Corteva in Hawaii has been assisting small farmers and fostering opportunities for farmer development for several years. We implemented a successful partnership with the University of Hawai‘i’s GoFarm incubator program at our Waialua location, where Corteva donated 30 acres of ag land to help incubate new farmers in the state. Some graduates of this program are now leasing lands from Corteva and launching successful agricultural businesses supporting successful initiatives like Farm to School. With that success, we were interested in duplicating this model in Kekaha, Kaua‘i. The goal was to find potential small farmers with a desire to expand into future leases with state-managed parcels in Kekaha, but do not yet meet the minimum requirements to do so.
Starting off as a new farmer can be daunting: you need to show farmgate profits for multiple years, complete a farm business plan and conservation plans to access farmland. As we recognized this barrier for new farmers, we engaged with community stakeholders, legislators, and farmers on Kaua‘i and responded to the critical need for more locally produced food for schools, hospitals and prisons.
Hawai‘i imports over 90% of our produce, and any efforts to reduce this gap and increase the number of farmers in Hawai‘i are extremely impactful. After navigating the complexities of setting up a farmer incubator program, we identified a 35-acre parcel on the west side of Kaua‘i that will be used to train up-and-coming farmers. We identified two farmer groups to participate in the program: Kaua‘i Taro Company to grow wetland taro and Andros Engineering that would produce onions and other vegetable crops for our local needs.
Ironically the state currently imports the majority of taro from Asia for local use. Taro was last grown historically in Kekaha back in the 1860s and these first plantings mark an important return of this crop after 160 years. Mike Faye, executive director of the Kehaha Agriculture Association, took a special interest in the project saying, “My grandfather lived on the same parcel of land where the new taro lo‘i (paddys) are being planted. This project would have made him very happy.”
Our agreement with the farmers was simple: Corteva provides the land, water and technical assistance to get these farmers to profitability as quickly as possible, and provides this support until they meet the minimum state requirements to access more land to expand on their own. In return, the farmers direct some of their food production toward Farm-to-School and Farm-to-State initiatives. This partnership is a win-win for new farmers, local food production for schools and other institutions, and for Corteva. With our new 2030 sustainability goals, being in it for farmers becomes even more essential. We can hardly wait to see how this project evolves and is modeled by other groups in Hawai‘i to improve our state’s agricultural system.
