Empowering Students and Community Through Regenerative Agriculture Education

HIP Ag has an extensive background in working with Farm to School (F2S) programs and has yielded positive past results in helping to establish a STEM-based agriculture curriculum for Kohala High School, as well as a fully functioning aquaculture system. HIP Ag is committed to expanding the curriculum to other areas of education such as culinary arts to promote the importance of sustainable farming practices.

HIP Ag has the goal of educating and inspiring community members to increase the number of farmers entering the local agricultural industry to provide direct career pathways for students who either are or will shortly be entering the workforce. The High School Mentorship program directly provides the KHS students with access to valuable skill sets that are otherwise difficult to acquire within the North Kohala community. By providing students with first-hand experiences and knowledge as taught by industry-leading professionals this program is supplying the tools needed to thrive in modern-day agricultural-based careers.

Over the past ten years, we have provided our community with educational programming which includes farm field trips, in-school workshops, infield farmer training, and community events. We have added to our offerings over the past two years by developing a High School Agricultural Mentorship and Internship program, a one-year post-secondary Farm Apprenticeship program, and are actively supporting ‘Aina Pono in creating a successful Farm to School Pilot (F2S) and Garden to Cafeteria Program Pilot (G2C) at the Kohala Complex in Hawaii.

Our small yet diversified 26 acre property features a farm of combined market gardening, permaculture systems, orchards and tropical agroforestry serves as our classroom for our educational programming and an avenue to supply F2S in Kohala with fresh fruits and vegetables. As we build capacity to meet the needs of production for F2S, we are working to develop a local distribution network of local farms to aggregate local produce to supply F2S in Kohala and beyond. We currently have farmers who have joined and we are consistently networking within the community to find additional farms willing to participate. In 2019 HIP Ag provided 4,500 lbs. of fresh produce to the Kohala DOE Complex and 22,000 lbs. to the Kohala community.

In 2023, HIP Ag looks forward to engaging our students with more entertaining hands-on experiences to increase overall interest in agriculturally-based careers, as well as reinvigorating the camaraderie of group projects and healthy social interactions amongst students. The nonprofit also plans to continue working with Kohala High School teachers to explore new ways that the agriculture curriculum can be integrated into classes beyond agricultural education.