The Conversation: Cooperative Business Models Flourish in Hawaiʻi

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July 30, 2021 (Hawai‘i Public Radio)—In the 1970s and 80s, there were land struggles, assertions of indigenous rights, and attempts to figure out alternative ways of doing things. Cooperatives were one answer — business ownership, supply and demand, could be shared by forming agricultural cooperatives, electric cooperatives, retail or housing cooperatives, even credit unions.

Teresa Young started working at the Northwest Coop Development Center in Washington in 2005, then in 2016, she moved to Waimea on Hawaiʻi Island to work for The Kohala Center. Young is their rural cooperative business development specialist, offering advice and resources to cooperative business ventures.

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Kamehameha Schools’ scale-up competition aims to help grow ag-focused businesses

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May 28, 2021 (Pacific Business News)—Kamehameha Schools has awarded a total of $135,000 to six Hawaii businesses that are focused on strengthening local food systems through its annual Mahiai Scale-up competition held earlier this month.

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Rising up: Hawaiian Kine Trading Co. wins Mahi‘ai Scale-up competition

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May 24, 2021 (West Hawaii Today)—Hawaiian Kine Trading Co. is the winner of the 2021 Mahi‘ai Scale-up business plan competition, which helps established local farms and food system organizations grow their businesses.

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No interest microloans for Hawaii food producers, small businesses

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March 12, 2021 (Hawaii News Now)–No-interest microloans are available for small businesses in need of financial help. Loans of us to $15,000 are available for qualified businesses and entrepreneurs across the state.

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Microloans for Food Producers and Small Businesses

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March 10, 2021 (Molokai Dispatch)—Food producers and small businesses in Hawaii seeking financial support now have a local ally to help them secure no-interest microloans through one of the world’s leading crowdfunding platforms.

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Seed Diversity Is Vital To The Future Of Food

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March 7, 2021 (Honolulu Civil Beat)—Every seed tells a story, and the story of how seed, people and place are connected begins a long time ago, around 10,000 BCE, when our planet began to warm after an ice age.

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Mahi‘ai Scale-up launches: Partnership helps local farmers, food distributors grow businesses

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January 18, 2021 (West Hawaii Today)—Kamehameha Schools has launched Mahi‘ai Scale-up, an agricultural business plan competition that helps established local farms and food system organizations grow their businesses. The Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement and The Kohala Center are partnering with Kamehameha Schools to provide participants with business training and wraparound services.

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The Conversation: Community Growers Urge Residents To Plant Seeds

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December 3, 2020 (Hawai‘i Public Radio)—This pandemic has turned lots of people’s attention down to earth. Newfound gardeners have emerged and there has been a run on seeds, soil and all things related to growing food at home. Today we talk about seeds; taking stock of the state of seeds and learning about groups in our community who are producing seed to sell and grow.

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Full Calabash Fund To Aid Struggling Hawaiʻi Families

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November 11, 2020 (Big Island Video News)—The Full Calabash Fund, a statewide effort launched by the Kohala Center on Tuesday, aims to support vulnerable Hawaiʻi families and food producers that have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Kohala Center says the program “will strategically direct funding to experienced organizations with strong relationships and local networks to ensure that locally produced food is distributed effectively to resource-constrained individuals and families.”

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Kaua‘i Rise Initiative gets federal funds

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November 2, 2020 (The Garden Island)—The Trump administration recently announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture is investing $966,540 in three projects in the state, including the county Office of Economic Development’s Kaua‘i Rise Initiative. … The Kohala Center will receive most of the federal funds, $832,540, to provide technical assistance to a total of 176 socially-disadvantaged producers who are members of five rural cooperatives, six rural groups operating across the state and a group of 50 socially-disadvantaged businesses operating in rural areas statewide.

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