HFUU Speaker Series

Doug Fine is a comedic investigative journalist, bestselling author, and solar-powered goat herder. His latest book, American Hemp Farmer, is nominated for the Santa Fe Reporter’s 2021 Book of the Year award, and helped announce the arrival of the regenerative farming renaissance. His focus for the past 15 years has been regenerative living for regular…

Benjamin Lillibridge is found (& funguy) of Hawaii-based fung-tional superfood company, Malama Mushrooms, and a co-founder of the Hawaii Fungi Project, a non-profit citizen-science driven initiative dedicated to learning & preserving information on the rare mushrooms of Hawai’i. With humble origins starting back in 2015 on a small farm in Kona, Malama is now a…

Dr. Drake Weinert loves giving folks practical solutions and pointing out tiny secrets that make life easier. He can’t help it that the microbes he stores in his beard shed on everyone he comes into contact with, often infecting them to become more aware of how easy it is to live in balance with nature.…

Gail Bryne Baber has been instrumental in passing hemp legislation in Hawaii for the last 7 years and secured the first license to grow hemp with her farmer husband. She is on the Hawaii Hemp Farmers Association Board of Directors as well as HFUF. Gail is intimately familiar with the unique programmatic and regulatory opportunities…

Charles Tresidder is a self-taught mushroom farmer on the island of Maui. He specializes in the production of oyster and shiitake mushrooms. The crowning achievement of his farming career is his custom laboratory, the finest mushroom production facility in the state of Hawaii. Irene Antonets is a designer, artist and illustrator. In autumn of 2019…

Pre-Convention Webinar #3: Agronomist Bob Shaffer Bob Shaffer is a farmer on Hawaii Island that has provided regenerative agronomy services to clients in tropical and temperate ecosystems since 1992. Having been taught to compost in gardens at an early age, he became a lifetime advocate for developing the capacity to produce high quality food with…

Hemp Panel #1 ~ Moderated by Elizzy Knight – Hemp Beyond CBD Elizabeth ‘Elizzy’ Knight is the VP and co-founder of WAFBA (We Are for Better Alternatives). WAFBA is an umbrella of brands, conceived to co-create an industry built on transparency, authenticity, innovation, diversity, collaboration, and cooperation. WAFBA is a globally established and recognized organization…

Pre-Convention Webinar #1: Hernan Castro with Desert Alchemist | Mushroom Mondays Hernan Castro is the alchemist behind Desert Alchemist – a Tucson, Arizona based company that makes mushroom extracts along with all sorts of other mushroom based products. Castro founded Desert Alchemist in 2017 after learning about the medicinal benefits of mushrooms in order to…

We are pleased to announce that for our 27thMusic & Speaker Series event we have Ulu EXPERT Anissa Lucero of Hawaii Ulu Coopeartive, with music by the amazing Ydine Sandberg.  Anissa Lucero has over 11 years experience in agriculture on Hawaiʻi Island and has been with Hawaiʻi ʻUlu Co-op since itsʻ inception in 2016 playing an integral role at the…

We are pleased to announce that for our 26th Music & Speaker Series event we have ‘All Things Haloa’ featuring two cultural leaders: Bobby Pahia of Hawai’i Taro Farm and Kawewehi Pundyke of Loiloa in I’ao Valley. Bobby Pahia is the farm manager of Hawaii Taro Farm. The farm supplies dozens of restaurants on island with several varieties of kalo and other…