The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service awarded nearly $1.3 million to four Hawaiʻi projects that will expand and strengthen local food systems, and increase the availability of locally grown agricultural products.

The four recipient organizations include the Olohana Foundation, Common Ground Collective; Hawaiʻi Good Food Alliance; Kokua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services.

The Olohana Foundation on Hawaiʻi Island will collaborate with local fruit producers to create new products, which will be dispersed into the local food system via The Food Basket, Hawaii Island’s food bank, and the Hawaii Farm to Car farmers market. This project aims to increase profits for small farmers and enhance local capacity for aggregation, processing, and distribution of goods for Hawaii Island and beyond.

Maui’s Common Ground Collective (CGC) utilizes field work and research to create food security and economic opportunity for Maui communities.  This award will allow CGC to work to decrease Maui’s reliance on imported goods by enhancing the local food system, support local agricultural producers by providing distribution assistance to new local growers, and expand the capacity of local food businesses to contribute to the island’s regional food system and those in need.

Based on Oahu, Hawai’i Good Food Alliance is a diverse group of community leaders who share in the production, aggregation, and distribution of food to rebuild thriving community food systems. The Hawaii Food Hub Hui, in partnership with the Hawaii Good Food Alliance, aims to build individual and collective capacity in Hawaii’s food hubs to ensure maximum sales for small and mid-size local farmers and producers, while enabling equitable access to fresh, healthy local food for communities. The goal of this project is to increase local food sales via Hawaii’s food hubs.

The Roots Food Hub Online project on O’ahu—operated by Kokua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services (KKV)—will create an online sales and marketing application to expand the Hub’s customer base and create new sales opportunities to support local farmers. The Roots Food Hub works with small and micro-producers to create a system that values local, cultural, and sustainable foods, while providing equal access to those foods. Currently, KKV purchases, stores, delivers, and retails goods from local producers.

The funding will be distributed through the Local Food Promotion Program (LFPP), grants which support local and regional food business enterprises that engage as intermediaries in indirect producer to consumer marketing. The awarded projects focus on activities such as supporting the processing, aggregation, distribution, and storage of local and regional food products; developing value-added products; and facilitating regional food chain coordination. LFPP is awarding $31.8 million in fiscal year 2022 funding to 94 projects.