For related articles and more information, please visit OCA’s All About Organics page.

Jack Johnson has the laid-back vibe you’d expect of any folk-rock singer-songwriter who hails from the Aloha State of Hawaii. But when it comes to food, he doesn’t mess around. “In Hawaii, 80 to 90 percent of our food is shipped in,” he says. “Why are we shipping in so much food when we could be growing it here?”

And much of the food that is grown in Hawaii is under threat from genetic modification. Genetically modified papayas, corn, and soy dot the landscape of Hawaiian agriculture.

His solution? Get kids involved in the local food movement through the Kokua Foundation, and start touring to get adults more active in their food system. Rodale.com got to sit down with Jack Johnson to talk GMOs, organics, and gardening this past weekend at Farm Aid 2012. After he gave us the downlow on why you have the right to know what’s in your food, he gave us a private concert of a song he wrote about his organic garden.

Rodale.com: You come from a surfing background, and you’ve been a strong advocate for clean water, aiding groups like Waterkeeper Alliance and the Surf Rider Foundation. Why did you decide to get involved with the food movement?

Jack Johnson: My wife and I started Kokua Foundation in Hawaii initially to get recycling programs at schools. But another big issue in Hawaii is that 80 or 90 percent of the food is shipped in. We tried to figure out ways we could get kids connected to food at a young age. Things like field trips to farms just trying to get them to have the vocabulary that’s needed to ask the bigger questions of why are we shipping in so much food when we could be growing it here.