Fair Food Network: Rooted in Paradise: Oahu’s Rise as a Hub for Food Innovation and Sovereignty

In Hawai’i, an analysis done as part of the state’s Aloha+ Challenge shows that Hawai’i has an overall food self-sufficiency ratio (SSR) — representing the percentage of food consumed and produced domestically — of 15.7%. It’s overall food import dependency ratio (IDR) of 102.5% is up to three times the IDR in the mainland United States, which is relatively self-sufficient in food production. When the majority of supplies residents depend on are arriving by ocean barge, what happens if there is a disruption to these deliveries? And if the barge doesn’t come, how long will existing supplies sustain communities?