Before bio-engineering and technology-based agriculture, even before plantation farming of the last century, Pacific Islanders worked with the forest landscape to farm small plots of land. In addition to shade, trees contributed to the overall health and diversity of the
Before bio-engineering and technology-based agriculture, even before plantation farming of the last century, Pacific Islanders worked with the forest landscape to farm small plots of land.
In addition to shade, trees contributed to the overall health and diversity of the ecosystem in which crops were grown.
Centuries of advancements later, some Hawai‘i farmers are returning to those roots by embracing simpler growing methods such as agroforestry, or land management involving the growing of trees in association with food crops or pastures.
While cacao, vanilla, pepper and tea are often cultivated in the understory of other trees, agroforestry in Hawai‘i is increasingly used on small-scale coffee farms.
Also called shade-grown coffee, the plants are interspersed among all types of trees — from fruit-bearing to monekypod to native varieties. Anecdotal benefits include healthier beans and soil that are better able to resist disease and pests.
And while the cup runneth over with data on open-grown coffee — or modern, large-scale methods — there have been few comprehensive studies of coffee agroforestry.
Until now.
On Sept. 1, Big Island-based Permanent Agricultural Resources began a two-year study of coffee agroforestry in Hawai‘i. Once completed, the findings will be made available to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the University of Hawai‘i, farmers and the general public.
The $120,000 project is funded by grants from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, the county of Hawai‘i Department of Research and Development, and the Big Island Resource Conservation and Development Council.
The study will look at 12 existing shade-grown coffee orchards and compare them with five open-grown coffee orchards based on five key indicators: soil organic matter, major insect pests, yield and bean quality, production costs and market values, and environmental conditions such as shade levels, tree density and plant species present.
According to Project Director Craig Elevitch, he expects the study will demonstrate the ecosystem benefits of coffee agroforestry, which include cooler air and fewer pests and disease.
Elevitch said monoculture growing methods put crops at risk of widespread disease and pests. He cited the devastation of Hawai‘i’s papaya and banana crops, which have been hurt by ringspot and banana bunchy top viruses, respectively.
“If (large-scale farms) don’t get diversified, they run the risk of catastrophic failure,” Elevitch said.
Another argument in favor of coffee agroforestry, he added, is its “intangible value” to farming families. Harvesting coffee beans under the canopy of trees is less taxing than working in the hot sun.
The study hypothesizes that shade-grown coffee and agroforestry in general have potential for wider adoption.
“A good sign of interest is farmers doing it on their own without any help,” Elevitch said, pointing to the uptick of shade-grown farms on the Big Island.
But behind the increased supply is increased demand.
According to Elevitch, the market has spoken: Consumers are willing to pay for a healthier product that supports biodiversity.
While the state’s largest coffee grower, Kauai Coffee Co. in ‘Ele‘ele, does not employ agroforestry or organic growing methods, President Wayne Katayama said the company is in the process of considering environmentally friendly options.
He declined to elaborate at the present time.
Hawai‘i is the only state that produces coffee, though U.S. territory Puerto Rico also farms the crop on a much smaller scale.
In 2006, Hawai‘i produced 7,400 pounds for a total production value of $30.3 million, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, marking a decrease in production quantity and value from 2005.
