Hawaii (state)

I

Conservation

The principal conservation activities in Hawaii include the prevention of soil erosion, the maintenance of an ample water supply, and the preservation of Hawaii’s unique plant and animal resources and its magnificent scenery. The principal state groups active in conservation are the Conservation Council for Hawaii, National Audubon Society, Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club, Moanalua Gardens Foundation, The Nature Center, and the state’s Department of Land and Natural Resources. Federal agencies include the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service.

Soil erosion has been a serious problem in Hawaii, especially on the steep hillsides and mountain slopes that have been stripped of their protective cover of vegetation by overgrazing and the excessive cutting of timber. The removal of this cover has also resulted in an increase in runoff, which has been a threat to the state’s groundwater supplies. On Oahu some denuded slopes have been reforested with species of commercially valueless softwoods in order to reduce both erosion and runoff. Throughout the islands many watersheds have been designated as forest preserves, which include both public and private lands.

The development of commercial agriculture and the spread of urbanization have also resulted in extensive changes in the patterns of land use. However, along with numerous conservation measures, Hawaii has adopted a statewide zoning system to provide for planned economic and urban growth without the misuse of the state’s valuable but limited natural resources.

In 2006 the state had 3 hazardous waste sites on a national priority list for cleanup due to their severity or proximity to people. Progress was being made in efforts to reduce pollution; in the period 1995–2000 the amount of toxic chemicals discharged into the environment was reduced by 18 percent.

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III

Economic Activities

Hawaii’s economic structure has undergone a succession of changes since the last years of the 18th century. At that time the native Hawaiians had a comparatively primitive but self-sufficient, ecologically sustainable economy based on farming and fishing. Subsequently, increased contact with the outside world brought a variety of new crops to the islands and spurred the development of trade. But there was no dominant economic development in Hawaii until the second half of the 19th century. Between the 1860s and 1930s, Hawaii’s economy was dominated by large plantation cultivation and the exporting of sugar and, beginning around 1900, pineapples. In the 1930s the U.S. government accelerated development of military installations in Hawaii. Federal expenditures in Hawaii before and during World War II (1939-1945) rapidly became a major source of income and employment.

Although economic activity declined after the war, it recovered in the 1950s as efforts were made to reduce Hawaii’s economic reliance on a few sources of income. During the 1950s and 1960s, manufacturing was diversified and expanded, a large-scale tourist industry was developed, and trade with the mainland and foreign countries was increased.

Expenditures by the federal government, for both military and nonmilitary purposes, are a principal source of income for residents of Hawaii. Tourism is the most important driver of economic activity. Second in importance is manufacturing, followed by agriculture, which is dominated by sugar. In recent years, plantation production of both sugarcane and pineapple has declined significantly. For more than a century tariffs and advanced agricultural technology kept cultivation of these crops economically viable. Recently, the relatively high labor costs in Hawaii have weakened the commercial competitiveness of sugarcane and pineapple. The large number of people engaged in trade reflects the importance of commerce to Hawaii, which must import many items.

Hawaii had a work force of 643,000 in 2006. Of those, 41 percent were employed in the services, doing such jobs as working in hospitals or serving in restaurants. Another 18 percent percent worked in federal, state, or local government, including those in the military; 20 percent in wholesale or retail trade; 35 percent in finance, insurance, or real estate; 8 percent in transportation or public utilities; 6 percent in construction; 4 percent in farming (including agricultural services), forestry, or fishing; and 3 percent in manufacturing. In 2005, 26 percent of Hawaii’s workers belonged to a labor union. Hawaii, along with New York, had the highest rate of unionization in the country.

A

Economic Role of the Armed Forces

Compared with other states, Hawaii is unique in the great importance of military installations and military expenditures to the state’s economy. Camp Smith, on the island of Oahu, is headquarters for Marine Forces Pacific, the unified U.S. military command for the entire Pacific. Other principal military installations in the state are the naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hickam Air Force Base, Wheeler Air Force Base, Lualualei Naval Magazine, Marine Corps Base Kaneohe Bay, and the Schofield Barracks and Fort Shafter military reservations, all on Oahu; and Barking Sands Missile Range on Kauai. Military expenditures for construction, maintenance, and payrolls are an integral part of business life in Hawaii. In addition, an important factor in the economy of Hawaii is the purchasing power of the military personnel stationed there and their dependents.

B

Agriculture

In 2005 there were 5,500 farms in Hawaii. Farmland occupied 526,091 hectares (1,300,000 acres), of which 20 percent was cropland. The rest was mostly pasture. Some 33 percent of the cropland was irrigated.

For years sugarcane was Hawaii’s most important crop, and pineapple was the second most important farm product. Now the two are of roughly equal value to the farm economy. Most of Hawaii’s sugarcane, pineapples, and livestock are raised on a few very large plantations and ranches. Although small farms are numerous, especially on Oahu, they occupy only a very small area of cropland. The only significant commercial crop produced for export on the small farms is coffee, which is grown in the Kona district in the western part of the island of Hawaii and on plantations on Kauai. Vegetables, fruit, and taro are cultivated mainly for local use.

B

1

Pineapples

Pineapples were Hawaii’s leading crop by value in 1997, surpassing for the first time the income produced by sugarcane. While the production of pineapple decreased steadily during the 1990s, an increase in farm prices for pineapple made it Hawaii’s most valuable crop. The Hawaiian Islands once produced more than 40 percent of the world’s supply of canned pineapple and more than 70 percent of its pineapple juice. Production began to decline in the 1960s as companies closed their operations in Hawaii and developed new and more profitable ones in Asia. Pineapple acreage, which was 29,900 hectares (73,800 acres) in 1961, dropped to 8,100 hectares (19,900 acres) in the late 1990s. Pineapple is grown mostly on large plantations on Oahu, Maui, and Kauai. Although the fruit is picked by hand, machines do much of the planting and processing.

Much of the pineapple crop is grown on hilly land. Pineapples can be grown on relatively thin soils, but pineapple crops require more irrigation than sugarcane, and fertilizers usually have to be used.

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