Manoa Return Home Hawaii's agriculture continues to be a strong sector of the diversified economic base of the state. Nearly one in 15 jobs in the state is directly or indirectly related to agriculture. Agriculture continues to change.
Diversification is a keyword for the industry.
The sugar industry was downsized greatly during the past five years and occurs primarily on the islands of Maui and Kauai. The combined aggregate returns from commodities other than sugar and pineapple have exceeded the returns from those two crops beginning in 1992 and continuing to the present. Urbanization has also intensified due to population and economic pressures. The Hawaii Agricultural Statistics Service reported in the 1995 Statistics of Hawaiian Agriculture that there are 151,200 acres in crop. In general, IPM research has slowed due shrinking budget resources.