Can Hawaii Agriculture Get Back Its Political Clout? … The plantations that were so profitable in their heyday had the support of generous government incentives. Experts say today’s farmers must build political muscle to win state support.
When Hawaii’s agriculture industry consisted of a few large plantations, it wielded immense political power.
As landowners and agricultural barons, sugar and pineapple producers dominated the archipelago’s economy and its social fabric, helping deliver Hawaii into statehood and then jockeying the islands’ newborn political system.
After 146 years, the closure of the state’s last remaining sugar grower on Maui in 2016 marked the death of the plantation industry following a long decline triggered in part by competition from cheap foreign labor.
That same year, Gov. David Ige solidified a long-held vision to bolster the state’s ability to feed itself with a pledge to double the island chain’s food production by 2020, although he quickly pushed the goal post back a decade to 2030.
