Hawaii Farmers Union United-Farm Apprentice Mentoring (FAM) Program graduates Lehia Apana and Brad Bayless work on their Waiehu farm.

KAHULUI – The Farm Apprentice Mentoring (FAM) Program seeks to train and empower the next generation of family farmers on Maui by providing hands-on training in the fundamentals of permaculture principles married with Hawaiian cultural farming and Korean Natural Farming (KNF) techniques.

The Phase I curriculum includes farm planning, including reading land features, knowing water resources, irrigation needs, soil composition and fertility management; propagation techniques like seed saving; weed and pest management practices without herbicides and only certified organic pesticides; and the business of farming, which carries over and is intensified in FAM Phase II.

The program, which is free of cost to the participants, is sponsored by the Maui County Office of Economic Development, Kamehameha Schools-Aina Engagement Program, Lahaina Sunrise Rotary Club, The Savitt Family Foundation and The Atherton Family Foundation, among others.

The classroom training and Certificate of Professional Development are offered through the Sustainable Living Institute of Maui at the University of Hawaii Maui College.

An online/hybrid option is available for distance participants in Hana and the West Side.

To learn more about Hawaii Farmers Union United and FAM, visit hfuuhi.org.

The next FAM Program begins in January 2019, with applications due in November 2018. An orientation will be held in September/October.

To apply for the next cohort of the Farm Apprentice Mentorship Program, interested individuals may contact FAM Program Director Phyllis Robinson at pfierrorob@aol.co or visit SLIM’s website at SustainableMaui.org.

To learn more about Hawaii Farmers Union United and FAM, visit hfuuhi.org.