Full details at:

http://www.kohalacenter.org/seedsymposium/about.html

The Kohala Center has received a grant through the USDA Organic Research and Education Initiative (OREI) to host a statewide Public Seed Symposium in Kona. Other sponsors include the College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Natural Resource Management, UH Hilo; the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, UH Manoa; the County of Hawai‘i; and Keauhou-Kahalu‘u Education Group, Kamehameha Schools.

Our first goal is to bring together interested farmers and gardeners in the state, to share knowledge of seed growing, selection, and saving and to plan a future Public Seed Initiative. If you are farmer or home producer in the State of Hawai‘i and would like to learn more about growing, saving, and improving seed for your farm or garden, please join us in Kona for this unique opportunity.

The long-term goal of the symposium is to initiate a Hawai‘i Public Seed Initiative (HPSI) to support on-farm/garden research and expertise in seed variety trials, selection, saving, and storage, and to collaborate with agricultural stakeholders in the development of an open-pollinated organic seed industry for market farmers and home gardeners in Hawai‘i and the Pacific.