The Dark Side of Agriculture in Hawaii

Living with Smoke and Ash

Sugar cane in Maui is a "mixed bag." On the one hand, the sugar cane fields stretch for miles, and are great to look at. Instead of concrete buildings, the residents of Maui live with miles of open fields. The agriculture keeps Maui beautiful. Coupled with the world's best beaches, and lovely scenery, Maui is a must destination for many travelers.

For Maui residents however, there is a darker side to the beautiful scenery. When the sugar cane fields are ready to be mowed, the sugar cane company brings in noisy mowers and bulldozers. These machines are allowed to belch and snort all day and night for months. The mowing of the crop creates a dry dust, blowing and settling on everything, within miles of the fields.

The old Plantation town of Paia, an oceanside community on the North Shore of Maui, is a haven for surfers, artists, and holistic health practitioners. The town has the ocean to one side, and the slopes of Haleakala Volcano on the other side. The town is filled with lively cafes offering jazz, world beat music, and old movies almost every night of the week. What promising artist would not be lured to this town?

Think again. At harvest time, this plantation town is covered with dust. Literally. The residents must keep their windows closed for months, or suffer the consequences of the dry, fertilizer-laden dust blowing into their faces, and settling on their floors. The residents who get up early, do so with dark, sunken eyes, because the machines run all day and night.

Because the predecessors of the sugar cane company bought up Maui, after their missionary parents converted the Hawaiian islands in the last century, the sugar cane company is above laws protecting the residents of Maui. The Department of Health looks the other way. So do the other agencies that should be limiting the pollution and dust.