August 25, 2011 Purpose of Report Concluding a CDC calendar year - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Report Presented by --Healthy Hawai`i Initiative August 25, 2011

Purpose of Report  Concluding a CDC calendar year  Report on activities conducted and data collected -Potential to serve as model for other communities -Potential to receive feedback and continued support

Phases March-June 2010: Interviews with community members, review of existing health & population data, evaluation of the availability of FFV July-August 2010: 13 Interviews with community leaders on health concerns, resources, barriers to nutrition and opportunities for improving community health December 2010 – June 2011: 2 Community Action Team meetings 6 Food Systems meetings (HHI participated) May-July 2011: Collection of baseline data on Food System components

Goals of project  Encourage healthy eating and local cultivation  Create programs within a Hawaiian context - for example, embrace and implement Hawaiian concepts of land stewardship, and the production and consumption of traditional Hawaiian foods  Involve the whole community from keiki to kūpuna

Purpose of tonight  Share the information we collected (with your help) and our recommendations  Share what we learned about the Food System by addressing each of the four food system components  Listen to your thoughts about this process and how to progress

The Food System Model

Waimānalo Food System: Production Private • Individual Consumers Commercial • Farmers • Community (non- profit) Public • School Garden Organizers

Growing at home - 81 surveys  41 households grow FFV  31 live in a household where FFV are shared from another garden or backyard  5 individuals identified their own home grown produce as one of their main sources of fruits and vegetables.  39 fruits and vegetables were listed as grown in home gardens/ backyards

School and Community Gardens Blanche Waimānalo Waimānalo Weinberg Pope Elementary Health Village Elementary and Center School Intermediate School

Strengths and Successes of School & Community Gardens  Inspire new home gardens  Garden produce is used and appreciated for family and community dinners and events  Garden maintenance is supported by volunteers  Children increased consumption of fruits and vegetables  Improve morale  Gardens serve as places of learning about health and Hawaiian cultural values

Commercial Growers  According to WAA website, only 14 of 53 listed members produce food  According to DLNR, the majority of farm land in Waimānalo is dedicated to plant nurseries and landscaping businesses  7 commercial producers were interviewed

Where does commercially grown Waimānalo produce go?  Most is distributed and consumed outside of Waimānalo  None of the interviewed producers sell exclusively in Waimānalo and none of sell at the farmer's market in Waimānalo  Four of the food producers sell some of their produce in Waimānalo

Opportunities  Land to grow produce exists (availability may be another story)  Opportunities to sell local exist (POM farmers market and at local groceries and eateries)  More research needs to be conducted to better understand the underlying issues that discourage more food from being produced and consumed locally  Farm-to-table initiatives (schools, institutions, eateries)

Recommendations for Production Explore opportunities for farm-to-where you are programs Establish stable, paid positions to ensure uninterrupted maintenance at school and community gardens Policy makers, local businesses, and organizations-adopt a garden. Use garden space creatively to support community activities and strengthen linkages among community groups. Gardens could also be the sites for healthy eating educational outreach activities Conduct further research to determine which trees and plants are appropriate to promote local production and consumption from home and backyard gardens

Waimānalo Food System: Distribution Five of 7 commercial growers use distributors and/or wholesalers One processing plant in Waimānalo

Recommendations for Distribution  Explore this component in more detail  Explore farm-to-where you are programs (schools, youth facility, women‟s detention center, private hospital, non-profit after school programs)  Conduct further research and program development to assess whether local producers could pool their produce in order to meet the demands from wholesalers and local institutions

Waimānalo Food System: Consumption FFV and Fish Availability Survey FFV Quality Surveys People's Open Market Food Assistance Consumer Surveys

Fresh Fruit, Vegetable and Fish Availability - Survey  Each establishment was rated for the number of types of whole, unprepared fresh fruits, vegetables and fish and rated as 0, 1-3, 4-6, or 7+  Multiple varieties were not counted individually  3 locations had 7+ types of fruit, while 4 had 7+ types of vegetables  14 of the retail sites had no fresh fruit, and 19 had no fresh vegetables available  No sites had more than 1-3 types of whole fish

WHOLE

Quality of FFV : Understanding Neighborhood Determinants of Obesity (UNDO) Survey 1 = Poor: Produce appears very old or very unripe, several pieces are damaged, quality of firmness is too firm or too soft. Color may indicate extreme unripeness or general low quality 2 = Mediocre: Produce appears to be a little old, some pieces may be damaged (spots or dents), but have the appropriate firmness and the appropriate color 3 = Good: Produce appears to be fresh, undamaged, have the appropriate firmness, and the appropriate color. NOTE: Bananas may be less than ripe

Quality of the FFV: Scores from Modified UNDO conducted in 2010 Fruit Item Avg. Score Pineapple, melons, pears 3.0 Quality of Fruits Apples 2.7 (averaged scores ranged between 2.0 to Oranges and papayas 2.5 3.0 or mediocre to good) Bananas 2.4 Avocados and grapes 2.0 Vegetable Item Avg. Score Poi, squash, sweet potato, and zucchini 3.0 Quality of Vegetables Carrots, cucumbers, ginger, lettuce 2.7 (averaged scores Broccoli 2.5 ranged between 2.0 to Cabbage, onion, green pepper 2.3 3.0 or mediocre to good) 2.0 Taro/ti/lau lau leaves, eggplant, and tomatoes

UH Nutrition Student's Survey  Four businesses were assessed (7-Eleven, Shima‟s Supermarket, Mel‟s Market, and Bobby‟s Market).  Personal Judgment Criteria  Excellent to Poor, Students rated the quality of the produce available  Shima‟s Supermarket  E xcellent grade; Mel‟s Market and Bobby‟s Market  poor to fair grades; 7-Eleven  Unrated  RECOMMENDATIONS: Improve the quality of the FFV in markets by incorporating more local produce, thus keeping more money in the community instead of spending it at large grocery stores outside Waimanalo

People's Open Market  Of the 55 farmers markets in Oahu, the POM is the only farmer's market in Waimānalo  Average number of vendors - 8 or 9  Average number of attendees – 200/ market day  9 vendors were surveyed  6 have family involved in farming and 3 of these have farms only in Waimānalo

What is sold at the POM? Popular - papaya, mango, apple banana, greens (e.g., watercress, choy sum), tomato, lettuce, corn, and “Filipino vegetables such as long squash, long bean.” Waimānalo -grown tomato, long beans, eggplant, long squash, mint, basil, soybean, mango, lychee, pomello , apple banana, and sweet peppers

What is sold at the POM? Cont’d Produce grown outside - comprises the majority of the volume and variety in the market. tomato, eggplant, beans (long, string, green) carrots, pumpkin, leafy greens (e.g., kale, squash, watercress, ong choy, mustard cabbage), zucchini, yellow squash, peppers, cucumbers, green onions, herbs, okra, banana, mango, bitter mellon, cucumber, white cabbage, daikon, lettuce, corn, papaya, mountain apple, guava, lime, lemon, sweet potato, beets, avocado, Chinese parsley, and more Fresh eggs and fish – occasionally/irregularly. According to POM regulations and to the vendor, these are from Hawai„i

Sources of produce Waimānalo POM  Primarily O„ahu farms  Smaller portion derives from Waimānalo -based farms  Even a smaller portion comes from off-island farms (including other Hawaiian Islands, the U.S. continent, and international locations)  Some of the produce likely comes from “semi - cultivated” (e.g., mountain apples) or is “wild harvested” (e.g., fiddlehead ferns) and not from areas tended as traditional farms

Waimānalo POM Challenges Opportunities • Continuation of farmers • Potential niche for and customers at POM backyard gardeners is at risk and collectors • POM is not well known • Potential site for by producers or educational events consumers • Increase attendance by • Limited availability - promoting EBT-friendly only 1 hr/week and investigating how to link POM and WIC

Food Assistance & Charitable Feeding: Hawai`i Foodbank  500-650 families (estimated)  33% of those who attended the event are children,  56% are adults, and  11% are seniors  ~70 adults with no permanent place to stay regularly attend the event