About the Hawai‘i State Public Seed Initiative

The Kohala Center has received funding from the Ceres Trust for a statewide Public Seed Initiative designed to help Hawai‘i’s farmers and gardeners to select, grow, harvest, store, and improve seed varieties that will thrive in Hawai‘i. The Ceres Trust, whose name pays homage to the ancient Roman goddess of agriculture, has as its main focus the support and promotion of organic and sustainable agriculture.

The Public Seed Initiative will consist of workshops on each of the five main Hawaiian Islands, with two workshops scheduled on each island over the course of the next two years. The goals of the project are to increase the community’s knowledge of and practical experience with seed production. Partnering in this effort are The Kohala Center, the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa Extension Service, Regenerations Botanical Garden, and multiple farms and organizations throughout the state. Two-day workshops on each island will focus on introductory seed biology and on how to grow, harvest, and save varieties of lettuce and a wet seeded crop. The workshops will include both lecture presentations and hands-on field work at demonstration farms, so participants can practice harvesting, cleaning, and storing fresh seed. Strategies to account for differences in elevation, weather patterns, and rainfall will be discussed.

The statewide Public Seed Initiative arose out of discussions at the 2010 Seed Symposium - Hua Ka Hua: Restore Our Seed. At the end of this event, a statewide working group was formed to carry on the goals identified at the symposium This working group has continued to consult with the two Coordinators of the Public Seed Initiative, Nancy Redfeather of The Kohala Center and Dr. Hector Valenzuela, Extension Vegetable Specialist at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa. Dr. Russell Nagata, Hawai‘i County Administrator for the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa Extension Service, is providing assistance with the lettuce seed work. Dr. Nagata has previously managed an active lettuce breeding and genetics program at the University of Florida.

The first two-day seed workshop was held on Kaua‘i in November, 2011. For more information and details on upcoming workshops, click here.

Read more about the Hawai‘i Public Seed Initiative in The Kohala Center's September/October 2011 Leaflet.

On April 16-19, 2010 a group of 110 farmers and gardeners assembled from across the state for the "Hua Ka Hua - Restore Our Seed" Public Seed Symposium, at the Outrigger Keauhou Beach Resort in Kailua-Kona, Hawai‘i. The Kohala Center, the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa and Hilo, and the Organic Seed Alliance and its university partners collaborated to create and host this symposium—the first of its kind in the state of Hawai‘i.

This landmark event renewed relationships between university researchers and professors, experts from the mainland, and farming and gardening communities across the state. Further, the fundamental relationship between farmers and gardeners and on-farm seed production was rekindled. As we seek new paths toward a more food self-reliant future, we recognize the importance of seed for home production, for market production, as a value added niche crop, and as a critical part of the agricultural cycle of production.

A Statewide Seed Working Group has emerged, and this Web site will serve as the "home base" for statewide communication and as a source of knowledge for growing, selecting, drying, and saving high-quality open pollinated seed.

Some of the resources housed at this Web site include:

You will also find e-mail addresses to contact island working groups on the "Contact Us" page.

Finding new and innovative ways to work together across vast areas of the mid-Pacific will bring us closer to the development of locally based models of food self-reliance.

The complete Seed Symposium Web site can be found at www.kohalacenter.org/seedsymposium/about.html. Information on this site includes a list of our Symposium Partners, the Seed Symposium Program, and all Speaker Bios.