URGING THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND BIOSECURITY TO JOINTLY DEVELOP A FARMER-TO-INSTITUTION COORDINATION PLAN THAT IS ALIGNED WITH THE AINA KITCHEN NETWORK ROLLOUT.

HCR94

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

94

THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026

STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

urging the department of education and department of
agriculture and biosecurity to jointly develop a farmer-to-institution
coordination plan that is aligned with the aina kitchen network rollout
.

����
WHEREAS, Act
175, Session Laws of Hawaii 2021, requires the Department of Education to
source thirty percent of school meal ingredients from local producers by 2030;
and

����
WHEREAS, in
the school year 2023-2024, the Department of Education achieved only 5.43
percent local food procurement, which is less than one-fifth of the thirty
percent target, with only four school years remaining before the 2030 deadline;
and

����
WHEREAS, Auditor's
Report No. 26-08 found systemic failures in the Department of Education's
approach to local food procurement including the absence of centralized
tracking software, inconsistent identification of locally sourced products, and
discrepancies between internal and reported food cost figures; and

����
WHEREAS, the
audit further found that schools left approximately $1,000,000 in federal Fresh
Fruit and Vegetable Program funds unspent in the 2023-2024 school year and an
additional $913,000 unspent in 2024-2025, representing nearly $2,000,000 in
available federal funding specifically designated for local produce that was
not utilized; and

����
WHEREAS, the
Department of Education broke ground in January 2026 on the first facility of
the "AINA Kitchen Network" in Whitmore Village; this facility will be
co-located on a thirty-four-acre parcel with the "Central O
ʻ
ahu Agriculture and
Food Hub" managed by the Agribusiness Development Corporation, which is
designed to support local farmers through aggregation, processing, storage, and
distribution of locally produced foods, is the first of seven planned regional
kitchens statewide, and is anticipated to begin serving meals to schools in the
Leilehua-Mililani-Waialua Complex Area in fall 2027; and

����
WHEREAS, the
state audit found that the Department of Education's AINA regional kitchen
network plans lack details and any formal joint plan between the Department of
Education and Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity to coordinate farmer
capacity-building with the kitchen network's phased demand requirements; and

����
WHEREAS, local
farmers face significant barriers to scaling production for institutional
markets, including the fact that eighty percent of Hawaii's more than 7,300
farms earn less than $25,000 annually, the State lost 82,000 acres of farmland
and over seven hundred farms between 2017 and 2022, and farmers require
long-term contract certainty to justify investment in the land, labor, and
infrastructure needed to produce at institutional scale; and

����
WHEREAS, the
Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity lacks the staffing and funding
necessary to assist farmers in scaling operations to meet institutional demand;
and

����
WHEREAS, the
Governor's budget for fiscal year 2026-2027 denied the Department of
Education's request for thirteen farm-to-school positions and nearly $1,500,000
in additional food funding, and federal funding cuts have placed an estimated
$64,000,000 to $175,000,000 at risk for Hawaii's food system; and

����
WHEREAS, Act
239, Session Laws of Hawaii 2025, established the Interagency Food Systems
Working Group to coordinate statewide food systems planning, and the AINA
Kitchen Network represents the single largest state investment in local food
infrastructure in Hawaii's history, making it critical that a coordinated
farmer supply strategy accompany the construction timeline; and

����
WHEREAS, although
procurement reforms, such as raising the small purchase threshold for the purchase
of local edible produce and packaged food products through Act 134, Session
Laws of Hawaii 2025, will help the Department of Education purchase from
smaller local farmers, procurement reform alone cannot close the gap between
institutional demand and local production capacity without a deliberate,
coordinated plan to help farmers identify, grow, and deliver the crops that the
AINA Kitchen Network will need at each phase of its rollout; now, therefore,

����
BE IT
RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-third Legislature of the
State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2026, the Senate concurring, that the
Department of Education and Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity, in
consultation with the Interagency Food Systems Working Group established under
Act 239, Session Laws of Hawaii 2025, Agribusiness Development Corporation, and
Hawaii Farm Bureau, are urged to jointly develop a Farmer-to-Institution
Coordination Plan aligned with the phased rollout of the AINA Kitchen Network;
and

����
BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED that the Farmer-to-Institution Coordination Plan include:

����
(1)
�
Identification of the specific crops,
proteins, and value-added products the AINA Kitchen Network will require at
each phase of construction;

����
(2)
�
An assessment of current local production
capacity for those items and the gap between current supply and projected
institutional demand;

����
(3)
�
A farmer capacity-building strategy
identifying the land, infrastructure, workforce development, and technical
assistance needed to close that gap;

����
(4)
�
A procurement contract structure that provides
farmers with the multi-year certainty necessary to invest in scaling their
operations;

����
(5)
�
A timeline with measurable milestones aligned
with each phase of the AINA Kitchen Network rollout; and

����
(6)
�
A proposal to implement a centralized, digital
system, to replace the current reliance on handwritten records, for tracking
local food procurement across schools statewide, with the capabilities of:

���������
(A)
�
Identifying which products are locally sourced;

���������
(B)
�
Tracking spending at the school and complex
area level; and

���������
(C)
�
Producing data sufficient for independent
verification of the Department of Education's annual progress reports in
meeting the goals of sourcing school meal ingredients from local producers to
the Legislature; and

����
BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED that the Department of Education is requested to take immediate steps
to ensure full utilization of all available federal funding for local produce
procurement, including the federal Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program; and

����
BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED that the Department of Education and Department of Agriculture and
Biosecurity are requested to jointly submit to the Legislature, no later than
twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2027, the
Farmer-to-Institution Coordination Plan, including any findings,
recommendations, proposed legislation, and the amount of federal local food
funding received, expended, and unexpended for school year 2026-2027; and

����
BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the
Chairperson of the Board of Education, Superintendent of Education, Chairperson
of the Board of Agriculture and Biosecurity, Executive Director of the
Agribusiness Development Corporation, and President of the Hawaii Farm Bureau.

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:
�

Department
of Education; Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity; Farmer-to-Institution
Coordination Plan