Local farmers find dependable market through Hawaiʻi Department of Education’s farm-to-school program

Youth are opening up their palettes and eating more locally-grown foods with options like banana bread baked with ʻulu flour at breakfast and ʻulu-kalo hamburger stew at lunch.

It’s part of Hawaiʻi’s farm-to-school movement that is creating more opportunities for keiki to experience the abundance of food grown across the islands, and for farmers to have a dependable client to purchase their food.

The program has introduced new recipes featuring the locally-grown ingredients on school breakfast, lunch and after-school snack menus. It also has expanded hands-on nutritional and agricultural education.

As part of its commitment to increasing local food procurement, the Hawaiʻi Department of Education continues to work with local farmers, food producers, and community partners to incorporate more Hawaiʻi-grown ingredients into school meals.

For the past 9 years, the Education Department has fostered a partnership with the Hawaiʻi ʻUlu Cooperative, which is facilitating the market between local farmers and Hawaiʻi public schools.

The Hawaiʻi ʻUlu Cooperative is a farmer-owned business that aims to revitalize ʻulu (breadfruit) and other Hawaiʻi-grown staple crops by empowering more than 230 local farmers and building a sustainable local food industry that will help fuel Hawaiʻi’s path toward greater food security.

Dana Shapiro, CEO of the Hawaiʻi ʻUlu Cooperative, said the partnership is a practical investment in farmers, children and long-term food security.

“We have the resources to aggregate a good volume of crops from small farms, the ability to store and process what the DOE needs, build volume and sell the crops that they can distribute to the schools,” Shapiro said.

The partnerships with the schools have enabled local farms across off four major Hawaiian islands to reach “institutional markets with their crops,” Shapiro said. “Our farmers need dependable markets to keep growing, and our schools need consistent access to nutritious, locally-grown food.”

Partnerships with farmers and producers help the Department of Education meet Act 175 from 2021, which mandates that 30% of public schools’ food budget be spent on local agricultural products by 2030.

According to Chris Kaʻiakapu, an agroforestry manager with Hawaiʻi ʻUlu Cooperative, it would take a massive investment for any small farmer to give or sell their food to the schools to be served in the cafeteria. But the Hawaiʻi ʻUlu Cooperative can meet the scale needed by the DOE and take on the administrative burden that allows small farmers to access the large institution.

“Our farmers, who range in size and experience, seem to be grateful to be part of this movement together, especially since there aren’t many options when it comes to selling ʻulu,” Kaʻiakapu said.

The Hawaiʻi ʻUlu Cooperative currently sells ʻulu, kalo (taro), ʻuala (sweet potato), palaʻai (pumpkin), green papaya and local honey to the Education Department, which then distributes the food to schools across the state. The ʻulu either comes frozen, or has been processed into ʻulu flour.

Specific menu innovations this year have helped demonstrate how these locally-grown crops can be incorporated into familiar, student-friendly meals featured in rotating menus. Some new recipes include ʻulu-kalo hamburger stew, loco moco with ʻulu gravy, and new after-school snacks like ʻulu banana bread and ʻulu blueberry crackers.

“It has been a journey for the DOE to figure out how to present these foods in their recipes, especially to kids who are notoriously picky eaters,” Shapiro said. “I think they have done a great job really developing recipes that students love since we first started the partnership in 2018.”

Beyond ʻulu, school lunch menus also feature locally-sourced produce such as green papaya in a Filipino-style chicken soup, kabocha squash and honey in a vegetable roast, Okinawan sweet potatoes as a side mash, bok choy, and other island-grown ingredients, reflecting broader efforts to diversify foods served in Hawaiʻi’s public schools.

“We have started to meet with the DOE regularly to talk about potential additional crops that they would like to implement in the schools,” Shapiro said. “Today, they were asking if we could do a puréed ripe papaya for smoothies. We also bring them ideas about crops that our farmers have been growing more.”

Hawaiʻi ʻUlu Cooperative, the partnership with the DOE is a great step in their mission to revive the use of ʻulu to strengthen Hawaiʻi’s food security.

“We believe ʻulu is the most important food crop we use to feed ourselves, especially as we take more steps to secure more food security in the future,” Shapiro said. “It is a staple starch that comes from a viable tree that produces an abundant amount of fruit.”

Progress extends beyond the cafeteria through Hoʻopili ʻAi, a collaborative farm-to-school educational initiative that helps students, teachers and families develop meaningful connections to Hawaiʻi-grown staple foods.

According to the newly released Hoʻopili ʻAi 2025-2026 Impact Report, the program reached approximately 66,025 students at 134 schools across Hawaiʻi Island, Oʻahu, Maui and Kauaʻi during the past school year. Through the program, more than 7,007 pounds of locally-grown food were distributed, representing $149,000 invested in Hawaiʻi’s agricultural economy.

Part of Hawaiʻi’s Harvest of the Month initiative, Hoʻopili ʻAi provides free Farm to School Sampler Boxes containing locally-grown and value-added foods, alongside educational videos, recipes and standards-aligned classroom resources.

The Hoʻopili ʻAi program introduces students to culturally significant crops including ʻulu, kalo and ʻuala, while also featuring other local products such as palaʻai, local honey and macadamia nuts.

“We use the ʻuala in our garden classes where students develop recipes and cook together in our māla’s processing station,” said Sandy Mayberry, the garden teacher at Kealakehe Elementary School. “Students have made recipes such as homemade ʻuala tortillas filled with jackfruit and mango salsa, ʻuala latkes, ʻuala gnocchi, ʻuala tater tots, ʻuala chips and fries. They continue to develop recipes in a collaborative setting and love it.”

To learn more about Hoʻopili ʻAi and view the 2025-2026 Impact Report.