A federal agency and the University of Hawaii are collaborating to create a new online resource to help Big Island farmers.
The project, funded by a $150,000 grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and in partnership with the Keaukaha Panaewa Farmers Association, will create an online dashboard displaying various climate and environmental conditions and forecasts to aid Panaewa farmers in increasing the yield of their farms.
Jim Potemra, a specialist at UH-Manoa’s School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, said the project — called Keaʻahuli O Panaʻewa — is still in its very early stages, and likely won’t bear fruit for another year. But the project is based off of a similar initiative he worked on in the Marshall Islands several years ago.
“We found that people (in the Marshalls) needed a tool to help them determine what they should be planting, when they should be planting,” Potemra said.
Based on this need, Potemra said he worked with UH-Hilo researchers to develop a dashboard for the Marshall Islands that displays updated data on local rainfall, sea level, wind speed, the status of the El Nino/La Nina cycle, and current seasonal outlooks for specific locations within the islands.
This dashboard, Potemra said, would be the model for the Keaukaha website.
“The utility is in collecting all this data in one space,” Potemra said. “For the Marshall Islands dashboard, if you wanted to get information on the El Nino phases, you’d be going to one site, and if you wanted information about a planting calendar, you’d go to another.”
Maile Lu‘uwai, president of the Keaukaha Panaewa Farmers Association, said the site is the first step in creating a poly-forestry model for Panaewa farmers. Poly-forestry — where “poly” is short for “Polynesian” — is a means of land management that maximizes the land’s yield by combining tree and plant crops on a unit of land.
Through the climate dashboard, farmers will be able to tap into world-class climate and environmental expertise to plan their crops year-round, Lu‘uwai said.
“It’s going to be way better for us,” Lu‘uwai said. “We might be able to grow different types of crops throughout the year, depending on the data we have available.”
If the project is successful, Lu‘uwai said the the poly-forestry system will be tailored for the Panaewa community and help improve its resilience.
“If there’s a major disaster, we’re in big trouble,” Lu‘uwai said. “So, in good times, we’ll be doing our programming on our site. But in bad times, we’ll use it as a disaster hub where people and the Red Cross can gather for resources.”
Lu‘uwai added that the impacts of climate change on the island are inevitable, and that the data provided by NOAA and UH will be invaluable in adapting to those impacts.
Currently, Lu‘uwai said the project will utilize a two-acre lot and has a one-year partnership with NOAA. However, she added, the project could be renewed for up to five years, which could help serve as a model for farming communities throughout the state.
Lu‘uwai said that, by next spring, the association should have an idea of what they should be planting and how great their crop yield will be. For now, however, Potemra said the site will probably not go online for several months at least.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.