The Remains of Agriculture: Agrarian Projects, Livelihoods, and Landscape in East Hawaiʿi, Hawaiʿi Island

THE REMAINS OF AGRICULTURE: AGRARIAN PROJECTS, LIVELIHOODS, AND LANDSCAPE IN EAST HAWAIʿI, HAWAIʿI ISLAND ` A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAIʿI AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN GEOGRAPHY DECEMBER 2016 By Nicole A. Milne Dissertation Committee: Krisnawati Suryanata, Chairperson Hong Jiang Jon Goss Karen Umemoto Kem Lowry Keywords: Hawaiʿi, agriculture, livelihood, lifestyle, amenity migrants © Copyright 2016, Nicole Milne ii Dedication For my family who has been incredibly supportive throughout this process and taught me the meaning of dedication and love. For Charles who is the best; the best friend and the best wingman I could ever imagine. And for Charlie Lake; the little person that stole our hearts. iii Acknowledgements My deepest appreciation and gratitude goes to my advisor at the University of Hawaiʿi‟s Geography Department, Dr. Krisna Suryanata. Krisna is the best advisor and mentor I could have asked for, with a keen ability to think critically about the role of agriculture in Hawaiʿi, while at the same time bringing a creativity to her work that provides space to dream of diverse futures for the industry. Krisna gave me confidence in myself as an academic and a citizen of my community, capable of being open yet discerning, and critical yet joyfully creative. Thank you deeply for all the wisdom you have shared with me and all the support you continuously gave me over these last ten years; I am forever grateful. I thank my other committee members Hong Jiang, Jon Goss, Kem Lowry, and Karen Umemoto. Each of them played a valuable role in introducing me to new ideas and bodies of literature that provided me with creative lenses through which to view human-environment relations and processes of societal change. Many of you still owe me a visit to Hawaiʿi Island, and I look forward to seeing you here as soon as you have the time! I thank my funders for believing in my research and supporting me throughout the process. A special thanks to the East-West Center for a 2-year fellowship that provided me the opportunity to live and work within a community of scholars from all over the world. It was at the East-West Center that I met Roland Fuchs, who served as a wonderful mentor and friend to me throughout my dissertation journey, and visited me several times in the field. I thank my other funders, including the National Science Foundation for Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (DDRI) Award No. 0927029, and the University of Hawaiʿi Geography Department for your support of my field work. I thank the Hawaiʿi Island community who provided me with the opportunity to observe and participate in the island‟s transition to diversified agriculture. A tremendous thanks to Lori Beach and the Hāmākua Agricultural Cooperative (HAC); they provided me with a landscape through which to understand the challenges and opportunities in post-plantation Hawaiʿi. I special thank you to two families who opened their hearts and doors to me, Jan and John Dean, and the Oldfather family. Jan and John, you gave me a place to stay on your sheep farm and provided me with an invaluable glimpse into the work and pleasures of agriculture. Your iv dedication to your passions and perfection in all you do will continue to inspire me in all of my endeavors. To the Oldfather‟s, you welcomed me into your family and gave me the opportunity to farm for my first time. Charles, I will not forget my first task of weeding a pineapple field with a shovel; I thought weeding was only done by hand! A special thank you to Max Bowman and Kyle Studer, two young and innovative farmers in the HAC who continue to provide so much inspiration for farmers in Hawaiʿi through their tireless work and bountiful passion for agriculture. A huge thank you to Scott Enright, Chairperson of the Hawaiʿi Department of Agriculture, for your unwavering support for agriculture in Hawaiʿi. And last but most importantly, I want to thank all the farmers and island residents who walked the fields with me or sat and talked story about your relationship to the land and your involvement in agriculture. Without each of you practicing the work and art of agriculture, rural Hawaiʿi would be a very different place. I could not have completed my dissertation without the support of three amazing friends at the University of Hawaiʿi, Elizabeth „Cedar‟ Louis, Mary Mostafanezhad, and Jack Kittinger. Cedar and Mary‟s constant companionship throughout the process was unwavering, helping me both forget I was in graduate school during our many surfing escapades, while encouraging me to complete my Ph.D. even after I had moved to Hawaiʿi Island and begun a career in agricultural development. My gratitude for our friendship is beyond words – I cannot imagine life without you! Jack Kittinger was the best office mate Cedar and I could have asked for, serving as an example of someone who could balance the joys and demands of parenthood while working as an engaged academic and professional. I look forward to all the good times that the four of us will continue to have in Hawaiʿi and around the world, as we semi-perfect our surfing skills in Waikiki and work (and play) to make the world a better place. v Abstract This dissertation considers the role of diversified agriculture in the post-plantation rural landscape of Hawaiʿi County, Hawaiʿi, by examining the intersection between Hawaiʿi‟s agrarian discourse with the realities of agricultural livelihoods and lifestyles in East Hawaiʿi. It uses a political ecology approach to examine how broader structural and discursive processes at the regional level work to shape local actor‟s interactions with their environment, and in turn how place-based processes work to influence the larger agrarian discourse and approaches to resource-based issues. This work is based on two years of field work in East Hawaiʿi, Hawaiʿi County, and an additional five years working in the agriculture industry as a farm laborer and agricultural business developer. This research seeks to understand the disproportionate social and ideological significance the industry has to state and county policy makers and rural residents, given its relatively low contribution to the Hawaiʿi‟s overall economy. This work highlights the opportunities and challenges of re-creating an agricultural industry in Hawaiʿi through an examination of land-based projects initiated by large landowners in East Hawaiʿi, including the State Department of Agriculture and the County of Hawaiʿi. It finds that the push to create a diversified agricultural economy in East Hawaiʿi has largely been a socio-political project of major landowners, with their agricultural initiatives having several intended and unintended consequences for rural communities. This work suggests that Hawaiʿi Island‟s new diversified agricultural industry was largely not born from a demand for agricultural land or a demand for locally-grown food, however as the familiarity and popularity of local food increases, and agriculture becomes a desirable occupation and lifestyle, the industry in East Hawaiʿi, and across the state, is beginning to grow. Consequently, the re-creation (or creation) of an agrarian economy in East Hawaiʿi – reliant upon the slow and steady development of markets, infrastructure, and human capacity – would benefit from a shift in how we define and understand „agriculture‟ in a Hawaiʿi context, toward one that accounts for diverse agricultural economies, the role of all rural residents in shaping a new agrarian future, and the unique evolution of Hawaiʿi‟s rural places. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iv Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. x CHAPTER 1. HAWAIʿI‟S RURAL TRANSFORMATION: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE RESEARCH .................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 Research Questions ..................................................................................................................... 3 Rural and Agrarian Change ......................................................................................................... 4 Hawaiʿi‟s Productive and Post-Productive Landscapes .......................................................... 8 Community-Based Natural Resource Management .............................................................. 13 The Field Site ............................................................................................................................ 16 Establishing a Framework: Methods ......................................................................................... 18 The Fieldwork Experience .................................................................................................... 22 Synopsis of Chapters ................................................................................................................. 25 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................

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