Ag Conference 2012
September  20 & 21, 2012
Hawaii Convention Center, Honolulu

Aloha colleagues and friends in agriculture and agriculture supporting endeavors,

You are warmly invited to join us for the 2012 Hawaii Agricultural Conference: Leveraging Partnerships for Profit on September 20-21, 2012 at the Hawaii Convention Center. We found this topic to be timely as the global tide is trending towards sharing and collaboration as a means to secure a market advantage.

Brought on by increased price sensitivity, social networking capabilities and environmental awareness, a phenomena coined “collaborative consumption” has brought on a wave of traditional lending, partnering, renting and bartering that has the potential to fundamentally change the way in which business is conducted.

This new approach is exemplified by Craigslist, ZipCar (car sharing service) and Airbnb (peer to peer accommodations), which are all spreading like wildfire, remove the middle-man and put use of product above ownership.

What advantages could these concepts bring to agriculture in Hawaii? What resources exist in your community that could be shared rather than duplicates sitting idly at each operation? What relationships could be leveraged to a shared advantage? At the conference we will explore this trend at the global level across sectors followed by an examination of local examples to stimulate thought and demonstrate how this thinking could bring agriculture to the cutting edge, lead to stronger relationships and ultimately more money in the pockets of those who deserve it.

We are really excited to bring speakers like Larry Yee who has devoted years to creating a Food Commons, a system of vertical integration and cooperation forming partnerships within a new economic paradigm.

Sarah Stokes Alexander is the Director of Environment Practice for The Keystone Center will help us fine-tune our collaborative problem-solving models, tools and skills. She has great examples of successful collaborative ventures.

Ten Ideas that will Change the World? – here’s one of them! Lauren Anderson and Collaborative Consumption, what is it and how can we get on board?

And, of course, we’ve prepared a slate full of local agricultural professionals sharing local examples of partnerships and profitability. Keep checking back as we develop additional program details, but register now to take advantage of the Early Bird registration fees!

You can’t miss these two days of informative programming! Check out the trade show and enjoy the company of one another around the freshest food the island offers at our all Hawaii luncheon. Join us, bring your colleagues and friends and be a part of the conversations that inspire and equip us for action!

We look forward to seeing you there,
The conference planning team: Tova Callender and Steve Kai, Co-Chairs, Mark Cummings, Diane Ley, John McHugh and Jane Yamashiro.