BFRDP Projects

How can we capitalize upon the interest in agriculture to effectively develop the real commercial farmers that are prepared to overcome the challenges and address Hawaii's food insecurity?   Furthermore, how might we efficiently develop prospective commercial farmers across the state in order to maximize the number of farmers developed and the geographic accessibility and communities benefited?   To answer these questions, this project completed the following tasks:

• Supported the continued operation of the recently-established Hawaii-based beginning farmer training program (GoFarm Hawaii) that has proven effective in developing commercial farmers--allowing them to develop more farmers efficiently (startup costs already incurred) and refine their curriculum.
• Leveraged GoFarm Hawaii's existing locations and a collaborating
  program to evaluate the program's curriculum and delivery
  method's effectiveness. 
• Based on feedback, modified program curriculum to expand learning in production and business topics. 
• Investigated the feasibility of expanding the program to more locations
  and the curriculum to other programs, to facilitate future expansion for
  increased impact on the number of successful new farmers in Hawaii. 
• Added 2 additional locations to the existing program.