Want to add chicken eggs to your farm business, with a built-in market and everything you need to get started? Our 2023 program is getting prepared, after a highly successful 2022 program which graduated 17 chicken egg farms across the island!
For 2023, we’re looking for 5 minority beginning farmers to participate in PEEP and contract with us to sell eggs into our SNAP-eligible KauaiLocalFood.com program for our community!
Kauaʻi PEEP will provide selected participants with:
- Over $2,500 in start-up equipment and supplies including books, chicks, brooder box and chicken coop materials, feeding and watering supplies, feed & more
- A 6-month educational program on commercial chicken egg production including:
- 12 Zoom educational sessions
- local chicken farm field trips
- pau hana “talk chicken” sessions with experienced chicken farming experts statewide
- a graduation resource fair
- A built-in buyer for eggs through KauaiLocalFood.com to ensure egg sales while you stabilize and grow your business
- A cohort-style model that encourages farmer-to-farmer support, collaborative sales methods, and cooperative buying opportunities to lower operating costs
Ideal participants are:
- beginning farmers or ranchers – have been commercially farming in the US for less than 10 years
- have a farm location – can show proof of a long-term lease or owned land for their chicken farm location
- diverse – we believe in equity and minority farmers/ranchers are highly prioritized in this program
- collaborative – opportunities to buy and sell together are strong advantages to being competitive in this market
- committed – classes and events must be attended, on-farm work completed, data collected and shared, and a $250 participation fee paid if accepted
- devoted to their community – are passionate about producing protein for local consumption and contributing to our island’s food self-sufficiency
2023 PEEP Program Timeline:
- Program Applications Due: October 31, 2022 – Applications are now closed
- Selections Announced: December 1, 2022
- Program Begins: January 2023
- Program Graduation: July 2023
Interested in Applying?
Applications for our 2023 cohort are now closed; our 2024 session application will open in late 2023. If you have any questions about the application process or the program in general, email [email protected].