Tasting Hawaii

Meet the entrepreneurs behind the Aloha State's budding industry, agritourism, and bring an appetite!

Rambutan, a South Asian fruit, at Wailea Agricultural Group.
I was never much interested in Hawaii. To me, the mere mention of it evoked images of umbrella drinks, honeymooners and plastic grass skirts. If there was anything authentic about America's 50th state, I figured, it was the kitsch. But when an airport layover left me in Honolulu for a day, I realized I had shortchanged the Aloha State. Yes, there is kitsch aplenty, but Hawaii's natural beauty washed over me like a Waikiki wave. Azure water, majestic volcanic slopes, lush tropical vegetation. I just had to see more. So when I got the chance to return, I set out to explore the beauty of this state from the inside out, as an agritourist.

Agriculture is Hawaii's third-largest industry, albeit a distant third behind the military and tourism. Indeed, farming has become increasingly difficult in Hawaii, which has high costs for land, labor, and shipping. To stay in business, a small but growing number of farmers are jumping into agritourism, bringing visitors to their farms for tours, tastings and shopping. In Italy agriturismo supports hundreds of family farms. There, hosts invite tourists to stay or even work on the farm. Crops you help grow become precious souvenirs.

According to the only reports done on the topic, agritourism in Hawaii grew 48 percent from 2000 to 2003, and professor and extension economist Kent Fleming from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, who studies agritourism, says it has probably increased another 50 percent since. In 2003, the last official count, 187 Hawaiian farms participated in agritourism, with their visitors spending $34 million a year statewide

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Getting buzzed in Hawaii Tasting different types of java on a coffee mill tour. (more)

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.