Hawaiʻi Farm to School Hui: 2022 Legislative Recap

August 10, 2022
Food & Agriculture, News

A Very Exciting Achievement for Garden and Farm-Based Education in Hawai‘i

Each year, the Hawaiʻi Farm to School Hui identifies legislative policy priorities to help strengthen Hawai‘i’s farm to school movement. Hui members and volunteers are deeply involved in developing and advocating for these policies.

The Hui is thrilled to share that SB2182, a bill to fund a School Garden Coordinator position in the Hawaiʻi Department of Education (HIDOE) Office of Curriculum and Instructional Design (OCID), has passed! Governor David Ige signed the bill into law as Act 258 on July 7, 2022. The Coordinator will help to support high quality educational programming at nearly 200 public schools across Hawai‘i with active gardens!

How Did We Get Here?

In 2015, the Hawai‘i Farm to School Hui led a successful campaign at the Hawai‘i State Legislature to establish a Farm to School Program and Coordinator position within Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture (HDOA). Passage of the “Farm to School Act” (Act 218) in 2015 prompted then-Lieutenant Governor Shan Tsutsui to start meeting with HIDOE representatives to establish their involvement in farm to school programming.

These combined efforts led to the development of the ‘Aina Pono farm to school initiative within HIDOE School Food Services Branch (SFSB). The goals of ‘Aina Pono were to improve school food across the state through increased procurement of locally-grown foods, staff training, and implementations of new, scratch-cooked menus. Successful regional pilots in Kohala and Mililani were conducted over multiple school years.

The Hui continues to advocate for legislation and state funding to expand farm to school efforts. In 2021, the Hui played an active role in advocacy for and final passage of Act 175, which moved the Hawai‘i Farm to School Program from HDOA into HIDOE, a major milestone for the farm to school movement. The five program purposes are to:

Improve student health;
Develop an educated agricultural workforce;
Enrich the local food system through the support and increase of local food procurement for the State’s public schools;
Accelerate garden and farm-based education for the State’s public school students; and
Expand the relationships between public schools and agricultural communities.

Hawai‘i Farm to School Hui Advocacy Work

The Hui’s advocacy work involves tracking farm to school bills, sending action alerts to Hui members, and submitting written and oral testimony via the Hui Coordinator, who also mentored the Hawai‘i Youth Food Council Policy Committee to become active advocates for the first time during the 2022 session! Mahalo also to Food+ Policy, a program of Purple Maia, for their outreach and educational support in these areas. Our collective policy advocacy efforts are critical for supporting and strengthening Hawaii’s local food systems.

Years of relationship building and collaboration with public-private partners led to the development of these priorities and legislative achievements. Importantly, the new HIDOE School Garden Coordinator position will play a key role in implementing the Hawai‘i Farm to School Program, and helping to fulfill the recommendations of the UH System Report to the 2019 Legislature on a Coordinated Framework of Support for Preschool Through Post-Secondary (P-20) Agriculture Education in Hawai‘i (DC149, 2019).

Be sure to sign up for the Hui’s e-newsletter to get involved in supporting farm to school legislation during the upcoming session (January – May 2023)!