Twice a week, Kuilima Farm workers are in the fields by about 5 a.m. They huddle over rows of crops, the picking lit only by the headlights of an ATV and a small floodlight. The team then takes its harvest to its new washing and packing facility. Leaves are dumped into water-filled tubs before drying in a modified washing machine; root vegetables are cleaned in a refashioned concrete mixer. Not long after sunrise the orders are ready to be dispatched. Most of Kuilima’s weekly 1,000-pound harvest will go to Turtle Bay Resort, though demand for the farm’s produce is increasing because it processes its crops in accordance with federal food safety standards. Kuilima is one of only 100 of the state’s 7,300 farms certified under U.S. Department of Agriculture food safety guidelines. But food safety proponents say certification by the U.S. Department of Agriculture or state equivalents, not only assures customers that farms meet food standards, but they are also key to opening up new markets. “The ones that are certified right now, they’re inundated with orders,” Hawaii Agricultural Foundation Dean Okimoto said. “It really is a marketing tool for farmers,” he said. At Kuilima Farm on the North […]
K&X Design and Investment Technology, LLC
Invest The Invisible Impact
K&X Design and Investment Technology, LLC
Invest The Invisible Impact
