Hawai'i's farm acreage smaller, but profits increase

By Sean Hao
Advertiser Staff Writer

The amount of land farmed in Hawai'i dropped 10 percent between 1997 and 2002 as sugar-cane acres went fallow or were converted to housing.

Recently released figures from the 2002 U.S. census of agriculture also draw a picture of a Hawai'i farmer, who in comparison to Mainland counterparts, runs a smaller, more profitable farm, and is more often female.

The census data confirms that Hawai'i's $536 million agriculture sector is moving away from large plantation crops such as sugar cane and pineapple to diversified products such as flowers, melons and seed crops.

That slow transition is responsible for much of the drop in farm acreage as land that once was filled with sugar cane lay fallow, according to agriculture officials. However, much of that land remains ready to plant, said Steve Gunn, state deputy agriculture statistician.

"I don't see it being turned right over to development right away and gone forever," Gunn said, while acknowledging that valuable farmland in areas such as Kapolei has been developed.

During the same period, farm acreage dipped 2 percent nationwide, according to the census data. However, Hawai'i did lose fewer farms — just 1 percent during the period, compared with a 4 percent drop in the number of farms nationwide. Similar to the population census, the five-year agriculture census is used as a forecasting tool and a basis for allocating government money. Final survey results will be released this summer.

Among farmers who have found other farm uses for former sugarcane land is the Wailea Agricultural Group Inc., which grows tropical fruits and flowers near Honomu on the Big Island. Started in 1994 the company also illustrates another trend in Hawai'i agriculture — a high percentage of women farmers.

Thirty-three percent of farms in Hawai'i have women farm hands and one in five farms are run by women. That compares to 27 percent of farms nationwide with women workers with 13 percent of farms run by women. Lesley Hill, executive director for Wailea Agricultural, said she wasn't surprised by the high percentage of women farmers.

"Women are natural farmers — their nature is to nurture," she said.

Faced with high-priced land, 64 percent of Hawai'i farms were 10 acres or less, versus just 8 percent nationwide.

In Hawai'i, the transition away from large-scale crops resulted in sugar-cane sales plunging 67 percent to $57.8 million between 1991 and 2001, according to state figures. Meanwhile sales of diversified agricultural products such as vegetables and melons rose 60 percent to $62 million during that period.

Unable to farm hundreds of acres of commodities such as corn, wheat and soybeans, local farmers make up for the lack of scale and high cost of business by growing higher-margin crops. According to the census, 44 percent of farms in Hawai'i generate $10,000 or more in sales annually as opposed to 41 percent of farms nationwide.

"You get more value here for your effort," said Hill. "You have to because it costs more to do it here, so you have to get better value for your crop."

Hawai'i growers also are aided by a year-round growing season.

"In North Dakota you get four or five months of growing season and that's it," Gunn said.

Reach Sean Hao at shao@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8093.

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