Yesterday we shared news about Malama Kauai’s Food Program — today we wanted to tell you about their Ag Internship Program as well.
This is a great program for local youth who want to learn more about agriculture on the west side of Kauai.
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Congrats to our 1st Kauai Ag Internship Program interns! In December we partnered with KUGA Agriculture to offer a 3-day paid Ag Internship for west side high school students during Winter Break as a pilot to kick off our Kauai Ag Internship Program.
The students worked with mentor Clint Snyder on the The Gulick-Rowell Mission House Sustainable Food Project, and completed the initial planting of a food forest, including climax species fruit trees and nitrogen fixers. Interns learned about permaculture, agroforestry, exotic fruit tree species, tree planting techniques, and west Kaua`i’s unique soil and climate.
Thanks to Hawai`i People’s Fund, KUGA Agriculture, & Koke`e Lodge for sponsoring the pilot of our Ag Internship program!
We need further community support to see this program continue and expand across the island, and have launched a crowd-funding campaign to help fundraise. Our goal is to provide over 100 weeks of paid internships to high school and college students who are interested in exploring careers in farming and agriculture at sites across the island.
Help us share the opportunity to provide aspiring new farmers with mentorship and hands-on experience by sharing our Kaua`i Youth Ag Internship crowd-funding campaign. If you’re a farmer looking to mentor our aspiring future farmers and would like to be an Internship Site Partner Farm, please complete a brief survey HERE to submit your info to us.
