A new survey of Hawai'i's agriculture industry shows that crops and livestock disappeared from land equivalent to roughly half the size of Kaua'i between 2002 and 2007, largely from contractions in ranching and pineapple production.

Farming activity ceased on about 180,000 acres over the five-year period, according to the latest farm census by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The loss was concentrated on the Big Island, with 140,000 acres no longer farmed, but also happened on a smaller scale on Maui and O'ahu. Farmed land was virtually unchanged on Kaua'i.

Mark Hudson, statistician for the state Department of Agriculture, said most of the decline was due to federal land leased by ranchers being converted for conservation or nonagricultural forestry use.

However, on a percentage basis, the amount of crop land on which farming ceased was slightly higher than the ranchland loss — 15 percent compared with 14 percent.

The reduction in land used for farming has been an accelerating trend in recent decades as the long decline of growing sugarcane — once Hawai'i's biggest crop — resulted in productive land going fallow, being converted to housing or used for smaller diversified farming operations.

The loss in the most recent census period was 14 percent, or the largest in percentage terms for any five years since 1987, during which decreases ranged from 8 percent to 10 percent.

TREND TOUGH TO STOP

Industry observers say the trend is a difficult one to stem, as high land costs and pressure from urbanization continue to make farming a struggle for many.

The census estimated that there were 7,521 farms in Hawai'i in 2007, more than half of which (3,944 farms) have annual sales under $5,000.

Hudson said many farms in the state are not a primary occupation, but are characterized as subsistence, hobby, retirement or residential-lifestyle farms.

Of the 7,521 farms, 881 have annual sales of $50,000 or more. About 148 farms have annual sales of $500,000 or more.

"Agriculture in Hawai'i is very concentrated," Hudson said. "There are a lot of very small farms."

The number of farms increased by about 2,000 in the latest census, but Hudson said that was because surveyors improved their survey coverage with a particular focus to contact more minority and part-time farmers.

According to the census, the average age of principal farm operators was 59. About 1,806 principal operators were women, while 5,715 were men.

Hawai'i remained the only state growing coffee, is one of two states growing macadamia nuts and is one of four states growing sugarcane.

Fruits, tree nuts and berries was the largest commodity group by value for Hawai'i in the census, representing $154 million in 2007 sales. The next biggest commodity group was nursery, greenhouse, floriculture and sod at $120 million.

The value of sugarcane in 2007 totaled $47.6 million, down from $50.2 million a year earlier, according to state figures.

NO PINEAPPLE NUMBERS

Specific figures for pineapple weren't disclosed because the number of producers was reduced to just one in 2007 and individual farm figures are protected for competitive purposes. In 2006, the value of pineapple sales was $73.7 million.

Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. quit farming pineapple on 7,100 acres on O'ahu between 2004 and 2006, which contributed to the land removed from farming, though 2,300 acres were sold to Monsanto Co. in 2007 for seed crop operations.

Maui Land & Pineapple Co. last year decided to cut pineapple production in half, from about 2,000 acres to around 1,000 acres, but that will be reflected in the next census period.

The total value of agricultural products sold in 2007 was $514 million, which ranked the state 45th among 50 states in farm production value. Hawai'i farm value in 2002 was $533 million, or 4 percent more than in 2007.

Nationally, farm production value was $297 billion in 2007, up 48 percent from $201 billion in 2002.

Government payments to Hawai'i farmers in 2007 totaled $2.4 million, up 168 percent from $886,000 in 2002. Nationally, government payments to farmers totaled $8 billion, up 22 percent from $7 billion in 2002.