Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 39, Number 3, 1 March 2022 — 24 Acres of Wai'anae Farmland Protected [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

24 Acres of Wai'anae Farmland Protected

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Showing off o bountiful watermelon horvest ot Kohumono Forms in Wai'onoe. - Photo: Kahumana Farms

Nonprofits Hawai'i Land Trust (HILT) and Kahumana Food Hub & Organic Farms (Kahumana Farms) announced in February the protection and expansion of prime Wai'anae farmland through an agricultural conservation easement, ensuring that 24 acres of land

will be permanently farmed to grow healthy food for loeal families. HILT secured funds to purchase an agricultural conservation easement over 24 acres of land co-owned by Kahumana Farms and a private individual. Kahumana Farms then used

the agricultural conservation easement funds to purchase the interest of the private individual, allowing Kahumana Farms to own and expand its farming operations over the entire 24 acres. "This agricultural conservation easement means so mueh during a time when we want more locally grown food, yet land values are skyrocketing and farms are shutting down," said Shae Kamaka'ala, HILT's director of 'Āina Protection. "It is beautiful to see how agricultural conservation easements ean have such a dramatic impact on the protection of Hawai'i's farmlands." Kahumana Farms uses regenerative agricultural practices that improve soil heahh, sequester carbon, and increase the heahh of the surrounding ecosystem. Under the easement, a small portion of the newly acquired

land is dedicated for farmworker housing, critical to ensuring the sustainability of farming as a profession in Hawai'i. "This partnership removes the threat of development and expands agricultural operations," said Christian Zuckerman, Kahumana's farm manager and director of Social Ventures. "We expect to increase production to 150,000 pounds of food annually to the loeal market, including Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) boxes, value-added products, healthy school lunehes, and our farm hub, whieh primarily serves new and socially disadvantaged farmers." This agricultural conservation easement is the first completed under HILT's partnership whh the USDA-NRCS Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) that began in November 2020. It opens the door

to millions of dollars in federal matching funds to protect agricultural lands throughout Hawai'i. This partnership, the first of its kind in Hawai'i, provides opportunities for farmers, ranchers, and the possibility of expansion for fishpond stewards to preserve their lands in perpetuity for the production of loeal foods, with wide-ranging impacts including food sustainability, eommunity resilience, and ecological health. Funds for the $1.27 million easement eame from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and The Freeman Foundation with additional support ffom The James & Abigail Campbell Family Foundation, the Serendipity II Fund of the Hawai'i Community Foundation, and Hawai'i Land Trust donors. ■