When talking about Hawaiʻi's food security, the conversation often focuses on physical infrastructure — warehouses, cold storage, and doubling crop production to combat importing 90% of our food. A new policy article by a University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa researcher contends that physical infrastructure and production are essential, but incomplete when looking at the challenges.
Published in Food Policy by Sothy Eng, an associate professor in the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience (CTAHR), the article emphasizes that cultural and social capital are under-recognized parts of achieving food self-sufficiency.
Cultural capital refers to the tastes, knowledge, and familiarity that influence what people value and consume; social capital refers to networks of trust, cooperation, and connection.
Eng, who teaches in CTAHR's Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, states that expanding food production requires deliberate attention to culture, inclusion, and trust. His research draws on a statewide survey of 313 farmers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rather than asking for fertilizer, soil, or fencing, local growers identified peer-to-peer networks, resource sharing, and community engagement as their most critical needs to sustain operations and morale.
Strongest driver of farming efficiency
Global data indicate that social capital is often the strongest driver of farming efficiency, outweighing both human and natural capital. Trust is vital for coordination, inclusion, and resilience across farmers, institutions, and consumers. Cultural and social capital help explain why production alone may not translate into local food consumption or stronger food security.
To bridge the gap between what Hawaiʻi grows and what its communities actually eat, Eng advocates for investing in "relationship/symbolic infrastructure." Practical solutions include expanding university campus farmers' markets and recipe-sharing programs. These initiatives serve as cultural classrooms that build familiarity with local crops such as taro leaves and moringa, naturally driving local demand.
To achieve true food security, Eng concluded, food policy should grow relationships alongside crops. As he writes in the article, "Cultural and social capital are not substitutes for technology or infrastructure; they are the relational soil in which sustainability takes root."
The post Trust, connection are key ingredients for Hawaiʻi's food security first appeared on University of Hawaiʻi System News .
