Hawai’i Ag Foundation Connects Farmers and Community Through COVID – 19

Honolulu, HI ––Local farmers facebusiness challenges whilecommunity safety measures grow increasingly stringent, andHawai‘i’s agricultural industry is fighting to survive in market conditions that change on a daily basis. The Hawai‘i Agricultural Foundation (HAF) isasking the community to supportits Disaster Relief Fund to assist local agricultural-based businesses that have been negatively impactedby COVID-19.

Farmers across the state are feeling the effects of tighter regulations and other changes along the food supply chainwiththe closureof many restaurantsand hotels.With this Disaster Relief Fund, HAF is committed to directlyassistingHawai‘i farmers and the agricultural industry. HAF is accepting community donations at HawaiiAgFoundation.org. For a $50+ donation, HAF will be giving away a“Keep Calm and Kalo On” tank topfrom Ho‘opulapula HaraguchiRice Mill & Taro Farmin Hanalei, Kaua‘ito the first 25 donors.

“We’re all navigatinguncharted territory together,”said Dean Okimoto, Chairman of the HAF Board. “With regulations and market conditions changing quickly on a daily basis, we need to act fast and come together to support local agricultureand the people who provide us with fresh food grown here so that we can feed our families.”

HAF is also relaunching Local Inside®as another channel to directly support the community.As the shelves in the grocery stores go empty, many community members are looking to other options for fresh produce. Formerlya Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)program, Local Inside®will now serve as an onlineplatform to connect farmers with the community and vice versa byoffering up-to-date information on where to find fresh local products from our farmers, ranchers and fisherman across the state.

A week ago, HAF repositioned its Localicious®Hawaii campaign that supports restaurants buying local to a new Food-A-Go-Go campaign to support all restaurants offering takeout delivery and curbside pickup as COVID-19safety measures have forced restaurants to close all dining-in operations. So far,the campaign has generated a database of over 800 restaurants and 48,000visits to the sitesince last week’s launch. The goal of Food-A-Go-Go is to create broad public awareness of the need to support restaurants which have been severely impacted as social distancing becomes the new normal during the stay-at-home order.

The Hawai‘i Agricultural Foundation is a non-profit charitable organization created to promote agriculture and farming. Established in 2007, HAF’s mission is to support and sustain Hawai‘i’s agricultural industry by addressing critical needs and services of farmers and the agricultural industry, and by better connecting the farmers with the community and vice-versa. For more information, visit HawaiiAgFoundation.org