Agriculture dominated local scene – The Maui News

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Statehood & Business: Hawaii Statehood 50 Years
By HARRY EAGAR, Staff Writer

POSTED: August 23, 2009

In 1959, plantation agriculture was big business in Hawaii. The plantations were branching out into tourism, but sugar and pineapple – and coffee in Kona – dominated.

In August, with the days of the territory numbered, a typical issue of The Maui News advertised a total of half a dozen help wanted ads. The plantations didn’t advertise for help; they had their own labor recruitment system.

It dwarfed the nonplantation labor system. In August 1959, pineapple plantations hired 1,100 Maui youngsters on school vacations, most of them to work in noisy, hot canneries.

The jobs were much sought after. Damien Farias, owner of Maui Toyota, recalls waiting for three days on a labor bench for a chance to work at a cannery on Oahu when he was in school.

Statehood was expected to give a boost to agriculture. The summary of Hawaii agricultural history published by the state Department of Agriculture says that "with statehood, federal funds became available for the development and growth of Hawaii’s agricultural industries with funding for programs such as farm credit, natural resources and statistical services."

It did not, of course, work out that way.

Sugar cane harvest expected to decline – Mauinews.com | News, Sports, Jobs, Visitor’s Information – The Maui News

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Harvesting going well on Maui
Harvesting going well on Maui
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HONOLULU – The National Agricultural Statistics Service is forecasting that sugar cane production in Hawaii will slip slightly this year.

It expects the state to produce 1.46 million tons of sugar cane in 2009. That would be a 2 percent decline from the 1.49 million tons produced last year.

The service says Hawaii is expected to harvest 21,700 acres of sugar cane this year. That would be down from 22,800 acres harvested in 2008.

However, yield is forecast to reach 67.2 tons per acre, up 2.6 percent from 65.5 tons per acre last year.

Sugar cane harvest expected to decline – Mauinews.com | News, Sports, Jobs, Visitor’s Information – The Maui News

Storm watch lifted for Maui and Oahu counties – Mauinews.com

maui-news-adWhile a flash-flood watch remains in effect for both counties, the Central Pacific Hurricane Center has lifted a tropical storm watch for Maui and Oahu.

Tropical depression Felicia, which earlier today was downgraded from a tropical storm, continues to dissipate, but still has the potential to produce localized heavy rain and some gusty winds, according to the National Weather Service.

Maui experienced moderate showers from the leading edge of Felicia this morning, but officials reported minimal weather conditions. Oahu is expected to see rains this afternoon and tonight.

Storm watch lifted for Maui and Oahu counties – Mauinews.com | News, Sports, Jobs, Visitor’s Information – The Maui News

State auditor: Molokai water system mismanaged

By CHRIS HAMILTON, Staff Writer
Maui News

WAILUKU ? The state auditor issued a blistering report last week charging the state Department of Agriculture with mismanaging the Molokai Irrigation System while simultaneously allowing it to deteriorate over a period of decades.

The irrigation system is crucial to the island?s agriculture-based economy but draws only about 4 million gallons a day ? less than 10 percent of its projected capacity when it was first planned.

?We found that while the Department of Agriculture inherited a broken system, little has been done to learn about system problems or to create a plan to address them,? state Auditor Marion Higa wrote in her 57-page report. ?The department?s flawed management endangers agriculture in Molokai.?

However, state Agriculture Chairwoman Sandra Kunimoto called most of the report?s criticisms ?overreaching? in a telephone interview Friday.

She said she felt as though the report?s dramatic statements weren?t backed up by the actual details contained within it.

Na Wai Eha effort seen as agriculture threat

Maui News
By HARRY EAGAR, Staff Writer

WAILUKU ? Steve Holaday, the former manager of Maui?s last sugar plantation, testified at Thursday?s session of the Na Wai Eha contested case that more is involved than allocated water from four West Maui watersheds.

?My fear is that no matter what happens here, it?s going to be the triggering event for what happens to use in East Maui, and the triggering event for the rest of the state. This is the tip of the iceberg.?

The result, Holaday said, could be the collapse of agriculture throughout the islands.

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