APAAU — When he was younger, Aukea Kaaekuahiwi didn’t realize everything it takes to get dinner to the table.
“When I was small, I thought, ‘OK, things just happen,’” the 16-year-old said. “‘They just come onto our plate. I don’t know how, but it just comes to our plate.’”
Now a bit older and wiser, he knows there’s more to it than that.
Almost two and a half years since he started raising pigs with his brother, Alii, the two Kohala High School sophomores created an enterprise that not only puts food on their family’s plates and money in their wallets, it’s also resulted in a model for small, local agriculture in their community.
Aukea Kaaekuahiwi was recently awarded a $10,000 grant and named a 2019 Dreamstarter for Running Strong for American Indian Youth for his and his brother’s hog operation they call The Swine Project.
“Stuff needs to stay local. We don’t have to keep importing food. We don’t have to depend on the barge,” Aukea said.
Since 2015, the Dreamstarter program has given grants each year to a nonprofit to mentor a young person in support of a project driven by the youth’s dream for his or her community.
The honor also involves a trip to Washington, D.C., next month for Dreamstarter Academy. The academy brings together the grant recipients for the opportunity to develop their leadership skill.
Aukea and Alii raise the hogs as part of their involvement in Kahua Paa Mua, which has a program that mentors youth in Korean natural farming techniques. The method emphasizes the use of microorganisms in agriculture to boost soil health, and then applies that knowledge to animal husbandry and crop farming.
David Fuertes, executive director of Kahua Paa Mua, said through teaching youth about agriculture, his hope is they get a sense of knowing where they come from as well as identify their values, purpose and destiny.
“If we can teach these kids that, hey, maybe they’re not going to all be agriculturalists,” he said. “But if we can teach them leadership skills, we can teach them to create and provide for themselves and their family and friends, they know they can always go back to that then and be able to raise vegetables and raise animals.”
Alii and Aukea plan to use the grant to expand their existing operation — to include getting their own sow — as well as getting a garbage cooker to process food waste for the hogs. They also want to create a certified imu, which will give them even more options for putting their pork on market.
The teens also see the opportunity to use the grant to build an enterprise that inspires other youth in the community.
“We’re still learning,” Aukea said, “but then we can sell pigs to other youth so they can start their own business or start making money for themselves.”
The idea of hyper-local agriculture, where a person can work full-time while also taking the time to grow and raise enough of their own food to feed themselves and their families, is what Fuertes sees as the future of agriculture.
“You still can be a part-time farmer and provide for the 90 percent of what we ship to feed ourselves,” he said.
That sustainability is important, Alii said, so the community can know from where its food is coming.
“If you look at your plate and you know where all that’s coming from, then that’s a good sign,” he said.
Email Cameron Miculka at cmiculka@westhawaiitoday.com.