Type
Non-Governmental Organization
Founding Date
2008

Our Mission

The communities of Hawaii and other island states, coastal communities around the world, and underserved populations generally, are expected to bear the brunt of looming ravages caused by global climate change. (See the World Bank’s report, “Shock Waves: Managing the Impacts of Climate Change on Poverty.” [PDF])

Survival demands action. 

Olohana’s mission is to work with communities to co-develop strategies for resilience and adaptation to climate change. Our projects and programs intersect food, energy, water, and knowledge systems and facilitate and support strengthened relationships between the generations, between cultures, and with the natural environment.

Our Method

Olohana and its network of partners and collaborators focus on community-led projects at the nexus of food, energy, water, and knowledge systems and support a variety of programmatic training and learning opportunities for members of the community, teaching both cutting-edge scientific and indigenous/traditional environmental stewardship systems through the methodology of Inter-generational Transfer of Knowledge ITK™.

Our method yields tangible results while facilitating the development of strong, intergenerational, intercultural, knowledge-sharing relationships and networks across the globe; and developing and strengthening a community’s disaster preparedness, resilience and longevity in the face of climate change devastation and disaster.

Industrial Juicing to Advance Food Security: Pre-feasibility study for utilizing legacy industrial fruit processing equipment in the Hawaiian Islands

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Description

The Hawaiian Islands are highly reliant on imported foods for feeding residents and visitors alike. This is in part due to a shortage in food processing infrastructure locally that contributes to Hawaiʻi’s inability to process much of its own food

The Hawaiian Islands are highly reliant on imported foods for feeding residents and visitors alike. This is in part due to a shortage in food processing infrastructure locally that contributes to Hawaiʻi’s inability to process much of its own food products. This study examines the feasibility of increasing food self-sufficiency in the islands through utilizing legacy industrial fruit processing equipment recently acquired by Olohana Foundation, a small 501(c)3 non-profit in Hawaiʻi. This study asks: How can the Olohana Foundation develop their aseptic juicing line to best support increased food self-sufficiency in the islands? Additionally, how can the juicing line be re-deployed in a manner to provide sustainable economic opportunity to producers and other community members? Through interviews with Hawaiʻi food system experts, fruit grower and fruit product buyer surveys, and a review of selected Unites States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Survey (USDA NASS) crop data for Hawaiʻi, our team evaluated the feasibility for re-establishing the juicing line. Our results found that due to the lack of available locally-produced fruits and high start-up and operational costs, it is unlikely that the juicing line can be re-established as it was previously operating, producing papaya and guava juices and purees. However, there is no shortage in demand for locally grown fruit products in Hawaiʻi and there is high interest from producers in joining a grower-owned cooperative. We conclude with several recommendations for the near, medium and long-term. In the near to medium-term, we recommend that the Foundation pursue alternative configurations of the equipment to produce niche Hawaiʻi products for which there is adequate supply, including fermented fruit products. In the long-term, the Foundation should research the potential for sourcing produce from other Pacific-region islands, as well as work at the policy and community levels to increase production of fruits locally, lower costs of production, and lower barriers to organic certification.

Date Created
2021-12-01
Agent