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GoFarm Hawaii

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Statewide Beginning Farmer Training Program

Statewide Beginning Farmer Training Program

Farming can be a very rewarding pursuit:  It can sustain your family and your community,  give you independence, stimulate your mind, and feed your body and spirit.  It can, however, be very challenging:  Disease, weather, and pests can disrupt well-laid plans;  There is so much a farmer needs to know about soil health, different crops, nutrition, pest and disease control, marketing, and finances (to name a few) in order to be successful.

Do you think you might have it within you to do the hard work and learn the various aspects of farming?  To meet the inevitable challenges with creativity and determination?  Commit to Hawaii’s premier beginning farmer training program with the goal of becoming a successful Farmer?  If so, then we’re ready to help you!  And thank you for joining us in sustaining Hawaii’s future!

The programs below are designed to be taken sequentially.

AgCurious

2 hour seminar

Attract those with interest in getting involved in agricultural production.

Provide them with an overview of the industry in Hawai’i and its importance.

Convey a sense of what is involved in farming, both as a farmer and farm worker, including: challenges and opportunities, costs and benefits, and lifestyle.

Inform participants about various avenues to get started, but especially recruit those who want to know more about what it is like to be a farmer to the next phase (AgXposure).

 AgXposure

4 Saturdays

Provide participants with experiences that convey the lifestyle and knowledge areas important to farming to expose them to what life would be like if they were to be a farmer.

Recruit those who want to learn how to be a successful farmer and can make the necessary commitments to the next phase (AgSchool).

 AgSchool

1 weeknight & 1 weekend day for 4 months (additional time often necessary to maintain crops, Maui schedule differs)

Topics delivered by experts and specialists include:  Soil nutrients and plant health management, Propagation, Variety selection, Farm equipment,  Irrigation, Pest control (pathogens, insects, nematodes, and weeds), Post harvest storage and handling, food safety.
 
Participants acquire a fundamental understanding of the principals underlying a broad spectrum of production topics. 

Participants practice on-farm the techniques related to critical production skills.

Participants learn of the resources available to assist them and/or further their knowledge of farming.

AgPro

1 weeknight & 1 weekend day for 6 months (additional time necessary to maintain crops).  Open to select graduates of AgSchool.  Not offered at all sites.

Deeper learning on the production topics of AgSchool with emphasis on commercial production, and coverage of business topics for the entrepreneurial farmer including Cost of Production, Crop and Business Planning, and Marketing.

Participants practice on-farm techniques on larger plots and market their crops.

Participants practice techniques related to business management topics and develop a business plan.

Participants learn of resources to assist them and/or further their knowledge of farming and business.

AgIncubator

 Optional.  Up to 3 years.  Open to select graduates of AgPro. Not offered at all sites.

Participants practice farming their chosen crop on land provided by the program for up to three years.

Continued access to program peers and experts.

Shared equipment and infrastructure.

AgBusiness

Open to public, year-round schedule.

Intensive one-on-one business consulting for new and existing ag producers and others in the local food chain.

Applications accepted year-round. GoFarm Hawaii participants automatically accepted. Statewide service area—not limited to GoFarm Hawaii locations. Typically no cost.

Assistance with:  Business startup; Business, Marketing, and Strategic Plan development; Applications for loans, leases, and grants; Cost and pricing analyses; Value-added product development and marketing; Accounting; Project Management; Other business needs.

De facto Board of Advisors for entrepreneurs.

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  • Agxposure @culturedhawaii Getting inspired and ready for #gofarmnorthshore #AgSchool to start next week!
  • Windward Cohort 8 Graduated Today!!! 🤩📸🙌🏾 #GoFarmLife Congrats:))) 🤙🏾
  • Mahalo KS, Our ‘Āina Ulu Ohana & All The Hands, Hearts and Hard Work that go into making our communities strong, connected & aware. Our connections are invaluable as we continue to grow as leaders for Hawaii🙏🏾 Mahalo for including us this week! 
#Repost @kamehamehaschools
・・・
More than 40 program staff and educators representing 15 community partners are teaming up this week with Kamehameha Schools' 'Āina Ulu program team to share mana'o and engage on the historically significant land in Kohala, where Kamehameha I was born. #ainaulu #kakou #westhawaii
  • AgCurious in Honoka’a right now🙌🏾 listening to alumni panel 🙌🏾if you’re missing tonight’s session, you have one more chance tomorrow night in Hilo. Go to our website to register (link in bio) #GoFarmHawaiiIsland #StayAgCurious
  • #Repost @misamaruyamajones ・・・
Have you ever daydreamed about farming? Envisioned sweat on your brow and fingers in the soil, under the sun or soaked by rain, always at the mercy of nature? Or plucking fresh greens and sharing your abundance with your community? 
We did.
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Without any agricultural education, Geoff and I moved to Kona to join our family farm. We were lucky to have our family’s support and expertise, but we also wanted formal training to steepen our learning curve. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Lucky for us, the @gofarmhawaii beginner farmer training program launched on Hawaiʻi Island a few months after our move. Going through the class gave us the confidence and know-how to make @MaruyamaJonesFarm a reality.
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GoFarm is training another cohort starting  on May 5. If you are interested, the first step is to attend an informational session TONIGHT in Honokaa or THURSDAY NIGHT in Hilo. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Date: Wednesday, April 18
Time: 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.
Where: Room 204, North Hawaiʻi Education and Research Center (NHERC) in Honokaʻa
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Date: Thursday, April 19
Time: 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.
Where: UH Hilo CTHAR Komohana Office, Room 000
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If you can’t make it, you can still apply. Email Hawaiʻi Island GoFarm Coach Derrick Kiyabu at derrick@gofarmhawaii.org.
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We participated in AgExposure (phase I) and AgSchool (phase 2) in 2017, and I am SO glad we did.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
In AgExposure, we took a tour of inspiring and successful farms every Saturday for a month. We learned how cacao is processed into chocolate, and we helped an amazing farming couple put up a fence on their stunning property. We picked up hard-earned tips and tricks as wisened farmers generously shared their mana’o.
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In AgSchool, we grew our own mini-farm as a class and sold food to our friends in a community-supported 
agriculture program. We met every Wednesday evening for classroom lessons and every Saturday to apply what we learned on our plot. We grew everything you can imagine. We also faced the challenges real farmers deal with, from irrigation hiccups and insects to wild pigs. For four months in AgSchool, we drove back and forth between Kona and Honokaʻa, and

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