Quantifying the Environmental Impact of Doubling Hawaii’s Local Food Supply

View the project final report

Commodities

• Fruits: bananas
• Vegetables: carrots, greens (lettuces)
• Animals: bovine
• Animal Products: meat

Practices

• Education and Training: decision support system, on-farm/ranch research, youth education
• Farm Business Management: community-supported agriculture
• Natural Resources/Environment: habitat enhancement, carbon emissions, runoff
• Sustainable Communities: community planning, local and regional food systems, public policy, social networks, sustainability measures, values-based supply chains

Hawaii imports almost 90% of its food, resulting in an extremely low degree of food
self-sufficiency. This import-dependence has been identified as a major economic,
environmental, and social problem by residents, civil society organizations, and government
officials in Hawaii. With goals of increasing Hawaii’s food security, reducing its carbon
footprint, and establishing more sustainable agriculture, Governor Ige pledged to double local
food supply by the year 2020.
The agricultural sector is known to cause numerous negative environmental impacts such
as biodiversity loss and fertilizer runoff. With the proposed movement of doubling local food
production, bringing those burdens to Hawaii might cause more harm than good to our fragile
ecosystems, but the extent of potential environmental impact is unknown. The origin of a food
product directly affects the degree of environmental impact that a product encompasses due to
varying factors such as climate, soil health, and the types of management practices in that area.
Long food supply chains common in the modern food system have sparked recent interest
in the notion of “food miles” which measure the distance food travels from producer to
consumer. Food that has travelled long distances is often perceived as more energy intensive and
more greenhouse gas-emitting due to the resources required for transportation. However, several
studies suggest that the “food miles” approach is a rudimentary indicator of environmental
damage as it ignores differences in emissions between different forms of transport and energy
use intensity in other stages of the supply chain. Therefore an assessment that evaluates the
on-farm conditions where food is produced as well as the various modes of transport to and
within Hawaii, is needed.
This project seeks to quantify the embodied environmental impact of Hawaii produced
and imported food using a combination of farmer surveys and life cycle assessments to
understand the full environmental impacts of our current and future food systems. With the
innovative use of mobile phone app technology to engage producer involvement as well as
community outreach, this project aims to assist local farmers to better market their products,
guide corporate food sourcing decisions, and empower consumers to refine their purchase
choices. The results of this project have the potential to affect the future of Hawaii’s food supply
and support a more sustainable food system in Hawaii.

The overarching goal of this research is to evaluate the environmental impact of doubling
Hawaii’s local food supply. With a declining agricultural industry and recent ambitious policy
proposals to increase local food production in the State of Hawaii, such research is needed to
fully understand the implications of agricultural policies for Hawaii’s environment. My specific
objectives are to:
1. Compare the environmental impacts of locally produced versus imported foods currently and
under a doubling of local food supply.
2. Develop a mobile app to help educate consumers about the sustainability of their food
purchases.