Prospective farmers with a gift for writing and a new idea for cultivating leased land are invited to enter Kamehameha Schools’ (KS) agricultural business plan contest, Mahi’ai Match-up.<\/p>\n
Winners will be awarded start-up money and an agricultural lease – up to five years rent-free – on some of the estate’s agricultural property. Oahu parcels include .8 acres at Wahiawa, formerly in watercress, between Leeward Community College and the Pearl Harbor National Wildlife Refuge; and 6.327 acres of former sugar cane land at Pa’ala’a on the North Shore near Haleiwa Elementary School and Kaiaka Bay.<\/p>\n
KS and the Ke Ali’i Pauahi Foundation invite farmers, entrepreneurs and “anyone with a fresh, innovative idea” to submit their initial business plan proposal by July 1.<\/p>\n
“Mahi’ai Match-up is an exciting way (for us) to partner with other generous supporters of the sustainable agricultural movement in Hawaii, such as the Ulupono Initiative,” said foundation executive director Keawe Liu, “to move our community closer to food security.”<\/p>\n