{"id":151226,"date":"2023-12-15T08:00:19","date_gmt":"2023-12-15T13:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/?p=151226"},"modified":"2024-08-30T00:47:05","modified_gmt":"2024-08-30T04:47:05","slug":"meet-the-taro-farmer-restoring-ecosystem-hawaii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/2023\/12\/meet-the-taro-farmer-restoring-ecosystem-hawaii\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Taro Farmer Restoring an Ecosystem Through Native Hawaiian Practices"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sprouting deep within the verdant pleats of O\u02bbahu\u2019s Ko\u02bbolau Mountains, He\u02bbeia stream winds through <\/span>Kako\u02bbo \u02bbO\u02bbiwi<\/span><\/a>, a non-profit organization centered on a six-acre taro farm, before emptying into the wide mouth of Kane\u2018ohe Bay.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2001, executive director Kanekoa Shultz, a marine biologist and seaweed expert, helped rebuild the adjacent <\/span>Paepae o He\u02bbeia<\/span><\/a> fishpond. Originally constructed by Native Hawaiians hundreds of years before colonization, the effort resurrected a 1.3-mile rock-walled lagoon used for aquaculture. Yet, when heavy rains repeatedly choked the basin with sediment, Shultz realized that the pond was but one piece of a larger ecosystem in dire need of rehabilitation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Six years later, Shultz went on to establish Kako\u02bbo \u02bbO\u02bbiwi (the name roughly translates to \u201cHelping Native Hawaiians\u201d) on an untended, 405-acre parcel located directly across from the fishpond. Since then, he\u2019s led the incremental effort to restore the fallowed land into lo\u02bbi kalo, the traditional Hawaiian irrigation system used to grow kalo, the Indigenous name for taro.<\/span><\/p>\n

Enlisting a staff of 16 and an army of volunteers, the organization cultivates the crop in knee-deep water diverted from He\u02bbeia stream. In addition to supplying the community with fresh corms and spinach-like leaves high in calcium and fiber, an on-site kitchen churns out value-added products such as poi, or taro pounded into a starchy staple, and kulolo, a traditional pudding sweetened with coconut milk and raw sugar.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kako\u02bbo O\u02bbiwi\u2019s efforts, however, extend far beyond promoting Native farming traditions and nourishing the community. Its farming practices also help re-establish a vital ecological role: The irrigated ponds absorb floodwater and filter sediment flowing to the sea while the crops create wildlife habitat and curb invasive plant growth. As stewards of both island culture and terrain, \u201cwe\u2019re restoring pono\u2014restoring balance to the land,\u201d says Shultz.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Shultz (right) leads volunteers in shredding taro. (Photo: Naoki Nitta)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Funded largely by private and community donors, it\u2019s a tall order for the scrappy non-profit, which operates under a 38-year lease granted by the state in 2009. The focus on conservation, however, is imperative, he adds, for undoing decades of neglect and mitigating the challenges of a rapidly changing climate.<\/span><\/p>\n

Heavy, angry water<\/b><\/h2>\n

As a primary food source, kalo holds a reverent place in Native Hawaiian culture, playing a prominent role in its origin story. Before the prevalence of large-scale, Western agriculture, \u201cevery valley that had a stream had a kalo plantation,\u201d says Derek Kekaulike Mar, as he helps peel piles of raw taro tagged for a batch of kulolo. A childhood friend of Shultz\u2019s, the frequent volunteer works for a subsidiary of the <\/span>Hawaiian Native Corporation<\/span><\/a>, a Native-run, nonprofit community impact organization and a Kako\u02bbo O\u02bbiwi donor.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hawaiians traditionally divided land into <\/span>ahupua\u02bba<\/span><\/a>, or self-sustaining units of agricultural production that stretch between the mountains and the ocean. Along with taro patches, the triangular swaths encompassed a range of terrain, from upland timber forests to rain-fed crop fields and orchards in the lowlands. And in many places, they extended to a fishpond\u2014ancient Hawaiians built nearly <\/span>500<\/span><\/a> throughout the islands\u2014with all the pieces connected by a stream.<\/span><\/p>\n

Recent research<\/span><\/a> has shown that this agricultural system, while only consuming six percent of land, allowed the islands to be self-sufficient in feeding an estimated pre-colonial population of 1.2 million. The study, which was conducted through Kamehameha Schools, a private school system dedicated to educating children with Hawaiian ancestry, concludes that the same methods could feed 86 percent of the state\u2019s current population of 1.4 million\u2014a striking finding for an archipelago that now imports nearly <\/span>90 percent<\/span><\/a> of its food while exporting 80 percent of its crops.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Staff member and Farmer Specialist Nick Reppun steams lo\u02bbi. (Photo: Naoki Nitta)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Within each ahupua\u02bba, a network of taro ponds functioned as surrogate wetlands, regulating the flux of water and removing contaminants flowing downstream. \u201cSo the health of the kalo is an indicator of health for the whole ecosystem,\u201d Mar explains.<\/span><\/p>\n

Colonization and the imposition of private land ownership created seismic shifts in both Native culture and the landscape. As large-scale sugarcane and pineapple plantations began flourishing in the mid-19th century, they consumed land by the tens of thousands of acres and siphoned water supplies, eventually drying up the majority of lo\u02bbi kalo throughout the islands.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the ahupua\u02bba of He\u02bbeia, numerous taro fields had laid fallow since the 1940s, until Kako\u02bbo O\u02bbiwi began restoration. Those efforts, however, are integral to a greater system: They bridge the work of <\/span>Papahana Kuaola<\/span><\/a>, an educational non-profit that keeps upstream waters and forests free of debris and invasive, non-native flora, with the working fishpond located downstream.<\/span><\/p>\n

Together, the triad works to maintain a clean water supply for the estuary while nourishing a range of Native crops. Besides kalo, both inland organizations cultivate ulu (breadfruit), sweet potatoes and bananas, while the ponds nurture herbivorous fish such as \u2018ama\u2019ama (striped mullet), awa (milkfish) and pualu (surgeonfish), as well as crab and shrimp.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Lo\u02bbi kalo at Kako\u02bbo \u02bbO\u02bbiwi. (Photo: Naoki Nitta)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The traditional agricultural system also supports native fauna, including the endangered \u2018alae \u2018ula (Hawaiian moorhen). The red-beaked waterbird, whose population hovers around <\/span>1,000<\/span><\/a>, nests in taro patches, making the lo\u02bbi kalo a crucial habitat.<\/span><\/p>\n

Increasingly erratic weather patterns have also made taro farming central to maintaining the health of the ecosystem. The past eight years have brought \u201cmore rain bombs,\u201d says Shultz. While rain falls with less frequency, each storm carries more volume, upping the potential for \u201cheavy, angry water.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Because flood pulses suffocate the estuary, the health of the fishpond and reef beyond is directly dependent on the filtration system, says Shultz. Moreover, kalo fields are remarkably effective at absorbing floodwater. \u201cOne acre can bank about a foot of water,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you multiply that over a hundred acres\u2014that\u2019s over 30 million gallons of water [banked] per rain event.\u201d Achieve that, and \u201cnow you\u2019re actually starting to create some [meaningful] climate adaptation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Building a balanced system<\/b><\/h2>\n

Currently, the 50 acres of fields yield approximately 600 pounds of taro a week. Although Shultz\u2019s goal is to triple production, scaling up has its challenges: Cultivation is a year-round, labor-intensive job that involves planting 1,000 bulbs weekly, in standing water, and harvesting an equal amount.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to selling poi and kulolo, the farm is diversifying its revenue stream by incorporating non-traditional practices. \u201cWe\u2019re taking care of the land that\u2019s sustained us for thousands of years\u2014in a contemporary system,\u201d says Shultz. \u201cIt\u2019s a balance,\u201d much like him, he adds\u2014a Native Hawaiian and a blend of other ethnicities. Along with a mushroom-growing facility in the works, he\u2019s added high-value timber such as mahogany trees; 90 heads of sheep that mow down weeds and other invasive plants; and pigs that consume food and crop scraps such as tough and hairy taro peels. \u201cWe\u2019ll be eating those buggers soon,\u201d he says of the livestock. \u201cWe sell them, we trade them, we give them away.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite these endeavors, the non-profit currently remains 90 percent dependent on grants. Still, \u201cthe biological returns far outpace our agricultural revenues,\u201d says Shultz, and the investment in the land extends far beyond the reaches of the ahupua\u02bba.<\/span><\/p>\n

Between food sovereignty, climate resilience and reviving cultural practices, \u201cyou can put all kinds of labels\u201d on these efforts, says Shultz. But, ultimately, they all support one goal: \u201cIt\u2019s the ability for us to determine our own future.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sprouting deep within the verdant pleats of O\u02bbahu\u2019s Ko\u02bbolau Mountains, He\u02bbeia stream winds through Kako\u02bbo \u02bbO\u02bbiwi, a non-profit organization centered on a six-acre taro farm, before emptying into the wide mouth of Kane\u2018ohe Bay.\u00a0 In 2001, executive director Kanekoa Shultz, a marine biologist and seaweed expert, helped rebuild the adjacent Paepae o He\u02bbeia fishpond. Originally […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1811,"featured_media":151228,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":[33277],"meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33067],"tags":[33301,33218,33085],"article-theme":[33291],"class_list":["post-151226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-farm","tag-access","tag-culture-heritage","tag-ecosystem","format-mtmf","article-theme-people"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMeet the Taro Farmer Restoring an Ecosystem Through Native Hawaiian Practices - Modern Farmer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sprouting deep within the verdant pleats of O\u02bbahu\u2019s Ko\u02bbolau Mountains, He\u02bbeia stream winds through Kako\u02bbo \u02bbO\u02bbiwi, a non-profit organization centered on a\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/2023\/12\/meet-the-taro-farmer-restoring-ecosystem-hawaii\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meet the Taro Farmer Restoring an Ecosystem Through Native Hawaiian Practices - 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