Agriculture is an important part of the economy of Hawaii. Though Hawaii relies heavily on imports of food from mainland United States and other parts of the world, export of cash crop specific to the tropical growing environment of Hawaii has made agriculture one of the more important economic sectors.
During the early part of control of Hawaii by the United States, early cash crops included pineapple and sugar, which were tightly controlled by a small network of businessmen, the "Big Five", who monopolized control of the sugar industry's profits.[1] The industry has since diversified in terms of ownership in exports.
According to the USDA in 2022, the state of Hawaii had over 7,300 farm operations working on 1,100,000 acres.[2] By weight, honey bees may be the state's most valuable export.[3] According to the Hawaii Agricultural Statistics Service, agricultural sales were US$370.9million from diversified agriculture, US$100.6million from pineapple, and US$64.3million from sugarcane. Hawaii's relatively consistent climate has attracted the seed industry, which is able to test three generations of crops per year on the islands, compared with one or two on the mainland.[4] Seeds yielded US$264 million in 2012, supporting 1,400 workers.[5]
Before contact with Europeans, the Hawaiian people practiced aquaculture through development of fish ponds (Hawaiian: loko iʻa), the most advanced fish-husbandry among the original peoples of the Pacific. While other cultures in places like Egypt and China also used the practice, Hawaii's aquaculture was very advanced considering the much smaller size of the area of Hawaii compared to other aquacultural societies.[6] Hawaiian fishponds were typically shallow areas of a reef flat surrounded by a low lava rock wall (loko kuapa) built out from the shore. Several species of edible fish (such as mullet) thrive in such ponds, and Hawaiians developed methods to make them easy to catch.
"The full-scale development of loko i‘a (fishponds) from mauka (the mountains) to makai (the ocean) dates back over half a millennium. Cultivation and propagation centered on many different fresh and salt-water plants and animals, with the primary species being the prized ‘ama‘ama (mullet) and ‘awa (milkfish). An inventory in the early 1900s found 360 loko i‘a in the islands and identified 99 active ponds with an estimated annual production total of about 680,000 pounds, including 486,000 pounds of ‘ama‘ama and 194,000 pounds of ‘awa. Loko i‘a were extensive operating systems that produced an average of 400–600 pounds per acre per year, a significant amount considering the minimal amount of fishpond 'input' and maintenance effort apparent by that time."
"A Manual on Hawaiian Fishpond Restoration and Management" CTAHR University of Hawai'i[7]
Hawaii is one of the few U.S. states where coffee production is a significant economic industry – coffee is the second largest crop produced there. The 2019–2020 coffee harvest in Hawaii was valued at $102.9 million.[8] As of the 2019-2020 harvest, coffee production in Hawaii accounted for 6,900 acres of land.[9]
Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company's Puunene mill on Maui was the last operating sugar mill in HawaiʻiSugarcane was introduced to Hawaiʻi by its first inhabitants in approximately 600 AD and was observed by Captain Cook upon arrival in the islands in 1778.[11] Sugar quickly turned into a big business and generated rapid population growth in the islands with 337,000 people immigrating over the span of a century.[12] The sugar grown and processed in Hawaiʻi was shipped primarily to the United States and, in smaller quantities, globally. Sugarcane and pineapple plantations were the largest employers in Hawaiʻi.[13] Today the sugarcane plantations are gone, production having moved to other countries.
Genetic engineering in Hawaii is a hotly contested political topic. The Hawaiian Islands counties of Kauai, Hawaii and Maui passed or considered laws restricting the practice within their borders due to concerns about the health, the environment and impacts on conventional and organic agriculture.[15]
Hawaii is attractive to researchers and seed companies because of its moderate year-round climate—an average of 75 °F (24 °C), which allows 3 or more harvests per year, greatly reducing the length of time required to develop a new seed.[15]
Gene manipulation is generally conducted elsewhere. Hawaii sites cross the engineered strains with other strains to eliminate undesirable traits and cultivate the hybrids to produce seeds that are then planted elsewhere.
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