An environmental assessment is underway as The Food Basket works on plans to open its new Hilo property to beginning- and intermediate-level farmers by January 2025.
The Food Basket began clearing the 24.5-acre parcel, located by Homelani Cemetery off Ponahawai Street, over a year ago for its long-planned Ho‘olako Agricultural Innovation Park and Food System Campus.
Although the design for the future community food center and food bank, innovation center, agricultural support office and community center has not been finalized, the goal has always been to invite farmers to start tilling the land and growing food as soon as possible.
Although some bureaucratic red tape has caused some delays, the EA could be complete by October.
If no significant findings are reported in the EA, The Food Basket can tap into a $1.6 million Community Project Funding grant — U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development funds set aside by U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz.
“The grant is for predevelopment and is dependent on a completed EA before we can use them,” said Ho‘olako Project Director Justin Clayton. “Some of that will be used for fencing for the agricultural land, but the major expense will be grubbing the property.”
When the land is ready for farming, The Food Basket will first look to its current partnerships with GoFarms Hawaii and the Hawaii Community College School of Agriculture and invite student farmers to start tilling the land and growing food.
“The major expense will be the grubbing, but once the farmers are out there, it will be all about tilling the land, growing food, and seeing what works. It’s an educational process,” Clayton said. “The next phase will be developing a space for them to process the foods they grow, and hopefully we can start that in the beginning of 2026.”
The Food Basket has also put out a public notice for its zoning application, which currently is in process. Eight acres of the property are zoned for commercial residential, and the remaining is zoned for agriculture, according to Clayton.
While the zoning designations work for its future goals, The Food Basket is in the process of amending the required construction timeline to 10 years for completing the project.
“It’s going pretty well. The key is keeping in regular contact with the county,” Clayton said. “Mayor (Mitch) Roth is our responsible entity for this project and everyone at the county has been very supportive.”
According to Executive Director Kristin Frost Albrecht, support has also come from The Food Basket’s board members, who have decided to serve until completion of the project, and private donors, who have given the nonprofit enough support to get everything started this year.
“We have so many people who are all in on this project, because they know how important it is for the future of food security on our island,” Albrecht said. “Hawaii Island can be a leader in food sustainability, and I hope we can replicate Ho‘olako on other island nations in need of a sustainable food source.”
Meanwhile, The Food Basket has been working on other agricultural initiatives and utilizing diverse farming methods through pilot programs.
The nonprofit has been experimenting with hyrdroponics by using a Fork Farms’ Flex Farm, which grows produce using hydroponic technology that is portable and can be used indoors. Some of the vegetables grown already have been used in Da Box program, which uses purchased produce from Hawaii Island farmers and is distributed to people islandwide.
Those efforts ramp up further with arrival of a Freight Farms’ Greenery S — a 40-foot hydroponic container farm that allows fresh food to grow anywhere in the world, all year long. The container farm could be set up behind The Food Basket’s Kilauea office at 1284 Kilauea Ave. as early as Monday.
The Food Basket is planning a community meeting about Ho‘olako for September, although a date has not been set.
“We definitely have things moving forward, and there are many good things happening quietly,” Albrecht said. “We will be ramping up our plans for a capital campaign soon and working on our other programs to help serve Hawaii Island.”
For more information about The Food Basket’s food assistance programs, healthy food access, farming initiatives and the vision for Ho’olako, visit hawaiifoodbasket.org.
Email Kelsey Walling at kwalling@hawaiitribune-herald.com.