So far in this mini-series, we've looked at community-owned land and why that is important in a world where land is ever more financialized. This week we're talking about farmer cooperatives and in particular an in an incredible farmer cooperative called 'Ulu Coop in Hawai'i.
Hawaiʻi today imports around 90% of its food but It wasn't always this way. For a thousand years the islands fed themselves. Then came colonization, and the sugar and pineapple plantations which turned all of that into an export economy, growing food for somebody else. The last pineapple plantation closed in 2016 and left behind degraded land, little processing infrastructure, and a population living on imported food.
Which brings us to ʻulu - or breadfruit. A canoe crop, carried across the Pacific by the first Polynesian settlers, and culturally significant to Hawaiians for generations. It should be the perfect staple for the islands but for most of the last century it has been commercially worthless.
Today, we are talking to one of the founders and CEO, Dana Shapiro. In 2016, she and nine other farmers started a cooperative. Ten years on, the Hawaiʻi ʻUlu Cooperative has more than 220 farmer-owners across four islands and close to 10,000 trees.
Learn more about 'Ulu at the links below:
Their 10 year anniversary blog: https://ulu.coop/celebrating-10-years-of-growing-together
Shop ʻulu products: https://eatbreadfruit.com/collections/shop
Their cooperative model: https://ulu.coop/the-cooperative-structure
Their impact story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYCBfz6oy7I
IG, FB & YT: @hawaiiulucoop
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Agrarian Futures is produced by Alexandre Miller, who also wrote our theme song. This episode was edited by Drew O’Doherty.