Island Grown

COVID-19 has emphasized once again the fragility of Hawai‘i’s food system. With 90 percent of the state’s food currently imported, Hawai‘i must nurture a new generation of local farmers and agricultural producers. Across Hawai‘i Island and within the HPA community, Ka Makani are helping to plant the seed.

Brandon Lee and his family own and operate Kaunamano Farm.

When the COVID-19 lockdown hit Hawai‘i in March 2020, Brandon Lee was just about to mark his six-year anniversary in the pig farming business. Lee, who attended HPA from 1996 to 1997 and graduated from Honoka‘a High School, was named a Mahi‘ai Match-Up recipient from Kamehameha Schools in 2014. With his start-up grant in hand, Lee launched Kaunamano Farm, in part to supply Nāpua Restaurant, which he co-owns with brother-in-law and lifelong friend chef Keoni Regidor. From the beginning, his goal has been to help rejuvenate local agriculture and establish a renowned brand of premiere Hawaiian pork.

“My interest began with the desire to bring super fresh food into Nāpua, and I soon realized we should be producing our own meat,” Lee explains. “In the 1970s, Hawai‘i was harvesting 80,000 farmraised pigs a year. By 2017, the state-wide harvest was roughly 1,800. Only .01% of the pork consumed commercially here in Hawai‘i is local. And our slaughter houses have become processing facilities for mainland products.”

Brandon Lee's children observing the piglets on their farm.

Lee is out to change that fact, one gourmet hotdog at a time. Nāpua patrons enjoy ribs, sausage, prosciutto, and other pork dishes fresh from Kaunamano Farm, complemented by other meats and as much local bounty as Lee and Regidor can source into the menu.

In his pursuit of perfection, Lee began with six Berkshire pigs from California and dove straight into a plan for sustainable, organic production. In addition to pigs, the farm’s openpasture and rotational-grazing system involves chickens (to eat pests) and goats (to clean out the weeds). In addition to grass, Lee’s pigs enjoy a bountiful diet of local grain, ‘ulu, bananas, papayas, macadamia nuts, and more. “I chose Berkshire pigs for the quality of the meat and their overall health and sturdiness,” he explains. “Now, we’re focused on changing and shaping the body composition by giving our pigs a great life here on the hills— plenty of time to roam from pasture to pasture. Their fat is incorporated throughout the muscle and the flavor is so clean.”

Through their work, Lee and Regidor are helping to build and sustain a mutually-beneficial network of local producers. Microgreens in the restaurant, for example, come from ‘Io Farms and pasture-raised chicken comes from Punachicks Farm; the Berkshire pigs eat local feed from Miranda’s Country Store and candy apple bananas from ‘Ohana Banana Farms. And to expand access to premier local pork, Kaunamano Farm now offers mail-order service to the entire state, including a special promotional box to help raise funds for ‘Iolani Palace. The service was prompted initially by COVID-19, but for Lee it’s a logical next step toward the ultimate goal. His mantra? Eat with impact.

“For those of us who live in Hawai‘i, I think we have a responsibility to eat what is grown here,” he says. “Eating local is giving back. It may not be realistic to eliminate all food from elsewhere, but raise your percentage of local. It takes planning; we’re competing with convenience. But if you make even one more meal a week from the Big Island, you’re making a tremendous difference.”

Brandon Lee may have started farming just six years ago, but the values that inspire his project go back to childhood and the Lee family’s ancestral legacy. High on the slopes of Maunaloa, the Lees operate Hāloa ‘Āina, a reforestation company and educational organization dedicated to sustainability. In 2010, the family purchased this site on land their ancestors have worked or stewarded since before Kamehameha unified the islands.

All three Lee brothers—Brandon, Justin ’02, and Ryan—bring different talents to Hāloa ‘Āina in support of the vision held by their father, Wade, and his generation. From the beginning, the goal of Hāloa ‘Āina has been to restore this dryland forest to how it flourished 150 years ago, and to let the forest dictate what can be recovered from it.

“Through the ahupua‘a system, a million people were once able to nourish themselves in Hawai‘i and live harmoniously off the land,” says Justin Lee. “With this pandemic as yet another reminder, the importance of being self-reliant has only grown. We’ve got to keep Hawai‘i strong and not so dependent on the barges coming in.”

As part of its forest management plan, Hāloa ‘Āina has restored close to a million native Hawaiian trees since its inception. The company also produces Royal Hawaiian sandalwood oil and hydrosol for Hawai‘i and worldwide markets.

Hāloa ‘Āina operates not as a traditional sandalwood plantation, where trees are grown in monoculture and are harvested whole, but as an ongoing ecosystem placed in conservation easement and dedicated to sustainable Hawaiian forest practices. The operation combines biology, forestry, conservation, and distilling, and retains 13 full-time employees.

Justin Lee '02

“It’s really cool to think about the different families supported by this forest,” says Justin, “especially when you include entrepreneurs who buy our products. Hāloa ‘Āina is helping put food on the table for an exponential amount of people.” One of these business owners happens to be Leala Humbert ’03, who runs Ua Body, a Hawai‘i Island skincare company that uses Hāloa ‘Āina sandalwood oil in many of its additive-free, vegan formulas.

As a former firefighter, expert bowhunter, and world-class spearfisher, Justin knows self-reliance as a way of life. When he’s not engaged in spearfishing championships in places like Greece or Portugal, Justin can be found hunting sheep in the Hāloa ‘Āina forest or off the Hāmākua coast, where he fishes for family and friends.

“Occasionally I’ll buy a steak, but mostly everything from our stews to hamburgers to bacon in the morning has either been produced by Brandon or shot by me,” says Justin. “Hopefully we can instill a changed mindset in the next generation of fishermen or foresters or farmers to actively manage our ‘āina and take only what we need. To ensure that tomorrow is not just an afterthought, but the first thought.”

Tradition and ingenuity

By their very geography, islands teach us about resource limits—in land, water, energy, and more. Kawamata Farms in Waimea has adopted hydroponic growing as a way to maximize space and conserve water. The Kawamata family continuously adapts their technology and process, but their connection to Hawai‘i Island remains firm and deep.

“My grandparents purchased 17 acres here in 1963 and raised seven children, including my dad, on this farm” says Leilyn Kawamata Koev ’91. “Our first speciality was roses, but in the ’90s my dad foresaw too much competition from South America. He had the vision to switch us to hydroponics and went to the Netherlands for training and to purchase equipment.”

Hydroponic systems grow plants in greenhouses with a precise mixture of water, nutrients, and an alternative substrate instead of soil. Benefits include higher yields in smaller spaces, improved pest control, and a yearround growing season. Kawamata Farms currently produces about 30,000 pounds of vine-ripened tomatoes per week, with distribution across Hawai‘i island, as well as on O‘ahu, Maui, and Kaua‘i.

“It feels like small farmers are in the best interest of Hawai‘i,” reflects Koev. “Corporations may come and go, but we live here, we have a strong connection to the land, to the people. But it isn’t always easy. Local farms need more options and access to distribution, food safety training, less expensive transportation, and technology innovation—all of that is so critical.”

Koev worries about attracting the next generation of farmers. “We need to start educating our young children that farming is a viable career choice and technology is providing us with many advantages,” she explains. “I really hope that Kawamata Farms is helping in some way to excite the next generation. We have a oneyear training program that serves international students, and I’d love to get some of our young people from Hawai‘i.”

Above all, Koev is grateful for and proud of her family legacy. “My children never met my grandparents,” she says, “but I’m glad they can feel some of that through the farm. I just love having a product we can share and seeing people get excited for fresh, Hawai‘i-grown tomatoes. It feels like the old days, when farmers would just exchange. It makes me remember, ‘This is why I do it.’”

Raising up new farmers and farm advocates

Like Koev, Ashley Goo ’99 grew up on a family farm. His mother, Sheila, still runs Goo Farms in Waimea, which produces flowers and vegetables. After working the farm for several years post-college, Goo eventually turned his attention to the opposite end of the food cycle: landfill waste and putting resources back into the soil. In 2012, he launched Bokashi Microbes with business partner Shanelle Pung ’98 to promote a specialized Japanese composting system using “effective microorganisms” also known as “EM.”

“Here on Hawai‘i Island, we have a landfill capacity problem,” Goo explains. “Food waste and organic matter account for a huge portion of all landfill trash. Why not turn that trash into a renewable resource?”

Unlike traditional composting, a bokashi system takes place in an airtight container, which works faster and controls odor and pests. “You can break down different material as well—like meat or animal waste,” Goo says, “and it’s less complicated. There’s no need to turn the pile or worry about brown-to-green ratios. Plus, no greenhouse gasses are produced.”

The end product is a compost “tea” that replenishes the soil, along with a small amount of organic material that, when buried, adds further enrichment. Bokashi can be used by private homeowners, businesses, farms, and municipalities. “The process has been applied around the world since the 1980s, but it hasn’t quite received the recognition it deserves,” says Goo. “We want to change that!”

Goo, Pung, Koev, and the Lees are among a small but inspirational group of Ka Makani who are choosing to farm or invest in other forms of agricultural resilience. These include Goo’s classmate, Isaac Gillette ’99, who owns Keopu Coffee, a farm dedicated to organic practices and 100% Kona coffee; Jared Chapman ’03 with The Hawai‘i Island Goat Dairy; Greg Johnson ’96, a member of the Hawai‘i ‘Ulu Collective and operator of Johnson Family Farms; David “Honu” Lafitaga ’09, who was certified in natural farming with the first cohort in the farm apprentice mentoring program run by the Hawai‘i Farmers Union United and who is a board member/caretaker of Mā‘ona Community Garden; and Amanda Rieux P’31, executive director at Māla‘ai, the culinary garden of Waimea Middle School.

On campus, HPA seeks to support local producers and help raise up a passionate, informed younger generation. The HPA Sustainability Plan calls for 40 percent of cafeteria food to come from local sources by 2030. The Upper Campus and Village Campus gardens (led by Willie Quayle P’27, ’30 and Kim Narol, respectively) are already playing a strong role in that effort. In addition to teaching farm-based classes, Quayle and Narol’s highly collaborative programs involve teachers from other departments as well as extracurricular outreach. Last year, 43 students from seven different capstone classes drew upon the HPA gardens for their research or final products. Beginning in March, when the HPA cafeterias closed, the school gardens also increased their regular contributions to the St. James Community meal.

We need to start educating our young children that farming is a viable career choice and technology is providing us with many advantages.

- LEILYN KAWAMATA KOEV ’91

“All of these steps have felt like paying a huge debt forward toward more local, sustainable agriculture and greater appreciation for the natural world,” says Narol. “Even with our youngest students, my kindergarteners—through the garden they quickly realize that we all need the same things. Water. Shelter. Love and care.”

At the Upper School, where garden land still shows traces of native Hawaiian terraces, Quayle encourages his students to consider how the relationship between land and people has changed over time. “Maybe it’s too idealistic,” he says, “but I believe that many things would begin to fall into place if we could instill a deep sense of caring in each individual—so that we begin to see land not as an 'other' but as an extension of ourselves.” •

Additional photography by Ryan Combs.

Are you involved in Hawai‘i’s agricultural resilience? We recognize that many more Ka Makani may be involved in farming, producing, or advocating across the state. Please share your story with us at alumni@hpa.edu. We are #KaMakaniSTRONG