Transforming Hawaii's Food System Together held its second annual Food Systems Summit last week from Dec. 14-15.
The summit, which took place at the University of Hawaii at West Oahu in Kapolei, brought together food system experts, elected officials and community organizers to unite behind policy issues related to the state's food and agriculture system.
This week, THFST announced its top four priorities for lawmakers for the upcoming year: 1) expanding farm-to-school programs; 2) supporting Indigenous and traditional knowledge and practices in agriculture; 3) increasing food system resilience and disaster preparedness and 4) securing permanent legislative funding for DA BUX Double Up Food Bucks, a supplemental SNAP benefit that makes locally grown fruits and vegetables more affordable to low-income families, according to representatives of the summit.
The four policy issues were decided based on the ranking by summit participants of 30 policy interest areas.
“Those of us here at the Hawaii Food System Summit are increasingly a social movement to be reckoned with,” said Mahina Paishon-Duarte, summit organizer and THFST core team member, in a written statement.
The summit brought together more than 150 people, including leaders of the Hawaii Public Health Institute and the University of Hawaii at West Oahu's Sustainable Community Food Systems program, as well as elected officials such as state Sen. Mike Gabbard, Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz, Rep. Cedric Asuega Gates and U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda.
Dexter Kishida, deputy to the chairperson of the Hawaii Department of Agriculture, was a featured speaker. During the event, he announced the HDOA's intention to join the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development in reintroducing a revised state-level food system planning bill based on HB 308 from 2023.
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