Sustainable Islands Farming Project:

“Restoring a Local Food Economy”

Serving Whidbey & Orcas Islands, Washington and the Big Island of Hawaii

 Summary

The Sustainable Islands Farming Project is focused on providing professional development opportunities for twenty-four Land Grant University and community agriculture educators in two states with a focus on the theme of Restoring a Local Food Economy. This proposal’s SARE funding request is for a three year project, October 2010 – June 2013, and will serve agriculture educators who work with Whidbey Island, WA and Big Island of Hawaii farmers and ranchers.

 Project activities include convening two inter-island Restoring a Local Food Economy conferences and related follow-up distance learning collaboration that will enhance the participants knowledge of sustainable agriculture business models with an emphasis on direct marketing and local distribution practices. The project’s goal is to equip the participating educators with new tools and resources that they can implement in their home communities to foster stronger community support for sustainable agriculture. The project will also develop a multi-media web-based resource center accessible to the 24 participating agriculture educators, and to the farmers, ranchers and rural communities they serve who are researching viable agriculture business sustainability models.

 The Restoring a Local Food Economy program is being designed and managed by One Island, a non-profit rural sustainable development program serving communities in Washington and Hawaii. Other project partners, collaborators, and conference presenters include the North American Farmers Direct Marketing Association, the Northwest Agriculture Business Center, Washington State University  Extension, University of  Hawaii Extension,  Hawaii Farm Bureau, Greenbank CSA Training Center, Hawaii Organic  Farmers Association, and Hawaii Agritourism Association.

In March of 2011, seven Northwest Island educators will join thirteen Hawaii educators for the first 5-day Restoring a Local Food  Economy conference on the Big Island of Hawaii. In August of 2011, seven Hawaii educators will join thirteen Northwest Island educators for the second 5-day companion conference on Whidbey and Orcas Islands. Following these two conferences, the project leaders will collaborate with the participants to build and use an online distance learning resource center to share tools and outcomes from the project with Hawaii and Whidbey Island land Grant Extension offices and with local agriculture education organizations.

Four evaluation instruments will be used to gather data on the project’s activities and outcomes. By June of 2012, the resource center will be in full operation and by June of 2013, the final evaluation will be completed. We project that 24 farms and ranches in Washington and Hawaii will directly benefit from the new Sustainable Island Farming Project sustainable agriculture business model resources delivered through their extension office and local non-profits by June 2013. All project outcomes will be published online to share with the national sustainable agriculture education community.

 Project contact: Marcy Montgomery, whidbey@one-island.org