Source: HAWAII ULU PRODUCERS COOPERATIVE submitted to NRP
SUPPORTING HAWAII`S SMALL BREADFRUIT FARMS THROUGH R&D TO DEVELOP NEW MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGIES AND MARKET STRATEGIES TO INCREASE FARM RETURNS
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
SMALL BUSINESS GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1019549
Grant No.
2019-33610-29790
Cumulative Award Amt.
$98,560.00
Proposal No.
2019-00816
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Jul 1, 2019
Project End Date
Feb 29, 2020
Grant Year
2019
Program Code
[8.12]- Small and Mid-Size Farms
Recipient Organization
HAWAII ULU PRODUCERS COOPERATIVE
83-5625 ROCK BOTTOM RD
CAPTAIN COOK,HI 96704
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
This project will result in the development of a thriving commercial breadfruit ('ulu) industry in Hawai'i that will serve as an example to emergent agricultural industries focused on highly seasonal crops. We address key industry gaps by leveraging the pioneering work of small business applicant, Hawai'i 'Ulu Producers Cooperative (HUPC), the State of Hawai'i's foremost breadfruit farmer organization. HUPC will research and develop a feasible plan to scale an efficient, vertically integrated, breadfruit industry value chain from pilot to commercial, which has not yet been achieved globally.Breadfruit is a prolific, nutritious staple that has potential to mitigate global hunger but remains underutilized. Recent research has pointed to breadfruit's resilience to climate change and nutritional benefits as a low-glycemic, high protein starch, with significant economic potential in the natural foods market. However, the breadfruit industry remains undeveloped because of challenges related to the fruit's shelf life, seasonality, and a lack of adequate manufacturing technologies for commercial processing.This project will provide foundational research and development to determine the feasibility of scaling to commercial-level breadfruit production and processing of at least 1 million pounds per year of fruit aggregated from small, diversified farms. Objectives include identification of new, and innovative utilization of existing, technologies for commercial production and manufacturing with consideration of GMP and FSMA regulations; development of technologies to accommodate diversified co-crops to support year-round operations and market supply; and creation of novel branding strategies and a replicable framework for increasing and expediting small-farm returns.
Animal Health Component
50%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
0%
Applied
50%
Developmental
50%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
12562103010100%
Knowledge Area
125 - Agroforestry;

Subject Of Investigation
6210 - Farmer cooperatives;

Field Of Science
3010 - Economics;
Goals / Objectives
The overarching goal of this project is to determine the feasibility of scaling to commercial-level breadfruit production and processing of at least 1 million pounds per year of fruit aggregated from small, diversified farms. Specific objectives include identification of new, and innovative utilization of existing, technologies for commercial production and manufacturing with consideration of GMP and FSMA regulations; development of technologies to accommodate diversified co-crops to support year-round operations and market supply; and creation of novel branding strategies and a replicable framework for increasing and expediting small-farm returns.
Project Methods
The PI will work closely with project consultants, advisors and key staff members to conduct the research and develompent needed to answer the technical questions outlined in the proposal: 1) What technological improvements are needed to support commercial-scale production and minimal processing of breadfruit, at volumes of at least million pounds per year?, 2)Which three co-crops from the following list provided by DOE and verified by HUPC's farmers as already being grown, have the greatest potential for complementarity as part of an integrated year-round manufacturing facility with breadfruit?, 3)What new branding strategies could be applied to HUPC's products to communicate the benefits and added value of diversified cropping systems to end-user customers, particularly retail consumers, in Hawai'i? Analytical rubrics for addressing each question have been detailed in the narrative, and include exploration of existing technologies that might be applied to commercial breadfruit production and processing as well as the refinement and development of new customized equipment for this emerging industry. Consultants specializing in agricultural engineering, food safety, food product manufacturing and marketing/branding will provide support and guidance as needed during the project period.

Progress 07/01/19 to 02/29/20

Outputs
Target Audience:Target audience reached by our efforts included small and diversified breadfruit farmers in Hawaii State, as well as specialty "co-crop" producers growing complementary crops explored including taro corm, sweet potato, and mango, among others. Changes/Problems:The project timing from July to February did not allow for sufficient iterative learning through application of R&D measures over the course of more than one breadfruit season. Because breadfruit season is from July to December, project progress was just ramping up as the season was winding down. For this reason, continued R&D will be ongoing through the upcoming season starting in July 2021. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Though training and professional development opportunities were not built into this project proposal, the PI and other organization personnel benefitted greatly from the consultation and testing provided through this project and have learned invaluable information about scaling from pilot to commercial / industrial volumes of breadfruit. In this way the experience did result in training and professional development outcomes that will be shared and amplified through follow-upR&D and implementation efforts with the broader farming community and breadfruit industry. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results are now being shared with the co-op farmers, board, government agencies, and technical consultants helping to expand the breadfruit industry in Hawaii. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? A robust road map was developed to guide scaling to 1 million pounds of breadfruit and a similar number of co-crops aggregated from small diversifed farms. This includes comprehensive research and development documentingnovel utilization ofexisting technologies that can be leveraged for receiving, washing, peeling, cutting, steaming, chilling, and packaging breadfruit products;and new technologies developed for sorting, quartering and coring the fruit. Moreover we identified a sub-set of co-crops most appropriate for integration into a year round manufacting facility for breadfruit through exploration of market, processing and production variables; taro corm, sweet potato, and mango are currently the highest ranked co-crops identified, though several lower priority crops will continue being explored, as well. Finally, we analyzed existing agroforestry certification programsand branding campaigns to identify keywords, messaging and phrasing successfully used to convey the value of small diversified food production systems, and determined that further surveying of both producers and consumers is needed to conclusively determine which if any certification programs may add value to local growers beyond that which can be developed through a sophisicated, co-op based branding campaign.

Publications

  • Type: Other Status: Submitted Year Published: 2020 Citation: N/A - final product included the technical report submitted to NIFA.


Progress 07/01/19 to 02/29/20

Outputs
Target Audience:In this reporting period we made progress toward addressing the first four sections of our technical report: analysis of current and potential bottleneck in breadfruit manufacturing operations, potential application fo existing technologies, refinment of customized technologies and development of new technologies for commercial-scale operations, and identification of food safety consideraions at for scaled operations. The target audience is the applicant's manufacturing operation, staff, farmer-members, and users of products. Changes/Problems:We got a late start on our grant because it took nearly 60 days to get through all the adminstrative work of initiating the project with NIFA and activing ASAP to begin fund disbursements. In addition this breadfruit season (July-Dec) has been considerably larger than any we've had to date so we had little time available to coordinate a visit with our primary consultants. We finally have the visit scheduled from Dec 9-13. The goal of that visit is to finalize parts 1-4 of the technical report, which focus on the manufacturing technologies to be used for commercial scale operations. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next reporting period we will finalize the first 4 sections of the technical report and make significant headway towards accomplishing the remaining sections.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We have made considerable progress toward the first objective -identification of new, and innovative utilization of existing, technologies for commercial production and manufacturing with consideration of GMP and FSMA regulations. Our R&D has not yet looked explicitly at the second objective - development of technologies to accommodate diversified co-crops to support year-round operations and market supply - but all the technologies we have explored to date are multifunctional to support a mix of local crops. On December 9-16 are primary manufacturing consultants are vitisiting us in person to finalize the first four sections of our technical report on the ground.

Publications