GoFarm Hawaiʻi at Kauaʻi Community College is about to start farming new crops for its spring/summer 2015 cohort but growing in the field from the previous cohort was a crop of collard greens and kale. Wanting to help others and not let good food go to waste Eric Hansen, the program’s coordinator, arranged a donation of 29 pounds of produce to Mālama Kauaʻi’s Village Harvest program via the Hawaiʻi Food Bank–Kauaʻi Branch.
The Village Harvest Project partners with the Kauaʻi School Garden Network and the Kauaʻi Master Gardening Program headquartered at UH Mānoa’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources.
“I couldn’t find a better way to not waste food and feed people,” said Hansen. “A good farmer does not waste resources. Good farmers are community oriented—after all, farming is about feeding people,” he said.
“This gift of grown food speaks exactly to Kauaʻi CC’s mission of serving the community,” said Helen Cox, Kauaʻi CC chancellor. “And we are thrilled to have GoFarm Hawaiʻi at Kauaʻi CC as it fulfills our goal of promoting farming and farmers who are working to build the Garden Island as a sustainable living community,” she said.
More about GoFarm Hawaiʻi
GoFarm Hawaiʻi commercial farmer training programs, held at Kauaʻi CC, Leeward CC and Windward CC, supports those who are interested in becoming production farmers. The program teaches students essential technical and business fundamentals of successful farming.
With Hawaiʻi importing approximately 85 percent of its food, the program recognizes the need to strengthen food security across the state. Additionally, it is responding to the growing demand for fresh, locally grown food.
For information about GoFarm Hawaiʻi at Kauaʻi CC, read the Kauaʻi CC news release or contact Eric Hansen by email or call (808) 245-0219.
—By Camilla Matsumoto
