Hawaiʻi farmers are fighting to keep their soil from flushing out to sea
From kalo to cacao, farmers are adapting to effects of a changing climate by fusing traditional Hawaiian practices with new, regenerative agricultural techniques to save soils, streams and reefs.
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Climate change is only making that harder. The region is experiencing more intense periods of drought, which dries out the soil, followed by more intense periods of rain, which flushes it off the farm and muddies the coastal waters miles below.
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Farmers like Breen understand their soil was built over millions of years and is difficult to replace, and they recognize their farms have an influence on the entire watershed’s health — what happens in the mountains affects the reefs below. For this part of Oʻahu, that means Kaiaka Bay, which is showing elevated levels of sediments and contaminants across most metrics, including possible chemical pollutants.
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The farmers’ methods reflect a return to Indigenous agricultural values that blend new techniques with a more holistic approach to environmentally friendly food production. This involves negotiating modern property lines, water availability and environmental priorities.
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It’s hard to tell just how much progress has been made through regenerative techniques because positive changes on a few acres in the hills take awhile to manifest downstream. But it’s all part of an integrated system, as it was in the days when the land was managed as an ahupuaʻa — a past that Kamananui Orchards cacao farmer Breen occasionally ponders.
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