Oʻahu-North Shore Chapter

HFUU 2016 colored w microns

Monthly Meetings

Our meetings are consciously designed as a four-part series to: 1) provide fun learning opportunities with our agriculture extension agents; 2) promote inspiration and business/marketing support and opportunities through guest speakers and connection to resources; 3) organize our ag community around collective projects; and 4) foster social and working relationships that grow our farms, businesses and overall sense of community.

Meeting Schedule: Varies

Meeting Time: Varies

Meeting Location: We rotate our meeting location to various host farms and local food establishments to foster exposure and relationships. Please join our newsletter and social media to receive our meeting notices.

Come support local agriculture by meeting farmers, community leaders, special guest speakers, at our monthly meetings. Bring a dish to contribute to our delicious potluck dinners. This is a family friendly event and is open to all kinds of farm lovers and supporters.

Mission

The mission of our chapter is to cultivate working relationships and opportunities between our NS farmers and markets and support local initiatives that are shaping the future of agriculture in our North Shore community. As part of this mission, a large focus of our work is serving as the action arm for the North Shore Community Land Trust Food Summit.

About North Shore Chapter: 

In 2019, our HFUU-North Shore Chapter historically elected an all-woman board. As the HFUU chapter for the North Shore of Oʻahu, we are fortunate to contribute to a community with a rich agriculture heritage and during an important time in which we move out of the plantation era and towards more small, diversified farms on the North Shore.

Our membership consists of a diverse representation of committed farmers, fishermen, resource managers, systems planners, value-added processors, chefs, business owners, educators, and grant writers. We work closely with the UH College of Agriculture students, CTHAR Agriculture Extension Agents, and the Go Farm program.

As an "All Women Board" we focus on the many ways growing food in our community nourish our families and greater community. This focus is reflected in our chapter projects and subcommittees (add link). Many of these projects strengthen connections between our farms and businesses, health & wellness community and identify opportunities to support the next generation in shaping the identity of agriculture.

There are many community-organized initiatives contributing to our growing local food movement on the North Shore. Our chapter is fortunate to steward some of these initiatives which include: North Shore Community Land Trust Food Summits, Kokua Foundation 'Aina Is Program (see our resources page).

Accomplishments

  • Organize farmer appreciation dinners at Loko I'a Fishpond and Mohala Farms
  • Partnered with Mohala Farms to host a Family Harvest Hour
  • Local broadcast with our HFUU All-Women Board and NS farmers with 808 Video (update)
  • Provide stipends and exposure for our NS farms and local chefs by hosting our monthly meetings at these establishments
  • Developed a project portfolio from the NSCLT Food Summit and a growing "farmers wish list" from our monthly meeting feedback
  • Helped facilitate a farmer-tended garden demo site for the Farm to Barn Cafe by linking the business owner and farmers
  • Secured shared office space through a close partnership with North Shore Community Land Trust
  • Planning retreat with HACBED
  • Workshop on designing effective & intentional meetings
  • Establish Farm to Barn as a future site for other UH ag extension agents and Go Farm program events
  • Drafted a survey to identify needs and opportunities for our NS farms, island-wide distributor services and local markets

Board of Directors

President, India Clark - 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.

Vice President, Danielle Marriott, A lifelong nature enthusiast and sustainability advocate, Danielle has extensive experience across multiple industries. She has worked as an Event Coordinator in the wedding and surf industry for over 10 years, pushing for more sustainable business practices to be introduced and maintained. Serving as the Program Manager for Community Compost Movement, she helped create and operate a residential food scrap pick up service for the entire two years of the pilot program's run. This included hosting volunteer days and workshops, community outreach, education, team management, and more. Other projects she has been involved with include Permablitz, Surfrider's Ocean Friendly Garden Program, the Kaka'ako Community Garden, Full Cycle Takeout (a reusable takeout container program on the North Shore of Oahu), more recently Zero Waste Oahu's Oahu Composting Project, and more. Throughout her involvement in these projects, she has been inspired to work more in depth on compost policy and networking among the Zero Waste community, with hopes of facilitating a robust composting infrastructure across Hawaii. It is her goal to connect all existing stakeholders: non-profits, community members, local businesses, and policymakers- so that together we can transform the outdated waste management practices currently in place. 

Head of Value-Added Committee, Brynn Foster, is the Founder of Voyaging Foods, a bakehouse & miller of canoe-plant flour based food products. Named 2019 "Island Innovator of the Year" (voted by Hawaii Venture Capital Association). Raised in California, graduated from Pepperdine University, Brynn moved to the islands to be closer to her heritage. She grows canoe-plants on their family's 7-acre homestead with her children to combine her passion for indigenous knowledge, her Hawaiian heritage and food sovereignty.

Member Benefits:

When you join HFUU you are becoming a member of National Farmers Union which began in 1902 as an advocate for the family farmer, predating trade unions (which HFUU is not). We are advocates of agricultural education, legislation, & cooperation. North Shore Oahu is a chapter of the Hawaii Farmers Union United which is a chapter of NFU.

Hawai‘i Farmers Union United is affiliated with the National Farmers Union and is recognized and respected as a voice for farmers, ranchers, and fishermen throughout the Hawai‘ian Islands.

Hawai‘i Farmers Union United empowers its members to earn a prosperous living through regenerative stewardship of our lands, waters and communities.

We assert that a multitude of smallholder diversified family farms that implement regenerative techniques in growing and raising our food will create a resilient, vital and productive agricultural system to better feed Hawai‘i’s people.

List of Discounts available to card carrying members (links to state HFUUHI.org website)

Resources

We focus on the many ways we grow food in our community, to nourish our families and the greater community.

Farmers

  • Training - Go Farm Program & Upcoming Workshops (see calendar)
  • Social Media & Marketing Services

Buyers

  • Farm Link Hawaii
  • NS Economic Vitality Partnership

Buy Local

  • Farms (list of farms and associated links coming soon)
  • Farmers Markets
  • CSAs
  • Distributor- Farm Link Hawaii
  • Grocery Stores
  • Chefs
  • Nutritionalist