KKVʻs Kaʻiulani Odom, Roots Project Director and Christen Oliveira, Community Food Systems Planner were recognized at the conference held on September 27-28 at the Hawaiʻi Convention Center in Honolulu. Both were panelists who presented on lessons learned from the Roots programs. 

Kaʻiulaniʻs session was entitled “Indigenous & Ingenious: Translating indigenous agriculture into modern ingenuity and access.” The topic explored business models rooted in Native Hawaiian culture, driven by ʻolelo noʻeau (native Hawaiian teachings and proverbs) and focused on community and cultural sustainability through agriculture. She highlighted the importance of localizing our food system and looking back at our island's history and ahupuaʻa system to understand how we can advance our collective efforts to heal our food systems. Other panel topics included building business enterprise, managing land use, and mitigating climate change using methods that are culturally and environmentally intuitive yet remain vital to attainable food production, access, and cultural identity in Hawaiʻi. 

Christen participated in the “Food Hubs: The Aggregators” panel that convened regional food hub leaders to discuss the hub concept, its role, and the impact this model can have in scaling up Hawai'i's local food system. Roots is a founding member of the Hawai‘i Food Hub Hui (HFHH), a collaborative network of 14 partners established in 2017 to support aggregation and distribution of locally grown foods. Working toward increased self-sufficiency as a food-producing state, food hubs continue to innovate, show resiliency, and serve all members of the food value chain—producers, distributors, retailers, and consumers.  

Christen also participated in a second panel, “People Feeding Communities During Crisis,” which explored how the Covid-19 pandemic exposed food security issues in Hawaiʻi. Christen described how Roots scaled up to support KKV in feeding families and seniors during the pandemic. She discussed operations during challenging times, lessons learned, and how to be prepared for the next crisis. 

We look forward to Roots leading systems changes for the food we grow and eat in Hawaiʻi. Mahalo for their leadership!