Learn from the past to create a more resilient food future
Māla Kalu‘ulu engages in holistic agricultural production, research and education within a cooperative framework.
About
Welcome to Māla Kaluʻulu, a workers cooperative that specializes in traditional agroforestry methods and crops. Our 4-acre farm is located in South Kona and serves as a research and educational site for teaching traditional Hawaiian agroecology. We also partner with several sister sites and consult/advise on multiple agricultural endeavors.
Our mission is to restore the ancient breadfruit (ʻulu) agroforests that helped sustain pre-contact Hawaiʻi, and to create a more resilient food future for Hawaiʻi by learning from the past. We focus on the kaluʻulu, or ancient breadfruit belt of South Kona, which spanned nearly 10 square miles from Honaunau to Kaʻupulehu along Hawaiʻi Island’s western coast.
Over the past five years, we have removed about 95% of the invasive trees and shrubs that had overtaken our property and planted over 100 breadfruit trees representing multiple varieties. We have installed a highly diversified subcanopy and ground cover comprised of dozens of co-crops, including both native and non-native crops with commercial potential.
In 2017, we established the first commercial breadfruit nursery on Hawai’i Island, helping to fuel the continued growth of the island’s ʻulu industry. We currently have 6 different varieties under cultivation, two of which are readily available for purchase.
Our vision for the future is to become a viable economic and agronomic model empowering adaptive restoration of the kaluʻulu and driving reclamation of more and larger tracks of breadfruit agroforestry throughout South Kona. We also hope to leverage the restored system on our farm for novel research and education about traditional Hawaiian agroforestry.
Our unique hybrid structure encompasses restoration and education while pursuing economic viability as a commercial farm. The farm is structured as a worker-owned cooperative, with five member-owners working the land and sharing in the benefits.
We invite you to learn more about our project through our farm tour video and virtual 360-degree educational tour.
Thank you for your interest in Māla Kaluʻulu.
The mission of Māla Kalu‘ulu is to enhance our understanding, appreciation, and utilization of traditional Hawaiian land use practices focusing on food production through farming, research, and education.
Restoring the kalu’ulu.
Mala Kaluʻulu seeks to enhance our understanding, appreciation and utilization of traditional Hawaiian land use practices for increased food self-sufficiency and sustainability. The doctoral research of our co-founder, Dr. Noa Kekuewa Lincoln, sought to define the extent and productivity of the ancient kaluʻulu, estimating that the system covered nearly ten square miles and produced 20,000 metric tons of breadfruit per year. This research serves as a core part of our inspiration to revive the work of our Hawaiian ancestors. The ancient kaluʻulu breadfruit belt, seen in the 1817 drawing to the left, can be read about in Dr. Lincolnʻs research here.