The hawaii good food alliance (hgfa) and hawaii food hub HUI (hfhh) will increase the success and collaboration of twelve food hubs across five hawaiian islands, thereby fostering a growth in local…

The Hawaii Good Food Alliance and Hawaii Food Hub Hui will receive $1,041,424 under a three-year Project Grant from the US Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service through the Regional Food System Partnerships program. The grant aims to increase collaboration, sales and profitability among 12 food hubs across five Hawaiian islands. Key activities include assessing individual hub market areas and development needs, sharing best practices, providing technical assistance for capacity building, and facilitating a resource database. The Alliance will also work with partners to address gaps in the food system supply chain through public-private investments and advocate for institutional buying statewide. Additionally, the grant will support food hub outreach and marketing to grow the number of local farmers and producers benefiting from hub services. The Regional Food System Partnerships program supports developing local and regional food systems through partnerships bringing together public and private resources.

The hawaii good food alliance (hgfa) and hawaii food hub HUI (hfhh) will increase the success and collaboration of twelve food hubs across five hawaiian islands, thereby fostering a growth in local food enterprises and sales, while developing resources and sharing best practices to strengthen hawaii's local food system and supply chain integration. Key partnerships include 12 hawaii food hubs, the university of hawaii college of tropical agriculture, hawaii investment ready, city & county of honolulu, hawaii department of education's child nutrition program, hawaii pacific health system, other food systems stakeholders. This project aims to increase food hubs' sales and profitability by: (1) increasing collaboration amongst food hubs, including assessment of individual hub market areas and development needs within the statewide landscape. PDS will share best practices, deliver technical assistance, provide coordination and leadership to the food hubs, and facilitate the development OFA resource database for shared information and capacity building; (2) leveraging public-private partnerships to further food hub development to address the processing, storage, and transportation gaps in the food system supply chain through public-private partnership investments. This will include investing in supply purchases to meet expansion needs, advocating for institutional buying statewide, and identifying public and private sector funding sources to provide future capital investments to food hubs; (3) growing the number of local farmers/producers benefiting from hawaii food hubs by supporting the hubs with staff time for producer outreach and on-boarding, along with marketing funds to build the demand for local food in their regions.