Hawaii's sugar industry under stress - Hawaiian sugar cane acreage and production decreases to 26% of U.S. cane production, down from 38% in 1975 - U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service report

Agricultural Outlook, Oct, 1991 by Annette Clauson

Although the price of sugar is supported by the U.S. sugar program, rising costs have reduced net returns. In 1981 the U.S. program established a domestic sugar price based on a loan rate for raw sugar that was set at 16.75 cents a pound in 1982, rising in stages to 18 cents for 1986. The current program continues the minimum raw cane sugar loan rate at 18 cents.

Labor & Housing

Costs Are High

Unlike farming areas where crops are seasonal, Hawaii's sugar industry operates 24 hours day, 10 to 11 months a year, providing year-round employment for its workers. As the Hawaiian cane industry fully mechanized its planting and harvesting operations in the 1970's and 1980's, fewer laborers were needed. However, the work shifted from unskilled labor to jobs requiring skills to operate and repair field and factory equipment. The minimum 1991 starting wage paid to Hawaiian cane field workers is $7 to $8 per hour, considerably higher than the U.S. minimum wage of $4.25.

Skilled labor is generally scarce, and attracting and retaining skilled workers is a problem for most companies, especially for the larger sugar companies that operate about 35,000 acres and employ almost 700 people.

While most companies own and maintain some housing for their workers providing an incentive for some workers to remain with a sugar company, affordable housing in Hawaii is difficult to find. And building additional company housing is not likely, since rezoning of agricultural land for housing and other purposes is difficult in each of the cane areas.

But Disease & Pest Losses

Are Minimal

The Hawaiian sugarcane crop is exposed to a variety of pests and diseases, but the use of natural predators, rather than chemicals or insecticides, limits pest infestations, and disease damage is minimized with the continued development of resistant sugarcane varieties. The Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association funds an experiment and research station that develops new plant varieties, irrigation systems, and methods for controlling insects, diseases, weeds, and rodents.

Pests currently threatening Hawaiian sugarcane are the lesser cornstalk borer and yellow sugarcane aphid. A tiny Bolivian wasp, a new natural enemy of the borer, has been introduced to help control the borer, and natural enemies are keeping the aphid under control. Yellow leaf syndrome was detected in 1991 and has caused some yield loss this year. However, a program for fighting this virus has been developed and the virus is not currently seen as a serious threat.

High-Valued Crops Are

Replacing Cane Acreage

To combat lower net returns, in 1981 the Hawaiian sugar industry began a program to cut costs and enhance productivity. The program included changes in operations and increased capital investment.

Hawaiian cane fields are not rotated with other crops, and in some areas the same land has been used in sugarcane production for more than 100 years. After sugarcane is harvested, it is hauled to a sugar mill on the Islands where it is crushed and milled into raw sugar. Hauling distances and yields, which determine the profitability of a field, and competition for leased land are critical factors in deciding if fields located great distances from a company's mill stay in cane production.