Hawaiʻi Statewide Food Systems Coordination (HSFSC)

Background 

In 2024, a group of philanthropic funders came together with the Governor of Hawaiʻi in support of a local food project specialist team to support accelerating progress on Hawai’i food systems goals. 

The goals of this  Hawaiʻi Statewide Food Systems Coordination (HSFSC) work are to:

1. Engage the broader agricultural communities, stakeholders, and professionals to align efforts toward a more sustainable and food-secure future.
2. Pursue federal resources for local food and agriculture systems.
3. Address key infrastructure barriers to local agriculture and innovation.
4. Advance institutional procurement of local food.
5. Support relevant policy initiatives and priorities.

The State of Hawaiʻi’s Interagency Food Systems Working Group

Recently, ACT 239 (2025) formalized this vision and established a statewide Food Systems Working Group co-chaired by the Chair of Agriculture and Biosecurity and the Director of the Department of Business, Economic Development. The aims of this work are to improve coordination and planning across state agencies and stakeholders involved in Hawaiʻi’s food systems. 

The interagency food systems working group shall:

1. Developing governance, decision-making, and operating protocols.
2. Coordinating with county and community-led organizations that are involved with food systems planning.
3. Identifying resources to support interagency food systems coordination and implementation efforts.
4. Developing internal and external communication processes.
5. Creating time-bound implementation plans and ways to measure progress toward statewide food systems goals.
6. Utilizing policy impact analysis tools to evaluate proposed actions.

SR 111 Food Systems Working Group Report:

• A precursor to ACT 239, SR 111 working group outlined interagency priorities for 2025-2026: 
  https://dab.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/AGR-SR111-Sust-Food-System-WG.pdf

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