Ep 52. Hawaiʻi Agriculture Conference and the Agricultural Leadership Foundation of Hawaiʻi

When we attended the 2024 Hawaii Agriculture Conference on Oahu, we noticed that the name Agricultural Leadership Foundation of Hawai‘i figured prominently, so we decided to find out more about it. In this episode we speak with Board President Diane Ley about the history and vision of ALFHawaiʻi, how and why ALFH started and continues the Hawaiʻi Ag Conference, and details about their 14 month Agriculture Leadership Program from Diane but also from Molly Mamaril, a recent graduate we spoke with at the Conference.

Brought to you by University of Hawaii College of Tropical Ag. and Human Resources (CTAHR), and the Seeds of Well-being (SOW) Project. This podcast is supported by the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network (FRSAN) grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture and Hawaii Department of Agriculture.

Resources:

• Agricultural Leadership Foundation of Hawaiʻi
• Hawai’i Agriculture Conference
• ALFH’s Agriculture Leadership Program 
• Hawaii Farm Bureau
• Hawai’i Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) 2023 
• The impact of The Jones Act on Hawai’i shipping logistics 
• Future Farmers of America
• GoFarm Hawaii 
• Molly’s Oahu Economic Development Board “Above the Sides” Podcast 
• Greenpoint Nursery
• Our podcast with Tim Richards 

Find out more about us:

• Seeds Of Wellbeing website
• Seeds of Wellbeing Resource Hub
• All the SOW links

Transcript

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Jim: 0:04

The views, information or opinions expressed in this episode are solely those of the individuals involved, and do not necessarily represent those of the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience, our funders, or any of the organizations affiliated with this project. Welcome to a Seeds of Wellbeing"Experts in the Field" podcast featuring Hawaii agriculture producers and affiliates working in their field of expertise to support agriculture in Hawaii, in the United States and in some cases around the world. These podcasts are made possible by a grant from the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience, also known as CTAHR, and the Seeds of Wellbeing or SOW project, and is supported by a grant from the US Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Hawaii Department of Agriculture.

Diane Ley: 0:59

Well, one of the keys that to our Foundation's mission is, is to is to support collaborative leadership. And so sometimes you don't always see, you know, you know people don't necessarily stand up when they're leading. So that's one of the you know, things that we like to honor and and maybe it's part of Hawaii's style too, you know, not the nail, not sticking up too high, so, but we're, we're pleased to host the conference.

Molly Mamaril: 1:33

What am I working towards, if I'm not trying to help Hawaii return to those inherent values that we had even prior to Western contact, before we were part of this global system, in order for us to not be so vulnerable in the face of a pandemic or a natural disaster. Even our keynote speaker speakers yesterday, the keynote panel, They were talking about this idea of building abundance again. And so there's these threads that are being woven throughout this agricultural community that we all have to have some kind of a shared vision in order to have enough food for everybody.

Jim: 2:17

When we attended the 2024 Hawaii Agriculture Conference on Oahu We noticed that the name Agricultural Leadership Foundation of Hawaii figured prominently, so we decided to find out more about it. In this episode, we speak with Board president Diane Ley about the history and vision of ALF Hawai'i, how and why ALFH started and continues the Hawaii ag conference every two years, and details about their 14 month agricultural leadership program from Diane, but also from Mali Mamaril, a recent graduate we spoke with at the conference. This time with us, we have Diane Ley, who's the President of the Board of the Agricultural Leadership Foundation of Hawaii. So welcome Diane.

Diane Ley: 3:01

Thank you. Appreciate the opportunity.

Jim: 3:04

Yeah. So part of why I reached out to you, and I thought it might be interesting to the Hawaii ag producer community, is I was, I attended this year the biennial agriculture conference on Oahu. That's for some reason this time this year, I really noticed Ag Leadership Foundation's involvement in a big way. I don't know if that was just me not noticing before, or if it's you've stepped it up, but if you kind of give us a sense of ALF's role and with the Ag Conference and how that evolved, I think it's been kind of a heavy involvement since about 2008 from what I read on your website. But I just maybe just give us a sense of ALF Hawaii and how that's connected to the Ag Conference. And you know how that all came about?

Diane Ley: 3:52

Sure.Well, let me step back a little bit further and just share with you the Agricultural Leadership Foundation of Hawaii is, is, It is a non profit. A 501c3, educational nonprofit, established in 1982 and there were five visionaries, all from Hawaii Island. But they were meeting together, and they said,"Hmm, we're having some transition in the agriculture industry as a whole. The the sugar and pineapple plantations are starting to, you know, consolidate. Some of them are shutting down. It looks like more of them will be coming online to shut down. And with that is a creating a vacuum with leadership opportunities for through the corporate model, and it's also creating an opportunity for smaller business, smaller agri-businesses, to step in and access land and water, and start growing their businesses and their markets." But with that comes the need for some skill sets that are beyond production, beyond marketing. It's the leadership components, how we do business together, how we network, how we collaborate, how we speak up when we need support from government, to change laws, to change policies, to put resources towards building our business model in a new fashion, which again was more small and diversified than had been going on for about 100 years. So the founders put together a nonprofit. They got a significant grant from the Kellogg Foundation, and that was able allow them to launch this multi month session set of leadership training modules.

Jim: 6:05

Was there something significant that happened like that caused that the Ag Leadership Foundation to step up and say the conference really needs to be. Maybe, you know, 2008 is, I'm not sure how long the conference was happening before 2008 or did you help found it? Or did you step up and say, We have to help fill a role because that that would be helpful?

Diane Ley: 6:27

Yes, yes, yes, the Foundation Board was considering some of couple things. One was, how do we move beyond just doing cohort classes with the Agricultural Leadership Program. How do we reach a broader audience, and how do we also collaborate with some of the key players, such as CTAHR, Hawaii Farm Bureau, Hawaii Department of Agriculture, and the concept was, Oh, why don't we get together and do an educational conference? And so that was actually in 2002 so I need to update the website, but, and we did it several years, I think, three years in a row, in collaborating. And we said, Wow, this is a lot of work to put together, three days, two days of conference. So we step back, and we moved to every other year. And so the Foundation has been at the helm, you know, leading the process. We added Executive Director and other staff over the years, and so that allowed the Foundation to become the primary host for the conference with, you know, continued support when other organizations and entities are able to, you know, step in and help us with program planning, as well as, you know, some of the other components behind the scene, managing the administrative details that it takes to put together a conference. So so we've been a proud sponsor or host for the conference. We, you know, we, it takes us about a year with a planning team doing surveys throughout the industry, you know, what are people interested in? What are the key topics? And then settling down on a theme to focus on. And we try to be a bit edgy with that, but also relevant. And then build sessions around that. This past year, we kind of honed our two days. Day one was more policy focused, big picture, and then day two is more boots on the ground, something that you know, producers and CTAHR agents and and other collaborators can take back and put to use quickly on the farm or ranch. So, so that's kind of the nexus of it,

Jim: 9:12

Yeah. So, so for me to try to summarize, it sounds like Ag Leadership Foundation has been part of and kind of critical to the Ag Conferences that were initially annual and then became biennial years and around, maybe that's when what the 2008 was that I was referring to. In 2008 we had switched to biennial and, well, always, always been, always been incorporated or key to to the success and the production of those Ag Conferences every year.

Diane Ley: 9:46

We have. And I think one of the reasons why you mentioned that maybe you didn't notice it before, well, one of the keys that to our foundation's mission is is to is to support. collaborative leadership. And so sometimes you don't always see, you know, you know, people don't necessarily stand up when they're leading. So that's one of the, you know, things that we like to honor and and maybe it's part of Hawaii's style too, you know, not the nail, not sticking up too high so, but we're pleased to host the conference.

Jim: 10:25

Nice, yeah, and I did have the opportunity to speak to one of the graduates of this cohort just recently graduated. Actually, I think the graduation ceremony was perhaps at the conference itself.

Diane Ley: 10:37

Yes, it was.

Jim: 10:37

And I did speak to to one of your graduates from that, this most recent cohort. So I'll tie that in too to the to the podcast here. But we thought it would be great to get your perspective as you know, Board President administratively, just to give a sense of of the complete picture of Ag Leadership Foundation. So I thank you for that. So program, it sounds like it started with the Leadership Program. Is that what I was hearing, and that was which Molly, who we spoke with at the conference, was the grad, recent grad just went through. So tell us more about the Program and how that came and how that was founded and structured and maybe has evolved over the years.

Diane Ley: 11:20

Okay, sure, yeah. Um, so, so the program is, is, is our signature training program. We typically, we're typically looking for about every other year, because the program that runs about 14 months long, and we're typically looking for folks that are they have have delved into, you know, some type of leadership within their community, within their agricultural organizations, commodity organizations or marketing organizations. They've been stepping up a little bit. They're not quite sure where they're going or how they're going. It might be within their corporate business, but that's the type of you know, typically it's a younger person, but it's not necessary. You know that we've had some senior folks in the class, in the cohorts as well, and they've added a lot, but what we're looking for is some folks that are interested in learning more, developing their skill sets so that they can contribute more to the agricultural sector of Hawaii as well as our rural communities. We have an application process, and then a set of reviews of those applications by staff as well as alumni from prior cohorts. And then we select the class, typically, it's about 10 to 12 folks, and we ask them to commit for, as I mentioned, you know, up to 14 months of training. And this is typically about, they're typically about four days at a time. They'll they'll come together, they'll visit all of the islands in Hawaii. They'll be spending time out in the field, meeting with different producers, different learning about different agricultural systems, how agriculture interacts with our economic activities throughout the state, how it interacts with our landscapes, our natural environment, as well as our diversity of communities. They'll spend some time with state leaders, both of the legislature, State Department of Agriculture, CTAHR, as well as as other, you know, federal resources talking about different topic areas and again, you know, kind of just broadening that perspective and understanding. The class also spends quite a bit of time in developing their leadership skills, and those are focused on communications, strategic planning, strategic thinking, collaborative leadership and as well as strategic facilitation. And all of those are intended to you know, build your confidence and understanding of of the agricultural sector and what role you can play in it. I should say also that the class, in addition to spending time throughout the state of Hawaii, they get to spend a week in Washington, DC, where they go to meet with congressional members from Hawaii. This last class, they spent time with congressional members' staff from the state of Vermont as as well as a day at actually, two days at the Department of, US Department of Agriculture. And so again, they're, they're exposed to, not only law making, policy development, policy implementation. And so in total, you know, the class is spending about 35 to 40 days, you know, together, developing their understanding and their skill sets, they also form a pretty unique bond amongst the classes generally, and so once the class graduates, I think what our expectation as a Foundation is, is it? It's kind of like children that they'll go out, they'll do good, they'll do great things, both with respect to maybe their businesses, as well as the broader agricultural community and their communities as a whole. So that's, you know, the expectation, in a nutshell, what we cover,

Jim: 16:23

So, just, what what's the financial and time commitment that you asked from the folks that are in your cohort?

Diane Ley: 16:31

Generally, it's about 35 to 40 days. The cost for the program is about $6,500 for the cohort member. We do offer some scholarships based on need, and we also encourage participants that you know, either to seek you know, funding through their business if they work for a company or to go out and ask for others that might want to support them.

Jim: 17:08

Okay, yeah. And I also noticed, I think it was on your website that, of course, I'll have links in the show notes, but, but I think I saw that there was congressional debrief report that was put together by this cohort, and perhaps every cohort is required to so that was that I thought was pretty interesting. Can Can you tell us more about that?

Diane Ley: 17:29

Sure? Well, one of the intents when the class does go to Washington, DC, we're trying to provide a unique experience for each cohort. We we want to ensure that the class is is learning through the process of going there. We don't hand them curriculum and say,"Here, you know this is what you need to learn." What we want them to do is we want the class to sit down with each other, either as a whole group or as subcommittees, and figure out what are some of the key issues that the federal government can impact in their livelihoods, in agriculture as a whole in Hawaii. What is it they can do, and what is the federal government not doing? And so, so we asked the class to explore that. The the last class used the Hawaii comprehensive economic development strategy, the CEDS for 2023 through, I think it was 27 and they cherry picked out priority issues and that, again, you know, might be relevant, not so much to implementation in the state of Hawaii or the counties, because that's what the CEDS strategy focus is on the county and state level. But how could the counties and states partner back with the federal government? So so that's what they cherry picked out and came up with the areas of land, affordability, equitable access to water, infrastructure, housing and housing for agriculture and and then also access from the farm to state programs. So but in the past, some of the classes have focused on the Jones Act, the law, the Act, the law that addresses our shipping requirements that we have to have American flagships flying coming into Hawaii. Some of them have focused on export of product. Some of them have focused on bio security. So

Jim: 19:54

Yeah, some of the ranchers I've spoken to in Hawaii certainly mentioned the Jones Act of having a huge. Impact on their ability, or lack of ability, to be profitable and efficient. And I think we could probably talk about the Jones Act for a while.

Diane Ley: 20:10

Yes, definitely. Yeah, yeah. So again, yeah. The the concept is for the class to do their homework on what are, you know, relevant topics that could be discussed with, you know, Congressionals or the administration on the mainland.

Jim: 20:25

Nice. And hopefully make some progress, right? I think,

Diane Ley: 20:27

Yeah, well, you know, it's interesting, because some people, you know, really, you know, there's not a lot of exposure in most of the classes to Washington, DC, and I've seen cohort members who were really, you know, I thought out of them as leaders in their community or their business and their organization, and yet they say,"Oh, I'm so nervous to go there," you know, if they have to wear suits with a tie the guys and, you know, women have to dress professionally. And so, yes, so, you know, I think that exposure is really good. It also really resonates with some people, and some people don't like it at all, you know, they say, "Well, that's enough. I don't want to do that." The class also spends a few days over at our state legislature doing the same, you know, type of work, understanding the process for Bill making and then shadowing legislators, meeting with legislators, as well as going into hearings. So and some people put more effort into it. I've you know one of the cohort members I can think of a number of years back, he he got three or four bills passed within two years of graduating from the program, because he realized where he could make a difference,

Jim: 21:46

That's great. Do you track your alum and the progress they make, and kind of keep data about what they're doing and what kind of impact in the ag community?

Diane Ley: 21:55

We do. We do. Yeah, it's a pretty broad diversity. We'd have probably, probably about 220 grads now in the program, you know, some have passed away since we've been around for a while. Some have have retired. Some have nothing to do with agriculture, you know, and some of them are just going gang busters. They won't ever retire, you know. They're, they're just fully committed, fully committed to agriculture in Hawaii. So yeah, we try to connect with people. We do have a newsletter that comes out several times a year, and we try to highlight, usually, at least one member that, or a cohort that is doing something neat, or, you know, has some new

Jim: 22:42

Nice. Any names you want to drop? I put you on the spot. business opportunity or addition to their family. So...

Diane Ley: 22:54

Nah, I can't think of any.

Jim: 22:56

We can check through the newsletters on your website. I Yeah, Actually, are the newsletters available to anyone, or is only to your...

Diane Ley: 23:07

They're posted on our website, I'm pretty sure.

Jim: 23:09

Okay, yeah, I saw one. I wasn't sure if they were all there.

Diane Ley: 23:12

Yeah. If not, it'd be a good thing to add.

Jim: 23:16

I saw there's a youth program as well. Is that correct?

Diane Ley: 23:20

Yeah, I call it a"light" Program. We've the Foundation has always tried to be supportive of our youth, and when I speak of youth, I mean folks that are in students that are in high school or intermediate school. We've worked with the FFA, Future Farmers of America. Some of the schools have that program. Some of them just have an ag program. So we, we stay in touch with the leadership on the some of the lead teachers as well as FFA, and we're always available to help them when, you know, if they need speakers, they need judges for their student contests, they need a few dollars to, you know, bring students together. So that's one of the ways we've we've tried to be supportive. The other way we have been able to reach out pretty successfully is including students in the Hawaii agriculture conference every other year. We provide scholarships for them, bus stipends, some air and we've also, I think it's been three of the conferences we've had, the students lead the day two keynote, and they frame the subject, and they present, and, yeah, it's have a growing audience. You know, sometimes it's hard on day two to get people. You know, to show up early, and yet, I think the adults are in the room are very much appreciative of our youth, and, you know, want to support them and encourage them. So, yes, nice,

Jim: 25:13

Nice spin on the usual keynote, too. That's nice. Yeah, yes. So how, how did you become involved? What's your when?

Diane Ley: 25:24

Well, I was a farmer a long time ago. Um, and I saw in the Hawaii Tribune herald a little Hilo newspaper, an article about the first class of the Ag Leadership Program. And I said, "Wow, this looks really interesting. I want to sign up," but I didn't have have the$2,000 to, you know, pay my tuition. So, so, okay, dream on. So, seven cohorts later, I was able to jump in to the class. Um, I got a lot out of it, both again, you know, the exposure to statewide issues, to concerns, to opportunities. And I came away with this huge toolbox of, you know, leadership skills that I could put to work in my day to day work, because I was involved in my community. I was involved with it was at that time working for the Hawaii Farm Bureau. I was working for a main street program. And all of these all fit together in economic development, in connecting with people and networking. And so I was just thrilled with it. So when the opportunity came to serve on the Board, I stepped up and I served as a Board member for a number of years. I have been on the Executive Board, you know, in different roles, the Secretary, as the Vice President and as the President. So just going to rotate around as needed. We normally have a Board of, you know, about 10 people, and fluctuates a little bit. Most, most Board members are on board for maybe four to five years. Some, some longer. Some like myself, have been around longer, and we just kind of, you know, at some point, you almost function as a historian and but you're always wanting to bring along, you know, folks that are new to the organization and younger folks, so take the leadership column. It's all about collaborating.

Jim: 27:34

Yep, yep. Well, that's the theme, right? That's part of the theme of the Conference too, as I recall. Yes. So the is it the Board, or do you have staff that put together the conference? Or how does that all come to come into play?

Diane Ley: 27:48

Yeah, so the staff are the nuts and bolts, the admin portion, the the registration, the facilities, the pulling together all the financing and and overseeing the communications piece. So we have one and a half time staff that do that. We have a couple contractors, but they're not significant roles, and then the rest. But the content itself, the theme and the program itself, is is led by a planning team, and it's this past year, it was Board members. In the past, we've involved other people who've stepped forward and said they were interested, whether they're from other organizations like CTAHR or the Hawaii Farm Bureau, it just depends. You know, when folks step up and want to participate. The planning team does not get paid. So, you know, it's a it's a labor of love, but it's an opportunity for you to, individuals, to, you know, work together as a team, and really kind of stretch. Because we, you know, we want the conference to be a stretch. We want it to be again, a little bit edgy or a little bit dynamic, you know. Have "Aha!" moments for folks, you know. And so we put together the theme, and then some track areas, you know, looking again, what is relevant, what is what's new, what's blossoming, what could be if we brought people together and kind of working through it. It takes quite a while. Our staff gets frustrated sometimes because we don't stick with her calendar. But then, you know, by summer, you know, or three months out before the conference, we start really kind of pulling it together. We're identified, you know, topic areas, and then we go reach back out into the community, and they say, you know, hey, you're a leader in this area. Could you help pull together a panel of speakers? Or could you be the sole speaker? We don't do too many of those, but, you know, could you, you know, offer your manao? Oh, in helping us to further organize this, moderate a panel and and then we have kind of a formula for bringing the the last the speakers together. Get, make sure we get their bios and their PowerPoints, if you will. So and it all kind of rolls together right at the conference.

Jim: 30:30

You've been doing it a few years now, so imagine you have some things that you know where it can I think technology is has evolved, certainly since you started all this and I know there's an app the past two conferences that, yeah, I've noticed you're starting to use too. So, yeah. Tell me, did you, were you able to attend the 2024 conference?

Diane Ley: 30:49

I was, yeah, I actually went to sessions this time. Normally I I get involved in other components of the conference. But yeah, so I was able to.

Jim: 31:00

You were a participant this time, didn't have to running around, kind of take care of things. So how do you think it went? What's your, what was your...

Diane Ley: 31:08

Really, well! I mean, you know, it, it's always interesting to, you know, watch it unfold. You know, we're really pleased with the participation level over, you know, 650 folks came again. And you know, watching the sessions unfold, and you know where people's interests are is always it's a challenge to figure out where that's going to be, and then to see, you know that you're able to meet it. Some of the numbers, you know, drop off. And, you know, particularly on day two, and you're like, Well, where did the people go? You know? So it's kind of one of those questions you kind of keep, you know, muddling in your mind, you know, you know. And then you say, Well, next time do we just do a day and a half? Do we just do one day? You know? It's, you know, lots of trade offs there. So,

Jim: 32:02

Yeah, a work in process, I guess it always evolves, right? If, if you're doing it right.

Diane Ley: 32:08

Yes.

Jim: 32:10

So, yeah, it was, I did speak to one of the Ag producers there, also from the Big Island, like me, and he, he's, he made a comment that I thought I was just run by, which is, he said he was, he was told by a number of folks at the conference that they were surprised to find a real farmer, as he called it, actually showed up. So I don't know if you want to talk to like, what percent of "real" farmers, or, you know, ag producers, show up. And, you know, what is that? You know, what's the design or what's the goal from your perspective?

Diane Ley: 32:40

Yeah, yeah. So I want to, I, I'd have to go back and check the actual data, but I want to say probably just under 20% as our producers. And, you know, that's a challenge. It's, you know, we'd love to have it be all producers. But then agricultural sector is not all producers. It's, you know, there's a there's the folks that support agriculture through education, through business and policy, through shipping, through providing containers through let's see what else is there, the whole diversity of the sector and so while we'd like to have all producers there, you know, for us to put together two days worth of the content that meets the needs of the diversity of producers, whether they be row crops or aquaculture or cattle or orchids, you know, the content would be just too broad. So what we try to do with the conference is provide a higher level of overview of what's going on in the sector, what touches different people, whether it be labor, whether it be new market opportunities. I'm going to step way back and use an example of one year our keynote was a guy from Canada who was doing internet marketing. And people were like, their socks were blown off in the room. They were just amazed. They were like,"Wow, what is this? You can go on the computer and sell your stuff. No!" So, yeah, that's a while ago, dim history for but, you know, so, yeah, that that. So we try to get big enough and broad enough that where there's exposure to, um, to policy issues, to market trends, to initiatives that might make a difference to a broader portion of the sector. So then you end up with policy makers coming. You end up with folks from CTAHR educators, people who touch agriculture every day and who may touch directly with producers through their associations, through the out on the farm or ranch, and can share ideas and also help develop programs, whether they be educational programs or policy or new, you know, markets. So that type of exposure. It's a little different, but that's what we do. So this past conference, day one was we tried to keep it high level, policy focused, and day two was more boots on the ground. What are the mechanics of an application to a group of producers?

Jim: 36:00

And I think maybe you've done this before, but in the past two conferences, I noticed GoFarm actually has a morning breakfast networking for their alum. And this year, this past year, when this past conference, you combine that with your Ag Leadership Program, alum, their graduates. So that certainly had a an energy to it that was palpable, I think, and that kind of young, excited just out of, out of a cohort, kind of group of people were there, and a lot of excitement in that room. I actually did some video when I was there that for the video version of the podcast here, I may share some of that from, yes, just so people get a sense of kind of what the ad conference is about. I I feel like you and and others that are offering discounts, try to make it affordable, for sure, for the conference. So I did notice that, and that looked like you tried to draw more people in. I know.

Diane Ley: 36:59

We did offer producer sponsorship. I mean, scholarships, yes, travel stipends, yeah.

Jim: 37:05

And GoFarm offers a discount as well, which is nice. And so I think, yeah, the podcast is geared towards this podcast from Seeds of Wellbeing, it's geared towards the Hawaii ag producers and trying to find ways to make their lives simpler, less stressful, right? So any words of wisdom you want to share, related to to our Hawaii ag community, related to what you folks do, and how that might be helpful?

Diane Ley: 37:28

Sure, yeah, um, you know, for producers, I think sometimes you can, you know, depending on how big your business is, you can feel pretty alone out there and they, I think that you know getting involved in whether it be the Agricultural Leadership Foundation of Hawaii, or or the Agricultural Leadership Program, or your organization that you know, whether you be a flower Producer, cattleman, you know aquaculture, getting involved in your networks, really, I think that that built that community, which is so important to us as a whole, in the overall meaning, you can, you know, explore your your skill sets within a group you can contribute. The more you contribute, the more you get out of it. I believe, you know, builds your confidence, it builds your network, it builds business opportunities, it builds a better community. So I encourage everybody to jump in and get involved.

Jim: 38:39

Now that we've heard all about the Agricultural Leadership Foundation of Hawaii and its programs, let's hear from Molly, a recent graduate of the most recent cohort of the Agriculture Leadership Program. We met Molly at the 2024 agriculture conference.

Molly Mamaril: 38:54

My name is Molly Mamaril, and I'm a cohort member in the Agricultural Leadership Program, class 18, and in my day job, I work with Oahu Economic Development Board, which is a local nonprofit.

Jim: 39:09

Sounds like they would tie together nicely.

Molly Mamaril: 39:11

They do, although not everybody sees the connection right away, but seeing how the agriculture sector has so much potential, and it's already such a big network. And I mean, these conferences are incredibly helpful to see like what everybody else is doing. And for me, coming from an economic development perspective, I'm learning so much, and it's really humbling to be new to this area, and so being part of the cohort has very much opened my eyes to how to be a better consumer, how to support local businesses better, how to support farmers better, just as like a Hawaii resident, not even necessarily in my role at work, but the program has been the best professional development program that I've ever been part of.

Jim: 40:07

Wow, and it sounds like quite the accolades. Have you been through other programs like it or

Molly Mamaril: 40:12

Nothing like this before. Yeah. It was 14 months of seminars, visiting, I think, four or five islands and producers on every island, food innovation centers. We visited all the, you know, the organizations that distribute food, transport food, we learned about dairies and marketing and everything in between. So I I feel like I see things in the food system differently than I used to.

Jim: 40:48

Now you do podcasting, so you won't mind if I check my podcasting equipment while we speak for you. Nope. Just want to make sure our recording levels are good. I get it, of course. You know, we can edit things out too, but I'm curious what inspired you to sign up for the program.

Molly Mamaril: 41:07

It's funny how that happened. One of my colleagues had been an alumni of the program, and she worked with me at our nonprofit. We attended the Ag conference two years ago, and I learned so much. And I remember seeing the, I believe it was the last cohort graduating, and my colleague was like, Molly, when the application opens up, you should consider putting your name in and just seeing if you know, maybe this is something you could learn about, learn about AG. And when the application came out later. She's like, here it is. You know, just if you have the time and interest, submit an application, and I did not really realizing, like, what an awesome opportunity it was to just be in this cohort with people from all different parts of agriculture and the food system in Hawaii, so it was kind of unexpected, but I think that's also, in many ways, a testament to what they're trying to do with the program is get people from different sectors connected, so that everything in our ag sector can become more connected because we have this deeper network.

Jim: 42:24

And is it hard to get into the program? Like, do you feel like you're lucky that you got in because of the competition for applicants, or is it easy to get into or do you have a sense of that?

Molly Mamaril: 42:35

I feel very lucky to be part of the program. I know that every cohort is slightly different. And I remember during the application process, they talked about how, depending on the pool of applicants, they might cater the Pro, they might design the Program slightly differently based on the background of those who apply. You know, if it was like all producers or all people who work in food hubs. I mean, I can't speak to their decision making process, but they did say, depending on the pool of applicants, they might design the experiences differently.

Jim: 43:11

Oh, perfect.

Molly Mamaril: 43:11

So it's, I guess it depends on the year how difficult it is to get in, depending on everyone's individual background,

Jim: 43:20

Maybe, UH, maybe Harvard,

Molly Mamaril: 43:23

I don't know, but I love my cohort members.

Jim: 43:27

How many folks in a cohort?

Molly Mamaril: 43:28

There are 12 of us total in class 18.

Jim: 43:31

Is that what they limit it to? Do you know? Or that's what it turned out to?

Molly Mamaril: 43:34

That's what it turned out to be for this particular class.

Jim: 43:37

Nice, you've been to a number of islands, you've seen a number of places, a variety of what's going on in Hawaii. AG, who would want to drop some names, like, what are some of the, what are some of the places you've gone, or some of the folks that you've met?

Molly Mamaril: 43:54

I remember on Hawaii Island, we visited Green Point nurseries, and that was really inspiring to see a family business that is so tied into the community, and I know that they're present here at the conference as well. We visited, I think, over 100 organizations across this state, and I think on our national trip, we visited so many farms, and

Jim: 44:20

I've put you on the spot, I know.

Molly Mamaril: 44:23

I'm thinking of like

Jim: 44:23

This is not a test. It's not your final test for graduation. How do you think you'll use your degree or what you've learned here?

Molly Mamaril: 44:38

It's exciting to see what's possible, having this professional development experience and this network that we've been exposed to and that we've created with our cohort. The way I would like to use it, and I think my cohort members will agree, is we want to stay connected, and we're on different islands. Is in different pockets of the ag community, and we already have projects that we want to work on together, or, you know, move the needle on different things that are needs and gaps within the ag sector. And we know that we're just learning still, you know, we're getting our feet wet. We're kind of like many of us are mid career, I still feel a little bit like I'm early career, especially in ag, because this is not my background, though. I did have a background in conservation prior to economic development. When we visited Washington, DC and met with our Hawaii congressional delegation, as well as USDA and Farm Bureau, we wrote a white paper on highlighting four priorities that our cohort selected to kind of share with our delegation, and those came from the Hawaii comprehensive economic development strategy. So it's a statewide sale plan, or vision of where different industry clusters, industry sectors can go. And there's an agriculture, aquaculture and food systems action plan within that development strategy. And so knowing that those were our four priorities, focusing on like food access, land land access, water infrastructure, it was, it just became so much more obvious to us what our priorities are. And I think to use our experience successfully, it would be to make progress on some of those priorities and anything that comes up as a need that maybe we could help influence. But you know, again, we're just starting out.

Jim: 46:50

Yes, trying, trying to move the needle, as you said. Of all the needles that can be moved, what needle gives you, gets you up in the morning and just inspires you the most?

Molly Mamaril: 47:03

That's a big question.

Jim: 47:05

Don't think about it too much. Come from the heart.

Molly Mamaril: 47:09

This isn't necessarily like an economic development priority, like that's laid out on white white that's laid out in our white paper. But I think in my day to day work, working in economic development, I've had really wonderful mentors who have always brought it back to what is best for the people of Hawaii. What do the people of Hawaii want and need to thrive, and how do we rebuild a thriving economy grounded in the values of aloha.

Jim: 47:42

May I, may I challenge you on something?

Molly Mamaril: 47:45

Of course.

Jim: 47:46

Who are the people of Hawaii?

Molly Mamaril: 47:47

Yeah, who is our community? It's people who are dedicated to this place, the people who are committed to Hawaii. Whether you're born and raised here or you've lived here for a long time. Those who want Hawaii to be healthy and well in all senses of abundance, not just the financial sense or what they can get from Hawaii, but rather looking at those multiple forms of capital. You know, how can Hawaii have more social capital, environmental capital, spiritual and cultural capital. So the people who are invested in building that prosperity model.

Jim: 48:34

We've talked to the legislature and folks like Senator Tim Richards, and Tim and as I heard yesterday in one of the panels right, Tim and some of the legislators, some of the senators and representatives have to educate and themselves be educated, and part of why they're here is to become educated. But that's a very small percentage, a small minority of the folks in political power. Tim on our podcast, said that there are people that don't agree we need to be sustainable and self sufficient. They say, well, that's not the focus anymore. And so it's a battle, right? And I think, so, but my sense is, you think that battle, battle is

Molly Mamaril: 49:18

I think personally, I have to feel that

Jim: 49:18

Nice. I think the cowbell in the background is telling us winnable. way, that what am I working towards if I'm not trying to help Hawai'i return to those inherent values that we had even prior to Western contact, before we were part of this global system, in order for us to not be so vulnerable in the face of a pandemic or a natural disaster, even our keynote speaker speakers yesterday, the keynote panel, they were talking that we should probably wrap it up, because this morning's about this idea of building abundance again. And so there's these threads that are being woven throughout this agricultural community that we all have to have some kind of a shared vision in order to have enough food for everybody and be able to live without being so dependent on everyone else doing keynote, I think, is supposed to start. But really appreciate their part to support us. And I can't remember who said it yesterday, but they shared, you know, the local food system didn't crash during the pandemic. It was the national one that did not help us here in Hawaii, because we're so isolated and dependent on things being delivered to us. But the local food system, you know, we can pivot and move and get your time. I appreciate your passion and hope. You have hope, things between islands and so forth. So that was really encouraging to hear. And it's obvious, like, you know, all the CSAs, their sales shot through the roof. Everyone was like, trying to support, you know, local businesses during that time, because we're all like, Okay, where do we go from here? We need food, but we didn't have toilet paper, that was what they which I think is key, and I think that's why a lot of us are said. So the food system, there's potential here. We thank Diane and Molly for sharing their manao and the story of the Agricultural Leadership Foundation of Hawaii here for these two days, is to feed our hope. and the Hawaii Agriculture Conference. We hope this gives you some insights into the Ag Conference, as well as ALFH's leadership programs, and how they may benefit you in your efforts to help feed the islands. Mahalo,

Molly Mamaril: 51:53

Yeah. Thank you so much for having me.

Jim: 51:55

Thanks for sharing some about the program. It's it's interesting, so I'll put links about where people can sign up if you have got to put in a plug for the Economic Development Board. Anything you want to say that would encourage our Hawaii ag producers, farmers and ranchers about what the vision is for the for your job description?

Molly Mamaril: 52:13

Oh, yeah. I think a resource that people might find helpful is to lean on the Hawaii compress Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy, and it's available online. You can

Jim: 52:27

WWW. You can send me a link

Molly Mamaril: 52:31

I will send you a link. And people can leverage that, the CEDS in grant applications and tie it back to the priorities that the industry sectors highlighted, showing that, you know, maybe their organization is really focused on water infrastructure or building more value added innovation centers. So yeah, leaning on the CEDS as a resource can help bring more funding into our state, and so it's there for people to use.

Jim: 53:05

Thanks again.

Thao: 53:08

The intention of these podcast series is to create a safe space for respectful and inclusive dialog with people from across a broad and diverse spectrum involved in growing and making accessible the food we share together. A diversity of voices, perspectives and experiences can serve to deepen mutual understanding, to spark creative problem solving and provide insight into the complexities of our agriculture system. If you, our listeners, have experiences with Hawaii agriculture ecosystem, from indigenous methods, permaculture, small holder farmers to large, including multinational agricultural industrial companies, and everywhere in between, and you would like to share your story, please contact us. We welcome your voices and perspectives.