Leadership
Meet the people who have dedicated themselves to the cause of a vibrant local economy fueled by nutritionally dense food grown locally via regenerative farming practices. Our Board of Directors follows the policy provisions, drafted and ratified at each year’s annual convention, to ensure our efforts are aligned with our mission statement and meet the evolving needs of our growing membership. Our board currently meets once a month via teleconference and twice per year in person.
The best way to add your voice in support of our advocacy and educational outreach is to become a member. Whether a farmer, gardener or just someone who values locally produced food, your membership makes a difference to our legislative endeavors and our grantors who fund our educational outreach. For more information please contact us at hfuu@hfuu.org.
2024 Executive Board
President
Lahaina Chapter
Kaipo and his wife, Rachel Kapu, have four children and are lineal descendants to Maui. He is passionate towards his Heritage and Culture and has studied under the tutelage of olohe/ali'i Ke'eaumoku Kapu for the past 16-years in the tradition's and religious rites of Hawai'i. Kaipo has donated his services to the Kai'apuni 'O Lahaina Hawaiian immersion school programs, grades K thru 5 for the past 7 years, and now grades 9 thru 11 in the facilitation of their agricultural education programs. Kaipo strongly believes in the importance of generational knowledge to ensure a healthy thriving and a functional society and environment.
Vice President
Kaua‘i Chapter
Anny Bruch is an international development professional with 25 years of experience with agricultural and community development projects in the Americas. Her expertise in evaluation, NGO management and training has served many organizations. Anny has a farm on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai, serves as Vice President for HFUU & HFUF (Hawaii Farmers Union Foundation), and is certified in KNF (Korean Natural Farming).
Secretary
Hawai‘i: Kona Chapter
V.P. & co-owner of Adaptations, Inc., a regional food hub in Kealakekua. Maureen oversees the consolidation of the harvests from about 75 Hawai'i island family farms and distributes the produce to more than 65 restaurants, 6 local processors, 15 natural food stores and 375 families through their CSA, Fresh Feast. Maureen lives with her husband Tane in Honaunau on their 7-acre diversified, certified organic, farm.
Treasurer
Maui: Haleakala Chapter
Previous Haleakalā Chapter President, Reba along with her partner Devin Lopez, owns and operates Birds With Arms Farms, a third generation tropical fruit farm, focused on mangosteen, spanning 25 acres in Ha‘ikū, HI. She also represents Hawaii in the Beginning Farmer Institute class of 2018 through the National Farmer's Union. Reba and Devin run a booth at the local farmers market selling fresh pressed sugarcane juice and raw hearts of palm as well as sprouts and any other produce in season. You can find her on Instagram @farmerreba or on Facebook at Birds With Arms Farms and read her blog on the website birdswitharmsfarms.com.
Farm manager and long-term community member of Kahumana Organic Farms. Christian was raised in Wai’anae and feels a deep connection and commitment to supporting the Wai’anae Coast. After graduating in 2012 from the University of Puget Sound, Christian returned home to Wai’anae and has been an active farmer and supporter of the community ever since.
Executive Board Member
Hawai'i: Ka'u Chapter President
Andrea was born and raised in Mexico and moved to Canada in 2016 to learn English by working with kids. She is a graduated engineer who now enjoys growing Mamaki in Ka'u with her husband and 5 dogs. She never thought Hawaii would adopt her and can't think of any other place where she would rather be. "I am so lucky the 'aina provides us with so much, so grateful to work with amazing people and my husband Matt who thought me what I know about plants and how to help them grow. He showed me a more sustainable and healthier way of life; I never imagined to be growing my own vegetables; there is not a better feeling than harvesting what you eat."
Chapter Presidents
Rufina Kaauwai
Molokai President
Rufina, her husband Wayne and 4 children were all born and raised on Moloka’i. She grew up a homesteader, when farming wasn’t a job, but a way of life. Her ancestors the Makaiwi ohana came from Waikapu, Maui where they were known for their ability to live off of the land, and became the pioneers of the first Hawaiian homesteads in Ho’olehua, Moloka’i. She is a small business owner and lives on a one acre homestead in Ho’olehua where her goal is to create a sustainable homestead/food forest/farm to increase her family’s food security and provide other economic opportunities. She then hopes to inspire other families to do the same. Read more...
Dr. Ted Radovich
O'ahu: Waimanalo President
Dr. Ted Radovich is an Extension Specialist and Professor in the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM). Born and raised in Waimānalo, Ted received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. from UHM, and his Ph.D. from the Ohio State University. Dr. Radovich’s research, teaching and extension activities focus on enhancing food security and self-sufficiency in Hawai'i and other tropical areas by optimizing crop yield and quality with regenerative agricultural practices. He co-founded and leads the Sustainable and Organic Agriculture Program at UHM.
Fawn Helekahi-Burns
Maui: Hana President
Fawn is a talented musician, farmer, and Director for UHMC Hāna Education Center. Her farm Koali Kine began in 2004 on her family's land, and provides fresh fruit, plants and flowers to the Hāna community every Friday at the farmers market. Koali Kine is a 7th generation family-owned and operated farm in the district of Koali. Located on family lands passed down from King Kamehameha III, Fawn Helekahi and Paulo Burns ‘ohana work together to share their farm fresh produce and products with the Hāna community each week at the market.
Kaiea Medeiros
Maui: Mauna Kahalawai President
Kaiea is a regenerative practitioner and farmer born and raised in Pukalani, Maui, Hawaiʻi. Currently he is the co-owner and executive manager of Kalonize, LLC which is a regenerative organization that strives to create and manage systems in education, economics, leadership and personal/professional development. Furthermore, he is the Regenerative Operations and Training Coordinator for Hawaii Taro Farm located in Waikapū, Maui, Hawaii. He trains, develops, and educates farmers on various topics such as regenerative practices, regenerative farming, organizational values, missions, and visions.
India Clark
O'ahu: North Shore President
Since graduating in 2007 from UH with her Masters in Urban and Regional Planning at UH, India has enjoyed working on resource management and resilience planning, policy, training, and outreach efforts with the University, the NOAA Pacific Services Center, the Olohana Foundation and other community stewardship groups and agriculture organizations. She is actively working with Oahu RC&D to support the growth of the Women Farmers Network (WFN) and farmer-to-farmer learning around soil health and farm business viability practices. In addition to serving as a consultant for local agriculture organizations and businesses across the islands, she is also a recent operator of a 5 acre regenerative farm and nursery in Kawaihāpai Ahupua’a on Oahu's North Shore.
Natalie Urminska
Kauai President
Born and raised on Kaua'i. She grew up immersed in family gardens, from bonsai pots in kekaha to jaboticaba roots in keapana. Always learning. She is ten years into her moloa'a four acre farm, Star to Root.
Vincent Kimura
O‘ahu: Honolulu President
Vincent is Founder and CEO of Smart Yields. Vincent traces his farming roots back to his grandfather, who first moved to Kauai from Japan to work the sugarcane fields. Born in Honolulu and raised in Asia, Vincent has worked for more than 15 years as an entrepreneur, running three startups. He holds a master’s degree in Global Management from Thunderbird School of Global Management, has studied at Beijing Foreign Studies University, and earned his bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science from Oregon State University.
Negus Manna
Lāna’i President
Negus Manna, a farmer on Lāna’i, is known simply as Manna (Mana). He has been continuously studying agriculture in the Hawaiian Islands and has several years of growing experience within Maui, Oahu, and Lāna’i.
Manna is a graduate of the 2021 Farming Apprentice Mentorship (FAM) program spearheaded by the Hawaii Farmers Union United (HFUU) with a focus on regenerative and organic farming. Before that, he earned a degree from the University of Hawaii-Manoa campus in Interdisciplinary Sustainability Studies with a focus on environmental sciences and policy.
Manna is interested in being a catalyst for positive change in Hawaii’s food system by supporting our local farmers with unique and emancipated concepts that benefit our community's future developments.
Mason Scharer
Maui: Haleakalā President
Mason moved to Maui in 2015 as a work-trader on a small organic farm on the Northshore in between semesters finishing college at University of California, Santa Cruz. After graduating UCSC with bachelor degrees in biochemistry and art, he was hired as the farm manager at the same farm he kept returning to and have been farming ever since. Throughout his seven years on Maui he has had the pleasure of managing a handful of farm, garden and nursery projects. He also helped for a year in the conservation efforts on the island of Kahoolawe with the KIRC for invasive species control and native forest restoration. He is currently the farm manager of the Maui Tea Farm in upper Kula growing both Camellia sinensis and Mamaki.
Odysseus Yacalis
Hawai’i Island: East Hawaii President
In Odysseus's role as Director of Social Responsibility for the Daily Wellness Company, Odysseus has spent the last five years as a community liason advocating for the Hamakua community and actively engaging in community service projects. His primary focus has been on engaging with farmers in an effort to understand the obstacles, challenges and successes in building food security systems, and connecting them with viable solutions in an effort to accelerate the transformation of the Big Island agricultural landscape from chemical to regenerative practices.
Clarence (Cab) Baber
Hawai’i Island: Kohala President
Cab has been practicing regenerative farming in Hawaii for 40+ years. He co-founded the Hawaii Hemp Council in 1992 and the Hawaii Organic Farming Association and had the first CSA on the island in the early 1990s, which fed 50 families. Cab was the first regenerative farmer in the Waimea Lalamilo farm lots, operating the largest organic tomato operation in the state. He’s been a pioneer in the modern use of microorganisms and fermentations in regenerative agriculture, making a soil probiotic, Bokashi, for 25+ years. Cab has enjoyed mentoring dozens of young farmers over the decades and his Kohala farm was awarded the first hemp license in the state, integrating poly cropping of food into the hemp crops. He’s a passionate believer in food sovereignty and, whenever possible, encourages people to grow their own food and is a founding board member of the Kohala Chapter of the Hawaii Farmers Union United.
Committee Chairs
Hunter Heaivilin
Government Relations Representative
Growing up in Hawaii, Hunter forged a strong connection with natural world that led to his studies in tropical forest ecosystem and agroforestry management (A.S.), sustainable community development (B.A.) urban planning (M.A.) and disaster management.
He has been a leader in the permaculture movement in Hawaii, and is a Director of three local non-profit organizations: the Oahu Farm to School Network, Urban Farm Hawaii, and the Asia-Pacific Center for Regenerative Design.
In these and other roles he has designed for projects ranging from homeless shelter to homesteads, and led coursework and community development programming from Vanuatu to Haiti. His work facilitating program design and development has drawn upon his training as an urban planner and wide experience around the Hawaiian islands and internationally.
David Fisher
Business Strategy Chair
Getting “hands on” developing a small diversified backyard garden in Huelo. 27 years experience on Maui helping small businesses. Taught Regenerative Business Development webinar series in 2017. Working on an enterprise accelerator for the “slow” movement – working name: Hawaii Community Exchange. Much traveled youth via a Foreign Service family, played bass in the Maui Highlife Band. Husband & father.
Eva Lee
Tea Committee Chair
A tea grower advocating Hawaii's first generation tea culture for statewide industry. She is co-founder of Tea Hawaii & Company headquartered in Volcano Village on Hawaii Island working with a collective of tea growers in all aspects of production involving propagation, harvesting, estate management and processing. As tea specialist Lee has written articles on Hawaii grown tea for different organizations.
Saleh Azizi, PhD
Policy & Legislative Chair
Saleh Azizi is a farmer, earned his PhD at UH Manoa, and works at Kahumana Organic Farms with the farm hub. He is passionate about listening to family farmers trials and tribulations and grassroots advocacy. Saleh was born and grew up in Sweden with Persian ethnicity and has lived in Hawaii since 2006.
Get Involved!
The best way to add your voice to our efforts to promote regenerative farming practices is by becoming a member. Interested in getting more involved? Join a committee, or the board of your local chapter. For more information about how you might get involved, contact the HFUU communications chair; hfuu@hfuu.org.