On the Big Island, Hamakua farmer Richard Ha saw trouble brewing and shifted his Aloha Airlines cargo shipments to barge last week.

Ha has been shipping several million pounds of tomatoes each year as well as cucumbers and other vegetables from his Hamakua Springs County Farms.

Some crops came to O'ahu by barge, and other shipments went to Maui on Aloha's cargo jets. Last week, Ha stopped using Aloha, opting instead to send two shipments a week by barge.

"The whole thing, the bankruptcy proceeding and then the negotiations for the sale of the cargo and the labor dispute, there was no way to know what was going to happen, so we decided we'd better take matters into our own hands," Ha said.

Bob Williams, president of the Hawai'i Island Chamber of Commerce, said farmers who ship fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers to O'ahu stores and restaurants will be most affected.

Williams called the closure "very disappointing news," and worried that the loss of air cargo capacity could set back long-term efforts by the state and federal governments to increase Big Island agriculture.

"Hopefully, it will still be possible to revive Aloha Air Cargo or to find another air carrier that can continue the service," he said. "Without the Oahu market, our fresh produce and cut flower market will be deeply impacted."

"I know it's going to impact our floral industry incredibly," said Richard Nelson, a past president of the Hawai'i Island Chamber of Commerce. "We ship a lot of flowers on Aloha Airlines. It's going to hurt our flower growers and our plant shippers, and obviously it's going to hurt some of our papaya growers."