{"id":219866,"date":"2025-08-07T10:43:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T20:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=219866"},"modified":"2025-08-07T11:18:54","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T21:18:54","slug":"leeward-cc-cultivates-hawaii-agricultural-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/08\/07\/leeward-cc-cultivates-hawaii-agricultural-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Connecting classrooms to the field: Leeward CC<\/abbr> cultivates Hawai\u02bbi\u2019s agricultural future"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"people
(Photo credit: Elliot Miles)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As the state works to strengthen local food systems, Leeward Community College is helping transform Â鶹´«Ã½\u2019s<\/span> agricultural landscape by connecting classrooms to the field and preparing students and educators with modern farming, entrepreneurship and sustainability skills.<\/p>\n

Teaching teachers<\/h2>\n
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(Photo credit: Elliot Miles)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In March, Leeward CC<\/abbr> hosted a workshop to help K–12 educators bring real-world agriculture and entrepreneurship into their classrooms. Eight teachers from Mililani High, Mililani Middle and Daniel K. Inouye Elementary schools visited Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Farming and O.K. Farms on Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Island to explore agricultural technologies, such as drone and app-based crop monitoring.<\/p>\n

“These local examples will help my students explore a range of careers connected to agriculture,” said Christopher Justo, agriculture teacher at Mililani Middle School.<\/p>\n

“Partnering with Leeward CC<\/abbr> has created opportunities I never thought possible,” added Grant Toyooka, district resource teacher in workforce readiness for the Leilehua-Mililani-Waialua Complex Area. “From meeting entrepreneurs to getting behind-the-scenes access, I\u2019ve gained insights far beyond what you can find online.”<\/p>\n

Growing sustainability<\/h2>\n
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(Photo credit: Elliot Miles)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Leeward CC<\/abbr> also offers sustainable agriculture courses, such as a commercial aquaponics class, held at Nalo Farms last spring.<\/p>\n

Students studied how hydroponics and aquaculture can work together to create a closed-loop system using minimal water.<\/p>\n

“Having a location to apply the theories taught in school reinforces best practices,” said Jason Brand of Nalo Farms.<\/p>\n

\"Joy
Joy Kono<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For student Joy Kono, the former USDA<\/abbr> Farm Service Agency state executive director, returning to the classroom reignited her passion.<\/p>\n

“Leeward CC<\/abbr>\u2019s hands-on classes can help drive the transformation needed to increase local food production,” Kono said.<\/p>\n

Exciting time for agriculture<\/h2>\n

Recently, Leeward CC<\/abbr> hired a new agriculture and technology workforce development coordinator, Vincent Kimura, who has decades of experience, including work with the Â鶹´«Ã½Community Colleges\u2019 Good Jobs Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> initiative.<\/p>\n

Will Castillo, senior workforce coordinator at Leeward CC<\/abbr>\u2019s Office of Workforce Development, said, “This is an exciting time for agriculture at Leeward CC<\/abbr>. We\u2019re building programs that connect students to real careers, support local food production, and highlight agriculture as a place of innovation and impact.” <\/p>\n

—By Devon Bedoya<\/em><\/p>\n

\"People
(Photo credit: Elliot Miles)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leeward CC<\/abbr> is emerging as a hub for cultivating homegrown agriculture talent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[222,65,71],"class_list":["post-219866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-agriculture","tag-leeward-community-college","tag-uh-community-colleges","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219866"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":219888,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219866\/revisions\/219888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}