awarded $1.9 million in federal funding to programs at the University of Hawaiʻi (UH) at Manoa and the University of Hawaiʻi Maui College.

The funding will provide financial support for the two institutions to carry out education, applied research, and community development programs within a broadly defined arena of food and agricultural sciences-related disciplines.

The projects at UH Manoa include GoFarm Hawaiʻi and Hawaii-One-Ag. GoFarm Hawaii is a statewide beginning farmer training program aiming to help enhance Hawaii’s food security and local economy by reducing dependence on imported food and increasing the number of sustainable, local agricultural producers. Hawaii-One-Ag creates and provides a number of diverse educational opportunities, and engages with high school and college students, as well as agricultural workers who want to develop their professional and technical skills.

The UH Maui College program, Ike Kupuna: Integrating Traditional Knowledge into Natural Resource Sciences, combines modern and traditional methods in order to effectively manage Maui’s natural resources and increase participation amongst the Native Hawaiian community.