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Conditions have changed; farmers’ needs
and consumers’ preferences have changed. The land abides,
but for how long? Maui County Farm Bureau managed to pull
a few of our leading young farmers off their lands for a frank
group portrait while discussing a future for Maui built around
thriving communities and increasing local food production.
The discussion is familiar to most of us. What is new is the
farmers’ hands- on, innovative approach. Please join
their activities: Buy from your local (young) farmers and
get to know them, because a sustainable Maui grows on Maui
farms.
Over the next few months the Maui County Farm Bureau will
take a closer look at agriculture by sharing the work and
vision of Maui‘s next generation of agricultural leaders.
All are 40 years and under. Majority are farmers, the others
represent the critical allied partners who, in their own ways,
support and move agriculture forward. They are educators,
chefs, buyers, cultural practitioners, and plant preservationists.
Combined it?s they are a powerful force. They work hard everyday,
365 days of the year.
Introducing,
first row, from left to right, Walter Evonuk, Evonuk Farms
LLC;
Tommy Watanabe, Watanabe Processing LLC;
Rick Volner, Jr., Hawaiian Commercial &
Sugar Company; Bryan Otani, Otani Farm; Pomai
Weigert, Ali‘i Kula Lavender; Mike
Abreu, Jr., Haleakalä Ranch Company; Darren
Strand, Maui Land & Pineapple Company; Hokuao
Pellegrino, kalo farmer & cultural and educational
coordinator for Noho‘ana Farm in Waikapü; Lynn
De Coite, L&R Farm on Moloka‘i; Claire
Sullivan, Whole Foods Market; Tom Mason,
4-H/Youth Development Agent for the University of Hawaii‘s
College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources - Maui
Cooperative Extension; Derrick Kai Thielk,
Monsanto Hawai‘i.
Back
row, left to right, Jawna Lono Kaina, Na
Pua ‘Ohana; Heidi Watanabe, Watanabe
Processing LLC; Chef Ryan Luckey, Pineapple
Grill at Kapalua Resort, and Chauncy Monden,
Kula Country Farms. Missing from photo - Kamaui Aiona, executive
director, Kahanu Gardens.
Our
sincerest aloha and mahalo to Haleakala Ranch for allowing
us to shoot, on location in Makawao. |
