Vision

When we are successful, our communities will appreciate the scope, diversity, and global significance of Hawaiian agriculture as it was practiced before European contact. We will understand that Hawaiian agriculture arose from a populous, organized and innovative society, and that the society in turn was shaped by its interactions with the land. We will build on that understanding to create an innovative and dynamic modern society that has a deep understanding and connection to its land.

It is our hope that this transformation will spread across the Archipelago, and across the Pacific to produce a transformed modern agricultural system that draws from the wisdom and sustainability of the past, the knowledge and experience of local farmers and ranchers, and the best agricultural practices of the wider world that provides Hawaii with most of our food.

Growing plants and people.

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Mission

Revitalize  ʻāina (land) 

Restore kānaka (people)

 Reconnect ʻike (knowledge)​

The mission of Ulu Mau Puanui is to engage in hands-on, land-based learning and culturally-centered science with learners, educators, families and community in order to revitalize and better understand the Kohala Field System. 

At Ulu Mau Puanui, culturally-centered science is the integration of Hawaiian epistemology or Hawaiian ways of knowing that help inform and inspire scientific inquiry. ​

Experimenting with puʻepuʻe (mounds) and lau kō mulch.

Applying the Pythagorean Theorem to evenly space out plantings

Hui Keaholoa of UH-Hilo

 

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Unearthing Hawaii's lost agricultural traditions: In the red dirt of Wakea, School of Earth Sciences researchers are digging up clues to Hawaii's lost agricultural traditions. The practices, which supported a large population on the island before the arrival of Europeans wiped them out, could serve as a model for sustainable farming today. Filmed and Edited by PF Bentley.