There was, the joke goes, diversified agriculture in Hawai'i even before the demise of the plantation system: You could have your sugar raw, granulated or powdered or your pineapple sliced, wedged, chunked or juiced.

Indeed, through much of the 20th century, the strength of Hawai'i's agricultural industry — and thus the overall strength of its economy — waxed and waned on the fortunes of King Sugar and Big Pineapple.

Today, however, Hawai'i agriculture is defined along the same lines as the state's population — by its broad diversity, its adaptability, and its ability to rise to challenges unique to Hawai'i's geographic isolation.

"It's not just two crops anymore," said Sandra Kunimoto, chair of the state Department of Agriculture. "It's so much more consumer driven, not just a commodities market. Whoever would have thought that we would have these niche markets? There are a lot of opportunities for small farms to make their mark."

It is difficult to overestimate the role of the plantations in the development of modern Hawai'i. Early fluctuations in the market in the early part of the century led to a consolidation of power by the so-called Big Five, who each leveraged their substantial resources to keep the entirety of their operations — from recruiting and importing labor to planting, harvesting and processing to trucking, shipping and delivery — within their organizations. And in so doing, the companies contributed to shared infrastructure like roads, railways, buildings and shipping lines.

But by 1959, a year in which military spending accounted for the largest share of the local economy, the plantations had already begun to wobble as they lost market share to foreign producers and found their dubious if effective labor practices challenged by increasingly powerful organized labor movements (for example, a 90-day sugar strike in 1958 closed sugar mills in Kohala, Kahuku, Kilauea and 'Ewa Beach).

With statehood, the local agriculture industry became eligible for an influx of federal funding for programs such as farm credit, natural resources and statistical services. However, neither these funds, nor favorable changes in the tax structure in the 1960s, could prevent local agriculture from being overtaken by the new, rapidly advancing tourism-based economy.

In 1959, an estimated one out of every 12 workers in Hawai'i was somehow connected to the sugar industry and more than 220,000 acres on four islands were devoted to sugar crops. Production peaked in 1966 with 1,234,121 tons of raw sugar.

Production would continue to average more than 1 million tons of raw sugar per year, but there was a precipitous drop beginning in 1986. The period from 1990 to 2002 would prove the most dramatic, from 55 farms producing 820,000 tons of raw sugar to just two farms yielding 270,000 tons, as fixed prices and rising labor costs left the local industry unable to compete with foreign growers.

The pineapple industry fared no better.

At its peak, Hawai'i growers produced better than 80 percent of the world's canned pineapple. But by the late 1960s, production began to decline and the 1970s saw the number of pineapple canneries in Hawai'i diminish from nine to just three.

COFFEE CROPS

To be sure, the agricultural industry produced more than just sugar and pineapple. By the late 1950s, coffee growers had recovered from the near-collapse of the industry in 1929 to produce some 15 million pounds of green coffee beans. Castle & Cooke began planting macadamia nut trees in 1949 and by the mid-'50s had already made significant inroads in the U.S. market.

With the decline of sugar and pineapple — and the subsequent availability of broad tracts of farmable land — the agricultural industry has undergone a dramatic transformation with a proliferation of smaller farms (many operating on leased plots of 5 acres or less) and a radical diversification of crops — seed corn to shallots, Tahitian limes to hydroponic cucumbers.

Although a distant third behind tourism and federal spending, agriculture still generates $2.9 billion to the local economy and directly and indirectly accounts for approximately 42,000 jobs.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, there were approximately 7,500 farms operating in Hawai'i in 2007. However, that figure is based on the definition of a farm as an entity with potential sales of at least $1,000 per year. The state Department of Agriculture sets the standard of definition at $100,000 in gross revenue, arriving at a more likely figure of 500 farms.

Local farmers say they have benefitted from a renewed appreciation for local growing and the need for Hawai'i to reduce its dependence of imported goods, appreciation brought about by recent food-contamination scares and the rise of green-living and sustainability movements.

"When I first got into it, farmers were treated like second-class citizens," said Dean Okimoto, owner and president of Nalo Farms and president of the Hawai'i Farm Bureau. "Now it's cool to be a farmer. That's the way it should be. You can have all the accountants and lawyers, but when it comes to sustainability, what do they do to sustain your life?"

Okimoto's father, a World War II veteran who served with the storied 100th Regimental Combat Team, began farming guava and papaya in 1953 on 10 acres of sugar cane land in Waimanalo.

Okimoto had graduated from the University of Redlands when he decided to return to Hawai'i and give farming a try.

"I didn't think about the decline in agriculture until I was in it for a few years," Okimoto said. "The sugar mills were all going down and pineapple was declining. That's when I thought, 'Something's wrong here. Something has got to happen.'"

Okimoto's vision of the future began to take shape through conversations with Roy Yamaguchi, the local chef who pioneered Pacific Rim cuisine. Yamaguchi lamented the fact that fresh lettuce, tomatoes and corn had to be imported despite ample land and year-round temperate weather in Hawai'i.

Okimoto's Nalo Farms has helped to fill that void, and in the process helped to promote the quality of locally grown produce by supplying its products to local restaurants like Roy's.

And while agriculture is no longer a dominant economic driver in Hawai'i, Okimoto said it can continue to play a significant role in the overall economic picture. In fact, he said, agriculture and tourism "go hand in hand," as a robust agricultural industry helps to keep the environment green (a selling point for tourism) while tourism provides immediate customers and overall exposure for Hawai'i agriculture.

Still, Okimoto said small farms cannot exclusively meet all of the challenges posed to the industry, particularly in its efforts to decrease dependency on imported food.

"You've got to be able to feed not just the rich, but the whole community," he said. "We have to develop 1,000-acre farms so some of what is grown is exported and some stays here to be sustainable. You also need (large) capacity to afford infrastructure like processing plants and irrigation systems."

GENERATIONS OF FARMERS

Many of the small farms that constitute today's Hawai'i agriculture scene are run by farmers like Okimoto whose agricultural roots extend two, three, even four generations.

Melvin Matsuda and Clyde Fukuyama are both third-generation farmers who grew up together in Kahuku. Matsuda said his father, Shinichi, worked full time at the Kahuku sugar plantation and farmed on the side, growing fruits and vegetables for local distribution, much like the Fukuyamas did.

In 1986, the childhood friends merged their family farms under what is now Kahuku Brand.

"Agriculture always has its opportunities," Matsuda said. "But it's better if you have the experience and the mindset for it. If you're just starting, you need the start-up capital and the equipment. You might need a two- or three-year bankroll because it takes time to get going. It's not easy."

Today, Kahuku Brand is well established with two farms stretched over some 300 acres of leased land in Kahuku and Hale'iwa.

Like other successful farms, Kahuku Brand has extended into other areas, such as value-added products and agri-tourism, to help ensure its future survival.

Matsuda's 30-year-old daughter Kylie now heads the subsidiary Kahuku Farms, drawing on her education in tropical agriculture.

"When I was in college, there wasn't that big push to buy local," said Kylie Matsuda. "In recent years, though, there's been more interest in who farmers are and where the food comes from."

Interest has been building for Kahuku Farms' line of value-added products, which include food items like mango tea, liliko'i jelly and mango scone mix to bath and beauty products like mango-papaya soap and mango body butter cream.

"I'm optimistic," Matsuda said. "There's room to grow by filling more of the local need, rather than importing. The market is there, and people are asking for local products."