Top two reasons to eat fresh-from-the-ground produce?

Ask Alan Joaquin, president of FarmRoof, a young firm dedicated to making farm-fresh produce available for O’ahu residents. He’ll tell you that the  nutrient density of just-harvested vegetables is greater than that of produce that’s been shipped in from elsewhere. And besides, the flavor is often so different that it’s surprising. I thought I knew how yellow u’ala (sweet potatoes) tasted — bland, unremarkable — until recently when I had one fresh from a local farm at Mark Noguchi’s He’eia Kea Pier General Store & Deli.

FarmRoof has been operating a small garden on the roof of the Sweet Home Cafe in Waimanalo for three years, selling a baby kale-arugula-Chinese mustard green mix to members of their community supported agriculture (CSA) subscription program ($10 a week for a weekly surprise basket from the farm). This blend of greens has been available at Whole Foods and is used by chefs such as Alan Wong (Alan Wong’s restaurant), Kevin Hanney (12th Ave. Grill and SALT), Vikram Gorg (Halekulani) and Alan Tsuchiyama (Le Bistro).

But the supply is temporarily slowed because now, in cooperation with the Kamehameha Schools, they’re bringing their wares to town. Wednesday, they held a press day to announce a plan for a roof garden atop the old CompUSA on Ala Moana between Keawe and Punchbowl. As the property owner, Kamehameha Schools helped broker a deal with the lessee, Automart USA.

Altogether, there are 38,000 square feet of rooftop (which you can only see from the air or one of the tall nearby buildings), partly planted now in FarmRoof’s trademark supergreen mix.

The plan includes a Farmers’ Cafe at 331 Keawe, across the street diamondhead. There, FarmRoof will host workshops, films and forums and will disseminate information on their efforts. They will also be working with Kamehameha Schools, which already had a commitment to create a sustainable urban environment on the lands they own in Kaka’ako. And Honolulu-side CSA customers can pick up their baskets. Or, if 20 persons in a single building in the financial district all sign up, they’ll deliver to the office.

Rooftop gardens sound like a great idea in a place like Honolulu, where many roofs are flat and there’s plenty of sunshine and rain. But you can’t just throw some soil on the roof, or even a bunch of boxes or planters, unless you’re willing to risk the roof coming down. Instead, FarmRoof employs lightweight “socks” to contain the soil and vegetables. These nylon-mesh containers, shaped like a split sausage, also release excess water, which is captured in a catchment system.

A FarmRoof gardener, whose name I neglected to get, said she growsgreens, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and more, all organically, in Waimanalo. Joaquin said their most reliable success has come with heirloom vegetables, herbs and their “supergreens” mix.

One reason is the soil, composed of composted matter and other things and outfitted with 70 different minerals and trace elements. They’ve been working with Dr. Corilee Watters at University of Hawai’i to document the nutritional content of their produce and perhaps to create a roof garden in a UH laboratory building.

Joaquin’s advice to anyone who is interested in this project and the produce is to go to www.farmroof.com or to call (808) 396-9454 to sign up for the Community Supported Agriculture plan so you’ll be ahead in line when the garden starts producing.

To Read the Original Article, or to view Wanda Adam’s Blog Site, Click HERE

Linda Chiem, Reporter - Pacific Business News

Honolulu entrepreneur Alan Joaquin is literally taking organic farming to new heights by planting organic farms on the rooftops of buildings across Hawaii, using a proprietary new technology he has developed over the past several years.

Joaquin, who calls himself an “ecopreneur,” is promoting sustainable agriculture in urban landscapes with the goal of feeding Hawaii residents with more locally grown organic vegetables without having to compete for hard-to-come-by farm land.

His niche business, FarmRoof Hawaii, marries new technology and an untapped segment of real estate. He intends to roll it out statewide and eventually market it to major metropolitan areas such as San Francisco, Chicago and New York City later this year.

The technology involves mesh “biosock” modules packed with a soil-less compost blend of antioxidants, nutrients and minerals and outfitted with an irrigation system. Joaquin says it represents an evolution in the sustainable-food movement.

The modules can be installed on concrete rooftops to eventually produce “superfood” leafy greens such as kale, arugula and Asian mustard greens. FarmRoof Hawaii already has started selling to the likes of Whole Foods Market, Alan Wong Restaurant, Halekulani, 12th Avenue Grill and SALT.

Certified organic by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the company touts itself as the world’s first and only certified organic green roof system.

The challenge has been getting people and customers to understand the FarmRoof concept. It’s a proprietary system and not a product sold in stores. However, Joaquin’s earlier version of the FarmRoof, a gardening system packed into a smaller version of the “biosock” tube called the Wiki Garden, was sold in stores such as City Mill for two years before he pulled the product line last year to focus on expanding FarmRoof Hawaii beyond the everyday consumer level.

“We cherry-pick our partners because all these people that we’ve started selling to are people we felt could expose our technology in the best way,” Joaquin said. “They know what we’re doing, what we’re about, and give us credibility. We don’t want our technology to be a commodity or a product. It’s a brand and a commercial farming operation that we’re looking for other like-minded ‘ecopreneurs’ to pass the technology on to.”

The company launched in 2008 and went through two years of research and development without generating revenue. By 2010, it generated $64,000 in sales with the Wiki Garden. Now, going forward with FarmRoof, which currently employs eight people, Joaquin envisions multiple revenue streams that will include selling the organically grown vegetables direct to grocers and restaurants as well as through community-supported agriculture programs.

But the bigger money makers likely will be the licensing agreements and royalties to come when FarmRoof starts licensing its rooftop farming system to interested operators or building owners, all of whom will be required to attend “FarmRoof University” at the company’s Waimanalo farm to learn how to properly install and operate the system. He declined to disclose what those licensing fees will be.

“When people think of farming, it’s so unsexy, it’s not glitzy or glamorous,” Joaquin said. “This is such a nontraditional approach to it that it’s catering to the next generation interested in sustainability and the triple bottom line.”

Whole Foods Market, which sells FarmRoof’s packaged greens at its Kahala Mall store, currently is in discussions with both FarmRoof and Kahala Mall management to potentially install a rooftop farm at that location, Joaquin said.

“FarmRoof is a tremendously exciting farm and business because it is transforming previously dead urban spaces in Honolulu into vibrant, productive places,” said Claire Sullivan, community and vendor relations coordinator for Whole Foods Market in Hawaii. “This is a great contribution to the development of a robust local food system in Hawaii, and helps challenge the notion that Honolulu and Oahu are just markets, not producers, of food.”

Joaquin admits that it often has been a tough sell getting other building owners and operators to open their doors to FarmRoof to install a rooftop farming system because of concerns about weight and liability. He said such concerns are mitigated by the fact that the system is lightweight at five pounds per square feet, keeping it well within the load capacities of most building rooftops.

Still, he’s open to crafting deals and agreements that include profit-sharing or paying a small rental fee to buildings to gain access to rooftops.

The payoff for the building owner or manager is reduced energy costs because the building is cooled by the “green roof,” he said. Also, the buzz and curiosity factor attached to a novelty like a farm roof could help drive sales through more foot traffic or attract new tenants to help lower building vacancy rates.

“Our slogan is more than a farm, more than food, and what we represent is sustainable hope and vision,” Joaquin said. “What we sell is not just food; what we’re selling is nutrition, wellness, respect, and that all comes from the people. It’s like the saying, ‘All boats rise with the tide,’ so we want all these small local farmers to rise with us because we’re so visible and we’re so sticky right now.”

Joaquin, who is married to Hawaii News Now television anchor Tannya Joaquin, has 20 years of experience in agriculture, engineering, environmental protection and landscape construction. Despite his experience, he said he was rejected in the early days by banks, investment groups and philanthropists who dismissed the FarmRoof concept as a pipe dream.

“I just said I’ll prove it, that I can do this bootstrapped, and now we have equity position where we call the shots, but I’ve personally invested my own savings into building this company into what it is,” he said. “We’ve worked through all these kinks, the system is workable, and we do need to expand, we do need more employees, and we do need more capital.”

By Tannya Joaquin

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow)- Think of Kakaako and you’re probably thinking high rises, not farms, but Kamehameha Schools sees rooftop farms as the future

One such “ground breaking” new farm called FarmRoof is part of the changing face of Kakaako.

It’s on top of Automart USA, the car dealership right across from Honolulu Harbor. It’s a fitting backdrop for the farm since up to 90 percent of our food has to be shipped in. The hope is that by growing food on more rooftops, we can have more homegrown food, literally.

After a prayer and blessing by Kawaiahao Kahu Curt Kekuna, Mayor Peter Carlisle and FarmRoof Founder Alan Joaquin untied the maile lei, rolled out the modules, and planted the first seeds.

“We have close to an acre of modules that will cover entire rooftop and the buildings down below” said Joaquin. ” Everyone below and tourists flying above will be looking at green patches of healthy, nutritious food.”

In a few weeks, the greens grown overhead will go to chefs, retailers or members who sign up for CSA’s or community supported agriculture.

It’s the world’s first certified organic rooftop farming system, and according to Christian O’Connor, Senior Assets Manager for Kamehameha Schools, it’s part of the master plan for Kakaako. O’Connor says, “We think the vision of greening this entire place is definitely something that can happen in maybe 10-20 years.”

Automart hopes to shave 20 percent from its 12-thousand dollar a month power bill because of the benefits of a green roof.

Mayor Carlisle sees the possibilities, saying “This is something that’s exciting to me because it could reduce energy costs, create energy and it could create food.”

At a time when Hawaii’s struggling with high prices, supporters see no reason why the islands should not be a hub for sustainable urban agriculture.

To learn more, visit farmroof.com

The top of a building in Kakaako is now a garden that is expected to produce greens and save energy

By Alan Yonan Jr.