SUBHEAD: You are invited to participate in Kauai’s Sustainable Food Solutions Program. More farmers = more farms = more food.
By Glenn Hontz on 22 December 2009 in IslandBreath.org
Image above: Certified organic produce baskets from a Community Sponsored Agriculture Program. From (http://www.whiteonricecouple.com/recipes/video-farmers-market-fresh)
The program is training more farmers to utilize organic alternatives to the old methods of food production that have become detrimental to human health and our environment.
The problem
The United Nations recently announced that our planet’s current food production resources are insufficient to feed the world’s burgeoning population. We are also discovering that our production systems and the food they produce are resulting in a major negative impact on human health and the natural environment.
The food industries are failing to provide truly nutritious products and are frequently accused of compromising their standards of health and safety. Kauai is now importing 90% of its food and is facing increasing costs due to food shortages and rising transportation costs. Our isolated island is being challenged to address its need to achieve food self-sufficiency with locally based methods that can become sustainable for both our current population and future generations.
The Proposed Solution
We must develop new methods of food production that work with nature in ways that produce wholesome food while simultaneously preserving and enriching the environment. That is the goal of the Sustainable Food Solutions Program. The founders are a small group of dedicated individuals who joined forces with the Eloha Foundation to design professional training programs for farmers and home gardeners and to make these training programs available to the entire island via a network of neighborhood sites.
The training focuses on methods of organic food production that improve soil conditions and produce an abundance of healthy crops. Members of the program are experimenting with several methods to increase crop production and quality, including using local materials as soil amendments to increase fertility, saving and preserving seeds for use in producing a diversity of highly successful crops, experimenting with natural systems for insect and disease control, and developing efficient labor saving methods of planting, cultivating and harvesting.
How Realistic is Our Solution
The members of the Sustainable Food Solutions Program are only a small part of a rapidly expanding group of individuals and organizations with a growing commitment to food self -sufficiency. The Program is seeking to provide various forms of support that will foster the successful growth of sustainable systems of food production and distribution.
The group’s intention is to work in cooperation with other like-minded enterprises in developing effective and long-lasting solutions. These solutions will include developing professional training programs for gardeners and farmers, designing food production and distribution systems that foster and share the abundance, assisting in gathering the human, material and financial resources essential for genuine success, and working with appropriate public and private organizations to gather the vast array of participation and support needed. Your participation is encouraged. New ideas are most welcome. You are invited: The ultimate success of this Program calls for a wide spectrum of participation from all sectors of the community.
You can support our goals to achieve self-sufficiency in the following ways: • Help to establish a community garden in your neighborhood • Start a home garden with family and friends • Participate in one of our programs to increase your skills in growing organic food • Contribute land, tools and other needed resources • Make a financial contribution • Encourage friends, neighbors and associates to participate • Buy locally grown food For information regarding ways to participate: If you would like to receive more information or want to learn how to participate more actively, please contact any of the members of the Program listed here. Glenn Hontz hontz@hawaii.edu 246-4859 Arius Hopman ahopman@earthlink.net 335-5616 335-0227 Bernie Tsao bernie.tsao@gmail.com 647-0640 245-9323 Diane Rosenkranz d.rosenkranz@yahoo.com 651-5197 Gary Seals gdevolve@earthlink.net 651-7732 Janee Marie Taylor jtaylor31@hawaii.rr.com 212-1956 Paul Massey paul@regenerationsbotanical.org 652-7898 Robin Mazor robinmazor@hawaii.rr.com 651.0286 To make a financial contribution: The Eloha Foundation is a non-profit agency (similar to United Way) approved by the IRS to receive contributions for public benefit. Your donation will be tax deductable. It will be used to train a new a breed of gardeners and farmers in the conscientious management of food production systems that work in harmony with nature and will provide them with the technical and financial support needed to insure their success. You can support the Sustainable Food Solutions Program with a check payable to Eloha Foundation and mailed to PO Box 1537, Koloa, HI 96756.
By Glenn Hontz on 22 December 2009 in IslandBreath.org
Image above: Certified organic produce baskets from a Community Sponsored Agriculture Program. From (http://www.whiteonricecouple.com/recipes/video-farmers-market-fresh)
The program is training more farmers to utilize organic alternatives to the old methods of food production that have become detrimental to human health and our environment.
The problem
The United Nations recently announced that our planet’s current food production resources are insufficient to feed the world’s burgeoning population. We are also discovering that our production systems and the food they produce are resulting in a major negative impact on human health and the natural environment.
The food industries are failing to provide truly nutritious products and are frequently accused of compromising their standards of health and safety. Kauai is now importing 90% of its food and is facing increasing costs due to food shortages and rising transportation costs. Our isolated island is being challenged to address its need to achieve food self-sufficiency with locally based methods that can become sustainable for both our current population and future generations.
The Proposed Solution
We must develop new methods of food production that work with nature in ways that produce wholesome food while simultaneously preserving and enriching the environment. That is the goal of the Sustainable Food Solutions Program. The founders are a small group of dedicated individuals who joined forces with the Eloha Foundation to design professional training programs for farmers and home gardeners and to make these training programs available to the entire island via a network of neighborhood sites.
The training focuses on methods of organic food production that improve soil conditions and produce an abundance of healthy crops. Members of the program are experimenting with several methods to increase crop production and quality, including using local materials as soil amendments to increase fertility, saving and preserving seeds for use in producing a diversity of highly successful crops, experimenting with natural systems for insect and disease control, and developing efficient labor saving methods of planting, cultivating and harvesting.
How Realistic is Our Solution
The members of the Sustainable Food Solutions Program are only a small part of a rapidly expanding group of individuals and organizations with a growing commitment to food self -sufficiency. The Program is seeking to provide various forms of support that will foster the successful growth of sustainable systems of food production and distribution.
The group’s intention is to work in cooperation with other like-minded enterprises in developing effective and long-lasting solutions. These solutions will include developing professional training programs for gardeners and farmers, designing food production and distribution systems that foster and share the abundance, assisting in gathering the human, material and financial resources essential for genuine success, and working with appropriate public and private organizations to gather the vast array of participation and support needed. Your participation is encouraged. New ideas are most welcome. You are invited: The ultimate success of this Program calls for a wide spectrum of participation from all sectors of the community.
You can support our goals to achieve self-sufficiency in the following ways: • Help to establish a community garden in your neighborhood • Start a home garden with family and friends • Participate in one of our programs to increase your skills in growing organic food • Contribute land, tools and other needed resources • Make a financial contribution • Encourage friends, neighbors and associates to participate • Buy locally grown food For information regarding ways to participate: If you would like to receive more information or want to learn how to participate more actively, please contact any of the members of the Program listed here. Glenn Hontz hontz@hawaii.edu 246-4859 Arius Hopman ahopman@earthlink.net 335-5616 335-0227 Bernie Tsao bernie.tsao@gmail.com 647-0640 245-9323 Diane Rosenkranz d.rosenkranz@yahoo.com 651-5197 Gary Seals gdevolve@earthlink.net 651-7732 Janee Marie Taylor jtaylor31@hawaii.rr.com 212-1956 Paul Massey paul@regenerationsbotanical.org 652-7898 Robin Mazor robinmazor@hawaii.rr.com 651.0286 To make a financial contribution: The Eloha Foundation is a non-profit agency (similar to United Way) approved by the IRS to receive contributions for public benefit. Your donation will be tax deductable. It will be used to train a new a breed of gardeners and farmers in the conscientious management of food production systems that work in harmony with nature and will provide them with the technical and financial support needed to insure their success. You can support the Sustainable Food Solutions Program with a check payable to Eloha Foundation and mailed to PO Box 1537, Koloa, HI 96756.
1 comment :
Thank you, Glenn, and everybody on board with this. So right on!!
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