Situated across from Home Depot on Railroad Avenue in Hilo, the Panaewa Hawaiian Farmers Market is tasked with giving Hawaiian families easier access to Hawaiian and locally grown foods.

Situated across from Home Depot on Railroad Avenue in Hilo, the Panaewa Hawaiian Farmers Market is tasked with giving Hawaiian families easier access to Hawaiian and locally grown foods.

Founder Milnor Lum envisioned providing a Native Planters’ Learning center with a certified kitchen, experiential farming plots and workshops for community members to learn how to become agricultural entrepreneurs.

Last year, University of Hawaii at Hilo professor of horticulture William Sakai began teaching hydroponic classes at the market on Saturday afternoons. Using funding from a USDA grant, K-6 students at Hilo Union School were able to grow their own lettuce. The first year, the students grew more than 800 pounds of lettuce.

The program expanded to more than 2,500 K-12 students across the island last year, with another 2,000 to be added this year.

Now, the market is collaborating with the Children’s Healthy Living Program to implement strategies that prevent childhood obesity and improve community health.

In Hilo, the program administrator worked to design a community-based, culturally focused program concentrating on the cultivation of taro and supporting other sustainable gardens.

To learn more, visit the Panaewa Farmers Market at 3:30 p.m. Saturday for the beginning of a new series of free workshops and lessons.