Nearly all of the beef consumed in Hawaii is imported. By choosing Kunoa you are making a difference. Together we are ushering in a future where our food is locally raised with integrity and care. A future where our food is abundant, fresh, and healthy. A future where Hawaii can stand proud and free, flush with local food as rich as the land around us.
Utilizing local forages, holistic planned grazing techniques, and renewable energy, Kunoa is passionately committed to local and sustainable food production.
Kunoa believes that whenever possible the food eaten in Hawaii should be born, raised, and processed here. In an ideal system, animals are nourished naturally on vegetative forages, humanely handled, and butchered locally. This is our goal—to help foster an agricultural landscape that supports local farmers growing quality food for their island neighbors . This philosophy, combined with our commitment to land stewardship, holistic management, and renewable energy aims to honor the culture of Hawaii and positions Kunoa and our communities for a truly sustainable future.
Producing more local food and doing it in a way that honors Hawaii’s natural and cultural resources is not the job of one company. It will be the result of sustained commitment and collaboration between producers, consumers, politicians, activists, and more.
This mission also needs people who will help spread the word about it among the broader online community. We thank experts from FastEssay, an essay writing service that encourages students from all over the world to research and write papers on Hawaii's resources, that way promoting the state's appeal to investors.
At Kunoa, we are working to do our part in fueling the shift to local food and re-energizing the market around Hawaii beef. Having purchased and invested heavily in the state’s largest butchery on Oahu, Kunoa is opening new options for Hawaii ranchers, supporting a pathway for more cattle to be raised for local consumption—and allowing it to be done at a lower cost, keeping more ranchers, more jobs, and more land in agriculture.
That leaves the most important player: YOU, the Hawaii consumer. You drive change with your decisions and with your pocket book. If you believe in a self-sufficient Hawaii, a Hawaii that can stand free, please support your local farmers, ranchers, and food companies. Together we can create a healthy and sustainable future for our islands!
Our model fosters improved total ecology for Hawaii. Promoting a food-secure future across the state, with healthier land, animals, consumers, and communities.
Cattle are healthiest on a diverse diet of grasses, forbs, sedges, shrubs, grains, and even trees; that’s how the species evolved, and that’s how our ancestors traditionally fed their domesticated herds. This changed during the industrial revolution when humans flipped the food pyramid for beef cattle on its head. Instead of growing to maturity on modest, natural amounts of grains and fatty legumes while roaming at pasture, many cattle now spend the last several months of life in confined feeding operations gaining weight on a diet mostly absent of grass.
In Hawaii, with year-round growing season and plentiful water, Kunoa cattle are able to grow as their physiology intended them to—happily grazing on plentiful local forages and carefully selected supplements while steadily, and healthily, gaining weight without any added hormones or antibiotics. Throughout their entire life cycle, the health of our animals is our top concern. We treat each and every cow humanely and with the dignity these remarkable animals deserve.
Learn more about our standards for animal health and well-being.
Healthy land produces healthy plants and animals. Healthy plants and animals support healthy people and communities. Kunoa believes that this equation is constant—our health, and wealth, as a civilization begins with the land. Hawaii’s soil is alive with billions of microorganisms that work together to filter water, capture and store carbon, and unlock essential nutrients. When we ignore these relationships, these ecologies break down and force us to introduce synthetic approaches to agriculture resulting in less productive land and failing plant and animal health—breaking the basic equation above and compromising the health of our families and our economy.
Kunoa aims to employ progressive and sustainable grazing techniques, fostering healthy land while supporting the regeneration of healthy soil ecologies. This will allow our pastures to improve year after year in their ability to retain carbon, reduce run-off, and nourish healthy animals.
Hawaii imports nearly 90% of its food, 97% of its beef. Isolated by thousands of miles of ocean, this dependence leaves the local economy vulnerable to swings in pricing and availability. Additionally, with only a few days of supply on local shelves, anything from extreme weather to global political events could cripple the local economy and threaten the safety of all who live and visit Hawaii.
At Kunoa, we believe we can energize Hawaii’s ag industry. There are tens of thousands of world-class, pasture-raised cattle raised in Hawaii every year. We hope to keep more of them here, raise them to maturity - healthily and humanely—and keep jobs, food, revenue, and this premium resource, right here in Hawaii.
Kunoa beef is pasture-raised and natural—lean and delicious. Our herds graze in mauka pasturelands on Oahu and Kauai, spending their entire life in Hawaii with no added hormones or antibiotics. We work with our herds as well as with other local ranchers to raise high quality cattle that are specially suited for pasture finishing and subtropical climates and grasses.
Raising cattle on pasture with diverse and nutritious forages shapes the delicious Kunoa flavor profile. Robust and beefy, from steaks and hamburgers to meat bars and jerky, Kunoa beef is flavor-packed and healthy.
Kunoa co-founder and third-generation rancher Bobby Farias combines progressive grazing practices with Hawaii’s paniolo traditions as steward of 4,000+ acres on Kauai and Oahu.
Kunoa currently ranches 2,000 head on 4,000 acres of Kauai and Oahu pastureland. Much of our land is former sugarcane plantation land, which has either been fallowed or more recently cultivated by some of the world’s largest seed companies. This presents us with an opportunity to demonstrate the power of regenerative grazing to build soil, store carbon, restore hydrologic function to the landscape, and protect our marine habitats from runoff.
Our herds are a genetic rainbow of english, continental, and hot-weather breeds that have adapted to the Hawaii micro-climates over many generations. We are continually refining our animal’s underlying genetics by introducing new bulls and managing our breeding cows based on their calf performance. Our goal is to continue to shepherd healthy, sustainable herds that support the land and produce the delicious, healthy beef Kunoa customers expect.
We have acquired Hawaii’s largest USDA-inspected butchery for beef and pork. This facility was constructed in 2004 and meets stringent federal requirements for animal welfare and food safety. Since acquiring the facility, Kunoa has added additional equipment and processes to minimize animal discomfort and maximize food safety. One of our key pieces of equipment, for example, was designed by animal welfare expert Temple Grandin. From our ranches to our butchery and all steps between, Kunoa’s goal is to act as a beacon of best practices for ranching, meat processing, and butchery in the Pacific Islands and beyond.
Additionally, as a portfolio partner with Energy Excelerator, Kunoa aspires to employ the latest renewable energy generation and energy efficiency technologies. This is best exhibited by the recent installation of 100kW of rooftop photovoltaics that help us limit our greenhouse gas and carbon footprint.
Co-founder Bobby Farias may be best known in Hawaii as a champion team roper, but his role in the community is more multidimensional. As a third-generation rancher and descendant of sugar cane plantation workers on Kauai, Bobby has seen firsthand the evolution of agriculture in Hawaii, which has always seemed to serve large international companies. More personally, for years Bobby has operated the largest calf brokerage on Kauai, negotiating the sale and shipping of calves off island to California, Texas, and Washington. This model kept ranchers afloat in Hawaii after its feedlots shut down in the 80s and 90s, but every time Bobby shipped a calf, he saw income, jobs, tax revenue, and most importantly, a quality source of local protein, sail away with them. Bobby co-founded Kunoa to help reverse this model and keep Hawaii beef in Hawaii.
info@kunoacattle.com
Kunoa Cattle Co
91-319 Olai Street
Kapolei, HI 96707