We take so many things for granted in our daily lives like a walk through the produce section at the grocery store...in this case Foodland.
Director of produce James Channels takes nothing for granted, wanted to reduce the company's carbon footprint.
"When we talk about the carbon footprint, we're basically talking about products being shipped here and how much it costs. And the cost of fuel as it continues to go up. What we mean by that is when you grow it here in Hawaii, you minus out all that tonnage coming over here on the water,” said Channels.
It's not always possible, but when it is, Channels says, Foodland aims to purchase local fruits and vegetables.
"At this point in time, we probably have about a hundred farmers and we continue to look for more farmers so we can be more sustainable here in Hawaii,” he said.
One of those farmers happens to be Ho Farms in Kahuku.
"At Ho Farms, we do some things the old fashioned way and one of those ways is we pick by hand, we pack by hand, too and while we're packing we grade out anything that's not of the Foodland super market quality,” said Shin Ho of Ho Farms.
Aside from supporting the local industry, Channels says it takes less packaging to bring something to market from Kahuku than Kansas.
"When you pack in the container, the boxes have to be a little thicker because you stack them higher, and then they might have some cushioning and padding in the boxes to protect the fruit because it takes about a week or two weeks to get here,” said Ho.
The amount of Hawaii land in agriculture decreases nearly every year.
That's Shin Ho thinks her family's business is vital. "Farming I think kind of the next very important thing, kind of the next very important field, especially for Hawaii. We need to learn to grow our own food and consume our own food because our food self-sufficiency is extremely important."
