OUR STORY: A VISION FOR SELF RELIANCE
Families in Lāʻie had long hoped for a place where they could grow traditional island foods and strengthen their ability to provide for themselves. Earlier attempts to lease agricultural land proved difficult because of the costs of land and irrigation, but the vision of a permanent family farm remained.
Sione Feinga came from Tonga to Hawaiʻi as a labor missionary, helping construct buildings in Lāʻie as the community and Church College of Hawaiʻi were growing.
He remained in Lāʻie, raised his family here, and later served as president of the Lāʻie Hawaiʻi Stake. His years of service and connection to the community would eventually help turn a long-held hope for agricultural land into Kāpaka Farm.
While serving as stake president, Sione Feinga worked with Elder John H. Groberg, a General Authority Seventy serving in the Pacific, toward establishing a permanent Church-owned farm where families could grow food and become more self-reliant.
With the approval of Church leadership, a property in Hauʻula was selected from several Church-owned sites, and Feinga became the farm’s original agent.
The land was divided into individual family plots and supported by shared infrastructure, including wells and irrigation. Families could cultivate foods familiar to their cultures and share what they grew with others.
Kāpaka had become something unusual: a farm designed not primarily to produce food for people, but to give people the means to produce food for themselves.
Kāpaka’s approach—providing families with access to land and water so they could grow food for themselves and share with others—became a model for similar Church self-reliance efforts beyond Hawaiʻi.
A published account of the Church’s international welfare initiatives specifically identified the Kāpaka project in Lāʻie as the model for family-garden projects, helping families grow foods familiar to their own cultures while strengthening self-reliance.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kāpaka's original purpose became especially visible. In 2021, approximately 230 plots were being cultivated by more than 310 families, while the farm averaged more than 800 volunteer hours each month. Families worked together growing food at a time when many local households were experiencing economic uncertainty.
Today, Kāpaka Farm continues the vision that began more than three decades ago. Across 178 acres, families cultivate individual plots, grow and share food, work alongside one another, and pass agricultural knowledge from one generation to the next.
The crops and families may change, but the purpose remains: providing land, water, knowledge, and opportunity so families can strengthen their capacity to provide for themselves and others.
As the land flourishes, so do its people.
Ola ka ʻāina. Ola ke kānaka.
Before Kāpaka was established, the Lāʻie Hawaiʻi Stake made several attempts to lease land where families could grow traditional foods and become more self-reliant. The cost of both the land and irrigation made those efforts difficult to sustain.
Kāpaka’s recorded history says Sione Feinga later wrote to Church President Ezra Taft Benson requesting a permanent Church welfare farm. Church News confirms that a Hauʻula property was selected from several Church-owned sites with President Benson’s approval.
Historical records capture Kāpaka at different stages of its development. Earlier accounts describe a larger project serving hundreds of families, while later records document the 178-acre farm and its present configuration.
These differences reflect a farm that has evolved over more than three decades as its acreage, plots, and participation have changed.
From its beginning, Kāpaka has been built around stewardship rather than commercial farming. Families are entrusted with individual plots to cultivate, while shared resources and infrastructure support the farm as a whole.
The Lāʻie Hawaiʻi and Lāʻie North Hawaiʻi stakes have shared responsibility for Kāpaka over the years through the Church’s agent-stake system, continuing the cooperative approach established in the farm’s earliest years.
DID YOU KNOW?
A closer look at the land, people, and story of Kāpaka Farm.
In 2021, approximately 230 plots were being cultivated by more than 310 families.
Today, Kāpaka encompasses 178 acres of agricultural land in Hauʻula.
Kāpaka is the model for family-garden projects developed all over the world.
Shared wells, pumps, and an irrigation network carry water throughout the farm and make individual family plots possible.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, volunteers contributed more than 800 hours each month as families worked to grow food and strengthen self-reliance.
Cacao, kalo, ʻulu, maiʻa, ʻuala, cassava, papaya, mango, guava, lilikoi—and much more. Kāpaka isnʻt a one crop farm. Families grow foods indigenous to their cultures and preferences.
The answer is—a lot. Because each family cultivates its own plot, Kāpaka supports a remarkable variety of traditional staples, tropical fruits, vegetables, greens, flowers, and foliage.
Kalo • ʻUlu • Maiʻa • ʻUala • Cassava • Yams • Corn • Beans
Pineapple • Coconut • Papaya • Mango • Guava • Lilikoi • Soursop
Eggplant • Green Beans • Pele (Hibiscus Spinach)
Ti Leaf • Flowers • Other useful and ornamental foliage
No two plots are quite alike. Families choose what to grow on the land entrusted to their care, making Kāpaka’s fields a reflection of the foods, traditions, knowledge, and cultures of the people who farm them.