I hate that we have to go to SFGate to get this kind of news, its important to keep in mind at least a touch of the history here.
Alexander and Baldwin as a corporation is one of the largest land holders in Hawaii, and this is a direct extension of the forced labor sugar plantation system, that dominated Hawaii under both the kingdom, and the “Republic of Hawaii”.
Right now the vast majority of the same land that used forced labor to extract the wealth of Hawaii and move it into the hands of rich. Effectively, these same names were the ones who performed a coup to kidnap the Hawaiian Queen in a corporate coup. When Queen Liliuokalani speaks of this time, she uses the word “oligarch” in her contemporary writings, notes, and speeches of the time. These same oligarchs (not just A&B, but other old missionary families) still control 90% of the private land in Hawaii. They came as missionaries, converted the royalty to christianity, then stole the government when Liliuokalani wanted to reform the constitution. In the sugar planters own writings they basically cite two reasons for the coup: 1) they didn’t want to allow the reformation of the labor system; 2) they didn’t want to pay tariffs into the US.
That 90% of the land is basically almost all of the prime farm and ranch land in Hawaii. They almost exclusively do not sell it, but use a “leasehold” land lease system. This is exactly why Kauai coffee is going under. If land is kept expensive, you can’t afford to grow food on it. Hawaii imports 90%+ of its calories. In-spite of being some of the most prime agricultural land on the planet, its almost all been left fallow since the collapse of sugar cane last century.
Edit: There are other pressures on coffee right now. Specially disease and labor pressures (ICE raids focus on areas of the islands requiring seasonal labor, and much of the coffee labor is central/ south American). But that is NOT why this is happening.
I hate that we have to go to SFGate to get this kind of news, its important to keep in mind at least a touch of the history here.
Alexander and Baldwin as a corporation is one of the largest land holders in Hawaii, and this is a direct extension of the forced labor sugar plantation system, that dominated Hawaii under both the kingdom, and the “Republic of Hawaii”.
Right now the vast majority of the same land that used forced labor to extract the wealth of Hawaii and move it into the hands of rich. Effectively, these same names were the ones who performed a coup to kidnap the Hawaiian Queen in a corporate coup. When Queen Liliuokalani speaks of this time, she uses the word “oligarch” in her contemporary writings, notes, and speeches of the time. These same oligarchs (not just A&B, but other old missionary families) still control 90% of the private land in Hawaii. They came as missionaries, converted the royalty to christianity, then stole the government when Liliuokalani wanted to reform the constitution. In the sugar planters own writings they basically cite two reasons for the coup: 1) they didn’t want to allow the reformation of the labor system; 2) they didn’t want to pay tariffs into the US.
That 90% of the land is basically almost all of the prime farm and ranch land in Hawaii. They almost exclusively do not sell it, but use a “leasehold” land lease system. This is exactly why Kauai coffee is going under. If land is kept expensive, you can’t afford to grow food on it. Hawaii imports 90%+ of its calories. In-spite of being some of the most prime agricultural land on the planet, its almost all been left fallow since the collapse of sugar cane last century.
Edit: There are other pressures on coffee right now. Specially disease and labor pressures (ICE raids focus on areas of the islands requiring seasonal labor, and much of the coffee labor is central/ south American). But that is NOT why this is happening.