County of Hawaii

Coalition Lead Applicant: County of Hawaii

Project Title: Building Hawaii Island’s Agriculture Cluster

Region (applicant-defined): Hawai’i Island

Cluster Sector(s): Agriculture

Concept Proposal Narrative (applicant submitted) (PDF)

Project Description:
The Hawai'i Island coalition, led by Hawaii County, seeks to create a robust agricultural economy that corrects past systemic barriers to growth that are unique to an island market, while also helping the island respond to economic downturns due to the pandemic and natural disasters. The project hopes to divert 20 percent of Hawai'i's food import market to local producers, creating thousands of new jobs and stimulating the specialty export market. If provided implementation funding, the coalition proposes to support the cluster's growth by building an industrial park, improving knowledge transfer, and increasing food processing/production capacity to create a robust agricultural economy, reduce food imports and increase local GDP growth.

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