Born and raised in Wahiawa, Poni Askew has always been passionate about agricultural systems in Hawaii.

When she learned that farmers throw away between 30% and 40% of everything they grow and that 90% of the food consumed in the state is imported, she and her husband decided to create a product that utilizes off-grade, or imperfect, produce — limiting food waste and contributing to the local economy.

“What we do is we actually rescue farmers’ off-grade fruits, roots and herbs, and (my husband) turns it into a wine and then ferments it into a vinegar,” said Askew, who co-owns Hawaiian Vinegar &Spice Co. The company creates both raw vinegars and sweet drinking vinegars called shrubs.

Hawaiian Vinegar &Spice Co.’s mission to support local farmers as a small business aligns well with that of the new Wahiawa Value-Added Product Development Center, which held its grand opening Friday afternoon.

A partnership between Leeward Community College and the state, the 33,000-square-foot educational facility features state-of-the-art equipment, including wet and dry kitchens, a high pressure processing chamber, an allergen kitchen, and storage and packaging areas.

The center opened five months after the University of Hawaii’s first business incubator, the Maui Food Innovation Center at UH Maui College, which focuses on assisting food and agricultural entrepreneurs statewide. The resources of both the Wahiawa and Maui centers are accessible statewide, and the UH community colleges are “evaluating” incubators on the other islands to support local agriculture across the state, said UH community colleges Vice President Erika Lacro.

Construction on the $35 million center began in July 2021 after years of discussion surrounding food innovation at the state level.

“When you think of obstacles that our farmers face, like overproduction, off-grade products that they can’t get off their hands, and when you think of the obstacles that our entrepreneurs face, like sourcing raw materials to make their products, the cost of production, and resources like nutritional labeling, packaging and shelf-life stabilization, and when you think of how often our small businesses need to leave the state to take care of some of these efforts, there is urgency for us to do something to address this,” Leeward Community College Chancellor Carlos Penaloza said at the center’s grand opening ceremony.

The center’s emphasis is on value-added products, or raw produce modified into products with a higher value or shelf life, such as tomatoes being processed into ketchup or strawberries being cooked into jams.

“This entire facility, like others internationally, is focusing on just using the off-grades to make new products that can make it to market,” Penaloza told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “That’s kind of the philosophy behind it. We want it to really make a strong economic move.”

Penaloza said that the center is a sort of phase one for a larger vision towards increased support for local farmers and businesses, and food innovation.

Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz (D, Mililani-Wahiawa- Whitmore Village) said that the state Agribusiness Development Corporation and the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism are working together on the next phase: to create a statewide plan for food innovation centers, which he said will be “the next step in a progression.”

“If we can establish more small companies that will grow that are from the community, using products from the community, hiring people from the community, that’s what’s going to save Hawaii,” Dela Cruz said. “All the small companies that we can turn into medium companies and large companies, utilizing local agriculture, entrepreneurship and value- added products — that’s the vision.”

While the next phases will focus on creating commercial facilities to assist small business owners, the Wahiawa center has a large focus on education.

Last year, Leeward Community College began its Aina to Makeke program, which in partnership with the Hawaii Ag &Culinary Alliance provides a 12-week course on food product development to local entrepreneurs who use ingredients grown or raised in Hawaii in their products, as well as introduces participants to the Wahiawa space. The program is currently hosting its third cohort and recruiting for its fourth.

For Hawaiian Vinegar &Spice Co., which was a member of the first Aina to Makeke cohort, having access to the center will greatly enhance its productivity level. The business currently works in a 250-square-foot space, which Askew said is “very difficult for processing and manufacturing.”

“Having this facility and being able to do processing, bringing in the fruit through the intake, being able to go through a wash process, turn it into juice and then take it back to our facility for making vinegar is going to be extremely helpful for us,” Askew said. “We’ve been fortunate enough, being Wahiawa folks, that we have been able to see the (center) process from almost its beginning to where it is now.”

As the center begins operations, Penaloza sees great potential for the future of the space and food innovation in the state.

“Without really exaggerating, the state of Hawaii investing in this is probably the best thing that has happened in many, many, many years,” Penaloza said. “This is almost guaranteed to have that success, that rate of return.”