{"id":18797,"date":"2026-03-05T07:17:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T17:17:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/?p=18797"},"modified":"2026-03-12T07:09:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T17:09:41","slug":"2026-hawai%ca%bbi-public-schools-advancing-farm-to-school-efforts-with-new-small-farm-partnerships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/zh\/2026-hawai%ca%bbi-public-schools-advancing-farm-to-school-efforts-with-new-small-farm-partnerships\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawai\u02bbi public schools advancing farm-to-school efforts with new small farm partnerships"},"content":{"rendered":"

K\u0100NE\u02bbOHE \u2014  To advance farm-to-school initiatives, the Hawai\u02bbi State Department of Education (HIDOE) is rolling out a new process that encourages small farm micropurchases of locally grown produce for school meals across the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students at Kahalu\u02bbu Elementary School enjoyed locally grown microgreens on their lunch plates today, harvested just across the street from campus at Kupu Place<\/a>. Because of the farm\u2019s close proximity, the greens were picked Sunday, delivered Tuesday, and served to students Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The microgreen mix featured mustard greens including kale, mizuna, arugula and amaranth, served alongside a classic student-favorite cheeseburger entr\u00e9e. The greens will also appear later this month as a garnish for the school\u2019s teri burger lunch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While some Kahalu\u02bbu students were already familiar with microgreens, it was many students\u2019 first time trying them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I got my plate and I got the microgreens, I thought, \u2018Wait, we actually got microgreens?\u2019\u2019 sixth grader Chloe Preston said. \u201cPersonally, I really like microgreens. I think it’s a good vegetable.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe microgreens weren’t bad,\u201d added fourth grader Brian-James Pakele. \u201cSometimes I don’t really like grabbing the vegetables but today I thought it would be a good idea because I haven’t been eating my vegetables.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey were really crunchy and fresh,\u201d sixth grader Emiko Shimizu said. \u201cI would want to eat it again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The partnership between Kahalu\u02bbu Elementary and Kupu Place marks the first small farm micropurchase to be completed under HIDOE\u2019s new process. The initiative enables schools to purchase produce directly from small farms while remaining in compliance with state procurement requirements. Under the program, purchases must remain under a $5,000 cap over the 10-month school year and focus on a single farm or food hub providing a specific item to one school. The produce must also fit within an approved HIDOE recipe, and vendors must maintain Hawai\u02bbi Compliance Express compliance and food safety certification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe’re super happy for this new partnership with Kahalu\u02bbu Elementary,\u201d said Ryan Rautureau, farm lead at Kupu Place. \u201cThe micropurchasing arrangement is very cool and promising for farms like us\u2026 I would hope that the partnership solidifies and then expands. Hopefully we are expanding our growing operation in order to feed more kids, and hopefully more farms are getting involved as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond increasing the availability of fresh, locally grown produce in school meals, the new micropurchase process aims to strengthen students\u2019 connection to local agriculture. The initiative is part of HIDOE\u2019s broader farm-to-school program, which supports food sustainability in Hawai\u02bbi and aligns with \u7b2c175\u53f7\u6cd5\u6848<\/a>\u2019s goals to improve student health while strengthening the local agricultural economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe kids can come over and see where their food comes from,\u201d Rautureau added. \u201cWe\u2019ve visited the school, and students have also come over to the farm.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As student Preston enjoyed her microgreens during lunch, she recalled visiting the farm herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI did some farming over there,\u201d she said. \u201cI pulled weeds, watered the plants, and got to go inside where everything is grown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additional micropurchasing agreements are in development across the state, including collaborations between school cafeterias and school gardens, as well as additional small farm produce purchases on Kaua\u02bbi, Hawai\u02bbi Island and Maui.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hawai\u02bbi public schools are among the state\u2019s largest institutional food consumers, serving more than 100,000 student meals each day. HIDOE continues to work with local farmers and vendors statewide to expand the regular use of fresh, Hawai\u02bbi-grown produce in school cafeterias.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"farm\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"salad\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

K\u0100NE\u02bbOHE \u2014  To advance farm-to-school initiatives, the Hawai\u02bbi State Department of Education (HIDOE) is rolling out a new process that encourages small farm micropurchases of locally grown produce for school meals across the state. Students at Kahalu\u02bbu Elementary School enjoyed locally grown microgreens on their lunch plates today, harvested just across the street from campus […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":18799,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"856,888,893,1022,1619,1622","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","wp_popup_display_lightbox":0,"wp_popup_suppress":"","wp_popup_trigger":"","wp_popup_trigger_amount":0,"wp_popup_disable_on_mobile":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":21,"label":"News"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Kahalu\u2018u-El.-Microgreens-PS631635-1024x683.jpg",1024,683,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Sara Miyazono","author_link":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/zh\/author\/sara-miyazonok12-hi-us\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":21,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":21,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":305,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":21,"category_count":305,"category_description":"","cat_name":"News","category_nicename":"news","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-11 06:41:15","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"post_status","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18797"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18855,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18797\/revisions\/18855"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}