Uncover The Secrets Behind Hawaii’s Sugarcane Production

In 2016, the last sugar mill in Hawaii, operated by Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company (HC&S) on Maui, ground its final harvest. That date marked the end of an industry that had reshaped the islands’ economy, labor force, and landscape for over a century. But sugar itself never left Hawaii — it simply changed form.

The story of Hawaiian sugarcane is not one of decline followed by silence. It is a story of a single crop that arrived with Polynesian voyagers around 8000 BC from New Guinea, became the engine of a plantation economy under an 1875 treaty that permitted Hawaii to sell sugar to the United States duty-free, and is now being revived by distillers, farmers, and researchers who see the plant’s future in its pre-contact past. This article traces that arc: what happened to the plantations, who is growing cane today, and why the revival matters beyond nostalgia.

From plantation fields to diversified agriculture

For much of the 20th century, sugar dominated Hawaii’s economy. Alexander & Baldwin, one of the “big five” sugar businesses, controlled thousands of acres of cane on Maui. The Lihue plantation on Kauai, run by Amfac, operated until 2000. At its peak, the industry employed tens of thousands and shaped the islands’ ethnic makeup through imported labor from Japan, China, Portugal, and the Philippines.

The end came gradually but decisively. The Lihue plantation closed in 2000. HC&S followed in 2016, taking the last sugar mill with it. Alexander & Baldwin has since refocused toward real estate and diversified agriculture. One of the more unexpected successors is Terviva, a company that has planted tens of thousands of pongamia trees on former cane land. The beans produce Ponova oil, which is used in Hawaii’s Aloha Kona plant-based protein bars. It is a far cry from raw sugar, but it reflects a broader shift: the Hawaii Agriculture Research Center (HARC), originally the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association and now 130 years old, continues to support crop research even as its original raison d’être has vanished.

Where the cane is still growing

Commercial sugar production is gone, but sugarcane itself is being cultivated on a smaller, more intentional scale. The focus has shifted from tonnage to variety, and the key players are rum distilleries.

Kōloa Rum Company and the return of native cane

Bob Gunter, president and CEO of Kōloa Rum Company, worked for Amfac and its Lihue plantation before it closed. His distillery now produces rum from granulated cane sugar — but that sugar, after Hawaii’s plantations shut down, had to be sourced from east Texas, Louisiana, and Florida. Kōloa is changing that. The company is expanding its own cane fields from four acres to 10 or 12 acres, all planted with native varieties. Along with Kuleana Rum Works and Kō Hana, Kōloa consulted with Noa Kekuewa Lincoln and now grows about 40 varieties of sugarcane that existed before western contact.

Kuleana Rum Works and the agricole tradition

Kuleana Rum Works, based on the Big Island, has been bottling and selling agricole rum — a style made from fresh-pressed cane juice rather than molasses — since 2009. Agricole production is rare in the United States, and Kuleana’s use of heirloom varieties distinguishes it from Caribbean and French West Indian producers. The rum is grassy, vegetal, and noticeably different from the caramel-forward profile most drinkers associate with the category. It is also more expensive to produce, which is reflected in the price point.

Planning a visit to Hawaii’s cane country

Visiting the remnants of Hawaii’s sugar industry and its revival requires a different mindset than touring a working plantation. There are no fields stretching to the horizon anymore. What exists is scattered, small-scale, and requires advance planning.

Getting there and timing

Kō Hana is on Oahu’s North Shore, about an hour from Waikiki. The drive along the Kamehameha Highway is scenic but congested on weekends — plan for a weekday visit if possible. Kuleana Rum Works is near Kona on the Big Island, a short drive from the airport but not well signposted. Kōloa Rum Company is on Kauai’s south shore, near Poipu, and is the easiest to reach without a dedicated tour.

What it costs

Tastings at Kōloa and Kuleana are typically free or under $15 for a flight. Kō Hana’s farm tour runs around $30 per person and includes a tasting. Bottles of heirloom agricole rum start at roughly $40 and go up to $80 or more for limited releases. Given the small scale of production, prices are unlikely to drop.

On the ground: what to know before you go

The sugarcane revival is a rum story

Almost all of the native cane being grown in Hawaii today is destined for rum. That is not a coincidence — distilling offers a higher margin than selling raw sugar, and the flavor profile of heirloom varieties is more noticeable in a spirit than in a sweetener. Noa Kekuewa Lincoln, a kanaka maoli (Native Hawaiian) expert in Indigenous cropping systems and an assistant professor at the University of Hawaii, first encountered native Hawaiian sugarcane in 2004 at the Amy BH Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden on the Big Island. His lab has since uncovered about 80 names of traditional Hawaiian types of sugarcane and identified 25 distinct varieties. His 2022 observation that more heirloom cane is being grown now than at any time in the past century is true — but the baseline was near zero.

Local etiquette and practical tips

At Kō Hana, the tour includes walking through the cane rows. The soil can be muddy after rain — closed-toe shoes are non-negotiable. Kuleana’s tasting room is small; groups of more than four may need to wait. At Kōloa, the retail space is busiest between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., when cruise ship passengers arrive. If you want a quieter tasting, visit later in the afternoon.

Your questions about Hawaii’s sugarcane industry, answered

Why did Hawaii’s sugar plantations close?

The 1875 treaty that allowed duty-free sugar sales to the U.S. eventually worked against local producers as global competition intensified. Labor costs rose, land values increased, and mainland subsidies for corn and beet sugar made Hawaiian cane uncompetitive. The last mill, HC&S on Maui, shut down in 2016.

Can you still see sugarcane fields in Hawaii?

Not as a working landscape. Feral cane still grows along roadsides and gulches, but no commercial fields remain. The only actively cultivated cane is on small plots run by Kō Hana on Oahu, Kuleana on the Big Island, and Kōloa on Kauai. These are not the vast fields you might remember from old photographs.

Is Hawaiian rum made from local sugarcane?

Most is not. Kōloa Rum Company, for example, still sources granulated cane sugar from the mainland. Only Kuleana and Kō Hana produce agricole rum from fresh-pressed Hawaiian cane juice. The native varieties add distinct flavor, but production volume is tiny — measured in cases, not barrels.

What is being grown on former sugar land now?

Diversified crops including macadamia nuts, coffee, and pongamia trees — the latter used by Terviva to produce Ponova oil for protein bars. Alexander & Baldwin has shifted its focus to real estate. HARC continues to support crop research, but the land that once grew cane is now mostly fallow or subdivided.

Is the heirloom sugarcane revival sustainable?

At current scale, it functions as a niche agricultural and tourism product, not a replacement for the plantation economy. Visitors interested in food and drink history will find the story compelling, but the revival depends on rum sales and tourism dollars — both volatile markets.

The Hawaiian sugarcane story is not a linear one. It arrived as a canoe plant, became an industrial monocrop, vanished as a commercial commodity, and is now returning as a high-value ingredient for a craft industry that barely existed twenty years ago. That arc — from subsistence to scale to specialty — is unusual in agricultural history, and it is worth paying attention to not because of what sugar once was in Hawaii, but because of what it is becoming. For travelers, the best entry point is not a former plantation field, but a distillery tasting room where the relationship between a plant and a place is still being negotiated. Start with a route that connects the islands’ food and drink producers and you will see the story unfold at human scale.

Sources and further reading

Hawaiian scientist quests to find and save the state’s native sugarcanes. AgriInsite, 2023.

From sweet past into Aloha Bars: Hawaii sugar cane legacy & future. Beat of Hawaii, 2023.