Forty-five minutes from Honolulu, the Kamehameha Highway cuts inland as it runs by Turtle Bay, a picture-perfect coastal resort. On the mauka, or mountain side of the highway, a patchwork of small fields runs from the road to the base of the mountains, where local farmers grow a bounty of delicious produce. A nearby roadside market offers the farm’s bananas, plantains, coconuts, dragonfruit, papaya, sweet corn, tomatoes, eggplants, and other local delicacies to residents and passersby. 

In 2016, Trust for Public Land along with many partners including the North Shore Community Land Trust, secured the protection of the 468 acres of productive farmland in Kahuku—permanently dedicating the land to agricultural uses and removing the constant threat of development. This conservation success allows continued farming practices that help promote stable and sustainable food production in a state where more than 85 percent of food is imported and there is less than a week’s supply of food in stores at any given time.