Food sovereignty is a hot topic in Hawaii, where more than 85% of food is imported. It's an issue that became increasingly apparent during the pandemic and continues to be top of mind for local residents and policymakers (as evidenced by annual events like Agriculture Awareness Day, which took place earlier this month). At Turtle Bay Resort, a luxurious property on the North Shore of Oʻahu, chefs are doing their part by serving up inspired fare highlighting local ingredients. A whopping 70% of all of the ingredients served at the resort are grown less than a mile away.
Kuilima Farm, owned by Turtle Bay Resort, is a 468-acre farm that supplies more than 700 pounds of produce to the resort every week—everything from lettuce and kale to passion fruit (lilikoi) and papaya. The land is under a conservation easement, which means it is permanently designated for agricultural use. Pono Pacific, a Hawaiian natural resource conservation company, manages the land and transformed the land (which was previously undeveloped and a dumping ground for trash and abandoned vehicles) into the robust operation it is today. Their goal is to bridge the narrative between Hawaii's past and present, preserving ancient Hawaiian knowledge and cultivating the land sustainably.
The farm has a solar-powered hydroponics operation, which produces 300 pounds of lettuce every week. They also have a 2.5-acre model farm that is home to a variety of native and medicinal plants and seasonal crops. "The model farm is where we show what we're growing throughout the rest of the farm but also where we test new products that the chef would like to serve at the resort's restaurants—from different types of kale and Swiss chard to squash and garlic and onion chives," said Ramsey Brown, Vice President of Diversified Agriculture at Pono Pacific.
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