Project Summary
This Center serves Hawaiʻi, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Alaska, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. While not contiguous, these islands and remote areas face similar challenges including, food transport logistics, underdeveloped infrastructure, extreme climate change impacts and legal barriers such as highly regulated shipping requirements and exclusions from regional free trade agreements. The region relies on imports for over 90% of their food supply putting them at extreme risk of supply chain disruptions and high food prices.
The Center Partnership plans to create a central clearinghouse for financial support and value chain development supported by a virtual Community of Practice. It will be organized into three subregions that bridge the distance across the islands and remote areas. Subregions will be led by a Key Partner who has the expertise, relationships and programming capacity and supported by Collaborators to facilitate decision-making, technical assistance, coordination with USDA and the dissemination of the Business Builder awards.
The proposal's work plan concentrates on enhancing local food access and consumption through six key areas of focus:
Production
Aggregation
Value-added processing
Distribution/transportation
Market access/development
Capital acquisition
Activities include expansion and development of farms and food hubs, infrastructure development, increasing value-add processing operations, streamlining mid-tier distribution opportunities, market development and engagement with CDFIs for long term sustainability.
The central objective is to promote local market opportunities in local food production for marginalized farmers by strengthening farms, food hubs and food hub networks like the Hawaiʻi Food Hub Hui (HFHH).
Throughout the Center's duration, partners will play an active role in developing long-term finance and funding strategies. Hawaiʻi Good Food Alliance plans to launch the Hawaiʻi Good Food Fund (HGFF) in 2024. The HGFF will provide technical support, financial access, and business development. It will collaborate with the Center to provide capacity building grants for producers and enterprises involved in the food value chain and ensure sustainable funding opportunities both during and beyond the grant period.
Focus Area 1. Production
Producer networks on each island in the Isolated Island’s Region have been working to stabilize supply and demand since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when relief funding fueled demand for local food, but did little to bolster farm capacity. Production capacity on most farms remains limited by insufficient access to land, capital, labor, on-farm food safety training, and diversified market outlets that suit their scale and situation.
The work plan focuses on supporting producers by improving their access to resources and knowledge. Activities include establishing a virtual Community of Practice, hosting virtual gatherings, providing training services and soil building resources, offering translation services, assisting with business training and grant writing, exploring opportunities for collective buying power and insurance policies, and providing awards for supply chain infrastructure investments. The overall goal is to empower producers, promote sustainability, and enhance their resilience.
Focus Area 2. Aggregation
Compared to the mainland, the islands of the Isolated Islands Region lag significantly in their development of built infrastructure needed to centralize, scale, and distribute regionally grown foods across their islands. While some islands have formally incorporated food hubs, all of the islands have grassroots networks of local producers who work together to scale their reach and coordination. For example, Alaskan producers commonly work together to purchase soil as a way to pool buying power and mitigate shipping costs. Both food hubs and producer networks lack the enabling infrastructure, such as cold storage, that can add efficiency to their processes.
The work plan focuses on improving the food ecosystem and infrastructure on different islands through various activities. This includes commissioning facility and aggregation assessments, developing disaster readiness design guidelines, convening key partners for collaboration and resource allocation, providing support to emerging food hubs and food hub networks, and creating sub-awards and capital access support for supply chain infrastructure. The goal is to enhance preparedness, foster collaboration, and increase the resilience and efficiency of the food system.
Focus Area 3. Value-added processing
Increasing processing capacity in the Isolated Islands is a multifaceted opportunity to build supply and resilience. Value-added processing is an opportunity to 1) mitigate the crop losses due to natural disaster; 2) extend the season and sales opportunity; 3) create new products that serve local and export markets.
The work plan focuses on improving value-added processing, addressing oversupply, and enhancing the capacity of local food manufacturers and producers. It includes activities such as developing joint-processing methods, addressing losses from approaching storms, providing technical assistance for right-sizing operations, and conducting market assessments. The plan aims to improve accessibility to packaging, labeling, branding, and marketing strategies, create case studies applicable to each island's resources, and issue capacity-building awards for equipment purchase for local food manufacturers. Overall, the goal is to enhance processing efficiency, scale-up opportunities, and meet the demand for high-volume local food products.
Focus Area 4. Distribution / transportation
While producers in the mainland US can rely on a vast interstate highway and railroad system to move products to market, island communities do not have the same accessible, affordable, and reliable transportation options. Food and other products rely on barges, boats, and air travel. These modes are disproportionately expensive and depend on a limited supply of highly skilled labor and specialized equipment. They are more susceptible to weather and climate impact, and also subject to esoteric regulations. For example, moving products between the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico require an intervening stop to Miami, FL.
The work plan aims to improve freight transportation for food and farm businesses through coordination, technical assistance, and capacity-building efforts. Key partners will coordinate with food hubs and businesses to negotiate with freight providers and capitalize on economies of scale. In areas without hubs, linkages will be fostered between small and mid-sized producers to improve access to transit providers. The RFBC will publish island-specific resources to provide transparency on freight providers, benchmark prices, and best practices for sea and air-based transportation. Additionally, support will be provided for the purchase of cold-chain transportation infrastructure and the identification of cross-dock opportunities. The overall goal is to enhance coordination, affordability, and accessibility in freight transportation for improved food transportation efficiency.
Focus Area 5. Market development
Food/farm businesses throughout the II Region have unique market opportunities, from reviving traditional and wild foods to supplying their own agricultural inputs, from seeds and compost to seafood hatcheries. As majority importers, they all stand to benefit from developing their agricultural economies around replacing imported food products. For those islands with year-round growing climates, there is also an opportunity to consider which products are best suited for both local consumption and export to the mainland. Food/farm businesses need support in identifying, taking advantage of, and scaling these opportunities.
The work plan aims to identify product opportunities, develop target markets, and support growers in accessing direct marketing and wholesale outlets. Activities include collaboration with indigenous communities, identifying buyer segments, creating training resources for growers, and supporting the development of direct marketing channels. The goal is to preserve ancestral knowledge, create new revenue opportunities, and cultivate sustainable buyer/supplier relationships.
Focus Area 6. Capital Access
Capital access is a critical need among food and farm businesses in the Isolated Islands Region: small farmers across the II Region compete directly with mainland and international businesses and speculators for access to land and assets. They also compete with large companies who enjoy efficiencies in financing, land, and equipment.
The work plan focuses on coordinating and expanding access to financial services for food/farm businesses in the region. CDFIs such as Feed the Hunger and Spruce Root will provide business development services and support throughout the life cycles of these businesses. The plan also involves engaging mission-aligned CDFIs throughout the project to ensure affordable and flexible capital is available for food/farm businesses. The goal is to improve financial literacy, enhance business planning, and provide accessible financial resources for the growth and sustainability of food/farm businesses in the region.