Maui County established a Department of Agriculture one year ago.
In July 2022, Maui County became the first county in the state to establish its own Department of Agriculture. Voters overwhelmingly passed a charter amendment in 2020 in favor of its creation.
Kali Arce, a Hawaiian homesteader from Molokaʻi, was selected to lead the department. She brings more than three decades of experience in a variety of agriculture and conservation positions.
"Now we're wrapping up with our community meetings across the three islands, and the reason for this was to culminate into the five-year strategic plan," she said.
"All of these pieces of information and input that we've been collecting not only help us to determine the initiatives for the first couple of years that we're here, it's also to help develop the five-year departmental strategic plan.”
She said that plan should be completed in the next few months.
The department began with a staff of two and has now grown to seven, with more hires planned.
"As of today, we have our grants division, which is a staff of three, and when the Ag Park Maintenance person is hired, that will be the start of the Ag Operations division," Arce explained.
"And when the Food Access Coordinator gets on board, that will be the start of the Food Security division."
In its first year, the department awarded $300,000 in grants to five projects for farm food processing, youth agriculture and food production.
Unlike the state Department of Agriculture's regulatory framework, the county's department goals are based in advocacy.
Three main initiatives have been identified: economic development in the agriculture sector, improved food security and a focus on sustainable agriculture.
While many farmers represent an aging population, Arce says there are many younger farmers coming up. One challenge they face is access to land.
"There's a lot of great programs turning out new farmers. Where can we continue that pipeline from when the new farmers graduate, where can they go? They need land. Where can they go to continue their new learned practices so that we can have more food producers for our county.”
Arce says it's not a problem the department can solve on its own. But it is working towards developing a new Upper Maui Ag Park, where farmers will be able to lease land in the future.
Kula Ag Park is owned by the county and now managed by the Department of Agriculture. Its space is already fully occupied by 31 lessees.
Over the next year, Arce says the department also plans to collaborate with the Department of Education to bring more locally grown food into school cafeterias.
