Puna Food Network is a group of people in Puna whose mission is to cause a substantial increase in food security. This increase would improve economic prosperity as less food is imported and more food products are exported. It also enhances health and wellness as our food can be fresher, cleaner, healthier, and more abundant than imported food.
We intend to cause this change by incentivizing everyone to grow (or grow more) produce. The incentive will be given in three ways: 1) providing relevant information, 2) providing low cost and highly effective infrastructure and supplies, and 3) providing market demand for what is grown. These three ways are described in more detail below.
The best result is individual households growing their own food. The next best is households growing more than they need of some items so they can trade with their neighbors. Additional food beyond this, including from commercial growers, can be traded or sold at a food hub (or weekly market, of which there are already several in lower Puna). These hubs or markets, as well as individual growers, can trade or sell their produce at a main hub, to be called Pahoa Food Hub, located at Pahoa. This main hub, in turn, will distribute products to local businesses, to other main hubs on the big island (such as the Adaptations hub's delivery truck weekly in Keaau), to other local islands, and even exported (overseas) for certain products.
Pahoa Food Hub will have the following functions: 1) aggregate the produce that is received from local growers and neighborhood hubs, 2) keep it in chilled storage, 3) process it in certified “cold kitchen” facilities for juicing, dehydration, and freeze-drying, 4) pack, package, and deliver it to shippers and customers including other hubs, 5) test and analyze it for quality control, and 6) maintain network communication to coordinate network activity including synchronizing growing and harvesting with market demands. These functions are further described in the “Pahoa Food Hub Proposal” below.
The three ways we intend to incentivize people to grow (or grow more) produce:
There are so many interrelated functions the food hub could provide that we must start somewhere by limiting the scope and then allowing the planning and design process to take it from there.
The most basic function is the aggregation of incoming produce from the surrounding area and distribution of that produce to various markets. The hub will provide a pipeline buffer to synchronize between the producers and the buyers, i.e. batches at one end of the pipeline can be matched to more steady streams on the other end. This requires chilled storage areas in the range from 35 to 65 degrees but mostly in the 50s. For produce with the shortest shelf life, like many vegetables, the hub could also coordinate synchronization between producers, and buyers, so that the growing and harvesting is done at appropriate times to provide a more steady stream at all times.
The aggregation function can provide packing, marketing, and shipping services. Some producers may only want to use the shipping service because they already have a buyer, have already packed their produce, and only need the hub to perform delivery. Others may have packed their produce and want to just sell it to the hub which does the marketing and delivery. If the producer wants to sell the produce in bulk to the hub then the hub could do the packing as well. In this case, the bulk produce would be “triaged” into different quality grades intended for different purposes including 1) packed for delivery or shipment, 2) sold at an on-site produce market, 3) used for value added processing such as juicing, dehydrating, or freeze drying, 4) donated to charity, or 5) used for compost. The value added processing requires certified kitchen facilities and those facilities could be made available as a service when not in use by the hub itself..
The hub will need a business office with phones, internet, and printer for making signs and labels. It will also need a biochemical laboratory to analyze produce, tissue, and soil samples for the presence of contaminants, nutrients, mineral content, GMO’s, pathogens, etc. The laboratory capabilities can also be provided as a service.
The hub facilities will need at least one building that is air conditioned and contains the chilled storage, the on-site market, certified kitchen area, business office, and biochem lab. Other facilities would include a packing area with a forklift and pallets for shipping and receiving, a garage for one or more delivery trucks, restrooms, and a solar power system to both reduce costs and provide backup in case of brown outs.
Lastly, here must also be a refrigerated delivery truck and parking area for employees and customers.