Education department’s pilot program serves locally grown squash in Kaua‘i cafeterias

Fourteen years ago, the nonprofit Mālama Kaua‘i established initiatives to get local food on cafeteria plates.

This month, it finally happened, with 200 pounds of prepared kabocha squash distributed to four public schools across the Garden Isle through a farm-to-school pilot program.

Mālama Kaua‘i is under contract with the Hawai‘i State Department of Education to implement the program.

“It’s really exciting to see the DOE making some progress,” said Megan Fox, the executive director of Mālama Kaua‘i.

Due to the passage of Act 175 in 2021, the education department must increase its use of local foods on school menus. Locally sourced produce and ground beef now make up 6.1% of the department’s food purchases. It must reach 10% by 2025 and 30% by 2030.

The farm-to-school program has been marked by years of sluggish progress, but in January, Hawai‘i Public Radio in January reported growing support among state lawmakers for the initiative.

The news outlet stated Randy Tanaka, former assistant superintendent with the education department’s Office of Facilities and Operations, was the primary opponent of bills supporting the farm-to-school program due to concerns about costs and logistics until he was replaced in December 2023.

“At Kawaikini charter school in Līhu‘e … we actually had hit 45% local on the plate,” Fox said of those early models established 14 years ago at two Kaua‘i charter schools. “But essentially, it was not to scale, at the scale of DOE.”

Mālama Kaua‘i purchased the kabocha squash from local farmer, then cubed, parboiled and froze the veggies in its Moloa‘a-based ʻĀina Center, a $3.2 million food hub that opened in late February.

Cafeterias at Kīlauea Elementary, Kapa’a Middle School, Kalāheo Elementary and Hanalei Elementary served the squash.

“It was really easy for their food service department to be able to produce it into the meal for that many kids,” Fox said.

Nuʻuanu Elementary School on Oʻahu was also among schools to serve kabocha as part of a special holiday lunch menu.

A spokesperson stated the department of education “is actively pursuing its statutory mandate” to put more locally sourced food on cafeteria plates.

Strategies reported by the department include the development of a regional kitchen model, beginning with a central facility in the Leilehua-Mililani-Waialua Complex Area on O‘ahu.

Streamlined procurement processes and the implementation of Good Agricultural Practices certification requirements for all produce suppliers, effective for the 2025-26 academic year, also were cited.

The department of education’s latest local meals report, issued in October to the Hawai‘i State Legislature, noted the detrimental impact of climate change on some farmers’ yields. Record-high temperatures in 2020 stymied lettuce production on an O‘ahu farm, halting the crop’s distribution among O‘ahu school districts until 2024.

The recent farm-to-school pilot program on Kaua‘i was limited to the production and distribution of the kabocha squash, according to Fox.

Mālama Kaua‘i will be prepared when the education department next pushes its farm-to-school program forward: The nonprofit’s projects include its recent development of kalo (taro) french fries.

“We’re ready to provide them with more products when they’re ready,” Fox said.