Hawaii Institute of Pacific Agriculture

Hawaii Institute of PAcific Agriculture' mission is to practice and teach ecologically conscious agriculture, empowering individuals and communities to cultivate alternative systems of living that restore human and environmental health. HIP Agriculture is a conscious movement of inspired individuals living a model of sustainability through direct engagement with the earth and service to youth and communities. Located in beautiful, historic North Kohala, HIP Agriculture is a growing community that cultivates a diverse collection of Polynesian crops and operates as an educational site offering sustainable agriculture courses, youth programming, community workshops and events. Through farming and hands-on education HIP Agriculture is pioneering a new paradigm of conscious agriculture that honors indigenous wisdom, food sovereignty and the transformational power of returning to the land. The Halawa Campus is the headquarters of HIP Agriculture. It is set in a beautiful mature orchard producing bananas, oranges, tangelos, avocados, breadfruit, coconuts, zapotes, lychee, Kukui nut, coffee, macadamia nuts and other tropical fruits. The ancestral lands are rich with old-growth bamboo groves, extensive banyan tree networks, and ancient Lo’i terraces. The house at Halawa serves as staff housing, classroom, office, design studio, and library. Other facilities include student kitchen, outdoor showers,  community stage and outdoor classroom. At the Hawaii Institute of Pacific Agriculture we cultivate a variety of Polynesian, native, tropical fruits, and medicines. We ‘re interested in cultivating plants that provide for human needs while restoring the environment through reforestation, and soil building. Polynesian plants we cultivate include: Taro, Sweet potato, yam, breadfruit,  almost 30 banana varieties,  10 kava varieties, kamani, kukui, noni, sugar cane and many others. We also cultivate more recently introduced fruits like papaya,