Hawai’i Women Farmers Network

Tools

Videos and workshop materials, organized by topics

Wahine Farmer Empowerment Summer Series: Turning Challenges into Sustained Opportunities

This three-part webinar series features candid conversations with leading women farmers and entrepreneurs, sharing how they turned COVID-19 challenges into sustained opportunities and creating multiple revenue streams for long-term stability.  In addition to hearing from mentors and leaders in the farming community, we were joined by resource providers, market analysts, and those working to bolster local agriculture. This webinar series is a great opportunity to get up to speed on where consumer behavior and local demand are shifting, how other local farms and agri-businesses are transitioning, and some new public and private initiatives and resources that your farm can tap into.

It is our hope that these webinars foster conversations and resources that can support an informed and empowered network of women working at the frontlines to grow local ag during this next phase of the pandemic and towards greater statewide goals for Hawaii’s agriculture future.

Background for the conversation:
Many farms and distribution services shifted overnight from selling to a few large accounts with restaurants or wholesalers to selling to hundreds of single-household orders. Creative initiatives ‘popped-up’, such as farm-to-car markets and the Chef Hui, with food banks, food hubs and mobile markets quickly figuring out logistics to feed thousands of families, buying direct from farmers across the islands. 

As we begin to adjust to a ‘new norm’, what trends can we expect and where does the greatest opportunity lie?