News
Need for Seed
by Chelsea Jensen
June 20, 2010
Maintaining Hawaii Island's agricultural diversity is dependent on residents sharing seeds, and the Hawaii Island Seed Exchange provides the venue for people to do
just that.
"The seed exchange is a time for everyone to come together and exchange seeds from different parts of a island and learn about the work that each other is doing," said event coordinator Nancy Redfeather. "We need to preserve agricultural diversity because it's important to keep a lot of varieties of food going because that contributes to the health of agriculture overall."
Used with permission from the West Hawaii Today
The Story of Seed - A Living Treasure
By Nancy Redfeather
April 11, 2010
When you buy a packet of spinach seeds at the store and bury a handful in the soil, do you see the seed as a living, renewable and sustainable agricultural treasure? As possibly an heirloom to be lost?
Click here to view the article online.
Used with permission from the West Hawai'i Today
Here's How to Save Seeds from your Garden
By Russell T. Nagata
April 11, 2010
Whether you obtain seeds from the display rack at your favorite garden store, by perusing seed catalogs in either printed or electronic versions, or from friends and relatives, you may one day have a need to save seeds from your very own garden.
Vegetable crops can be divided into three general categories that indicate the ease or difficulty of saving seeds: self-pollinated, cross-pollinated and hybrids.
Click here to view the article online.
Used with permission from the Hawai‘i Tribune Herald
The Story of Seed Far From Finished
April 6, 2010
The story of seed -- from the wild to the engineered -- will be the focus of a free public lecture from 5:30-7 p.m. Friday, April 16, at the Outrigger Keauhou Beach Resort. The program will precede the Hua Ka Hua-Restore Our Seed Symposium.
Speakers Matthew Dillon of the Organic Seed Alliance (OSA) and Frank Morton of Wild Garden Seeds in Philomath, Ore., will present "The Story of Seed: Wild, Domesticated, Bred and Engineered -- Where Did We Begin and Where Might We Go?"
Click here to view the article online.
Used with permission from the Hawai‘i Tribune Herald
The Story of Seeds to be Told
March 24, 2010
The story of seed — from the wild to the engineered — is the focus of a free public lecture from 5:30–7 p.m. Friday, April 16, at the Outrigger Keauhou Beach Resort preceding the Hua Ka Hua—Restore Our Seed Symposium.
Speakers Matthew Dillon of Organic Seed Alliance and Frank Morton of Wild Garden Seeds in Philomath, Oregon, will present “The Story of Seed: Wild, Domesticated, Bred, and Engineered—Where Did We Begin and Where Might We Go?”
Click here to view the article online.
Used with permission from the Hawai‘i County News
Aftershocks: Pseudo-Tsunamis and Food Insecurity in Hawai‘i
By Eric Holt Giminez
March 7, 2010
A couple of my young and highly talented friends were winding down in the wee hours after their snapping GO LIVE! REAL FOOD performance in Waikiki when they got the news of the Chilean earthquake. They 'stood fixated on the flat screens, drinks in hand' as real time images of Chilean destruction were quickly followed by an official tsunami warning and a barrage of historic Hawaiian newsreel footage documenting the devastating tidal wave that hit Hilo back in 1947. After ordering an evacuation of coastal areas, the government advised people to stock up on a weeks worth of food. This is when hip-hop artists Jennifer Johns, Erwin Thomas and Lynnete Kaid learned a sobering fact:
There are only 3-5 days of food reserves available on the island. The land of lush tropical forests, sparkling waterfalls and deep, rich volcanic soils imports over 85% of its food. It is materially impossible for everyone to "stock up" on a week's food in Hawai‘i.
Click here to view the article online.
Used with permission from the Huffington Post
Symposium looks at saving, restoring seed
March 3, 2010
Seed is the foundation of a thriving local agricultural economy and is essential to the development of Hawai‘i's food production, future sustainability, and self-reliance. Hawai‘i currently imports nearly 90 percent of its food and 99 percent of its seed, creating a vulnerable and dependent agricultural economy in the state.
Click here to view the article online.
Used with permission from Big Island Weekly
Farmers swap seeds, knowledge
By Alan D. Mcnarie
January 6, 2010
Hawai‘i gets most of its food from somewhere else. And even when farmers or gardeners grow fruit or veggies here, their plants probably still started their lives elsewhere.
Click here to view the article online.
Used with permission from Big Island Weekly