Honolulu awards $3M in ag grants to Oahu’s small farmers

A new city program will award $3 million in grants to Oahu’s small farmers, ranchers and growers, Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi announced Tuesday.

The Office of Economic Revitalization is awarding 66 grants ranging from $10,000 to $49,000 to those who financially suffered during the pandemic and qualified for the grant, according to a news release. A total of 127 applications were received, city officials said.

“Today we make a major step forward in the city’s strategy for creating a post-pandemic economy where most of the food we eat is grown and prepared by our neighbors,” Blangiardi said at a news conference at MA Farm in Waimanalo.

The grants were originally proposed by Honolulu City Council Vice Chair Esther Kia‘aina as part of a larger initiative to use federal funds to support local agricultural producers.

“To me, food security and sovereignty and economic diversification are not the kuleana of state and federal government, it is the kuleana of all levels of government as well as the community and the private sector,” Kia‘aina said. “I’m hoping that through these grants, we can help kick start more self-sufficiency in regard to food sovereignty and food security.”

Blangiardi said the grants will take steps toward reducing the state’s dependence on imported food, which makes up 85% of the food consumed in Hawaii, and creating more jobs in the agricultural sector.

Bruce Campbell, owner of MA Farm, said the company will use the grant money to triple production within a year by investing in its market garden and Food First Nursery, and hiring new employees.

“Even greater than the value of the money, to be honest, is the fact that the city acknowledges the importance of the small farmer, and that means the world to us,” Campbell said.

The program was also supported by the Oahu Agriculture Conservation Association, which supports farmers and ranchers in navigating regulations and other opportunities, according to Executive Director Amanda Shaw.

Shaw said the OACA helped some applicants apply for these grants and worked with the Pacific Gateway Center to provide translation and interpretation services to the “large percentage” of Oahu farmers who use English as a second language.

The Office of Economic Revitalization and its partners held nine how-to-apply workshops last fall, and applications were offered in English, Cantonese, Hawaiian, Ilocano, Lao, Samoan, Tagalog, Thai and Tongan, according to city officials.

Amy Asselbaye, executive director of the office, said $8 million in American Rescue Plan funds was recently approved to go toward food systems infrastructure on the islands.

The city intends to award up to $2 million in grants to farmers who will build their capacity to get their produce to market, she said. This includes granting farmers the money for food hubs, cold-storage space, food safety instruction and marketing.

“We want to make sure that farmers can sustain themselves and also take care of our land while they’re doing that,” Asselbaye said, “and that they’ll have the infrastructure they need in our county to triple their production but do it in a way that is sustainable, that supports the community who lives around them that they’re also trying to feed and support.”