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Agriculture Production Set Record in 2003 - 11/08/2004

2003 was record year for Hawaii Agriculture

Hawaii had record farm value for vegetables and melons in 2003, the Hawaii Agricultural Statistics reports: $52.5 million, up 4 percent.

Farm production increased 1 percent to 97.9 million pounds.

Tomatoes led in farm value with a record high $10.2 million in 2003, up 5 percent and accounting for 19 percent of the state total.

Watermelon farmers came in a distant second with $2.9 million in revenues, down 3 percent.

Cucumbers moved up from fourth to third in farm revenues, $2.8 million during 2003, up 14 percent.

Dry onions registered the largest dollar gain in farm revenues earning $2.8 million in 2003, up 38 percent.

Other $1 million value crops and their percentage change from 2002 were:

Chinese cabbage, down 6 percent.

Green onions, up 8 percent.

Green peppers, up 7 percent.

Head cabbage, up 2 percent.

Sweet corn, down 2 percent.

Notable changes also occurred for these crops that had less than $1 million in farm value during 2003:

Broccoli, up 20 percent.

Celery, down 23 percent.

Italian squash, up 45 percent.

Pumpkins, up 155 percent.

Watercress, down 14 percent.

The category of "other" had farm value of $16.3 million in 2003, up 1 percent from 2002. This category contains more than 60 other kinds of vegetables and includes such crops as baby vegetables, ethnic vegetables, mushrooms, salad mix greens, specialty lettuces, sprouts and taro leaves.

Top production:

Tomatoes: 17.5 million pounds.

Head cabbage: 12.6 million pounds.

Watermelons: 11.9 million pounds.

Chinese cabbage: 6.7 million pounds.

Cucumbers: 5.9 million pounds.

Honolulu county accounted for 62 percent of the state's total production of vegetables and melons in 2003. Hawaii county was the second leading area of vegetable and melon production with 20 percent. Maui was third with 16 percent, while Kauai was a distant fourth with 2 percent.

Around the islands:

Big Island growers produced 19.7 million pounds of vegetables and melons during 2003, up 3 percent. Total farm value of all Big Island vegetables and melons is estimated at $10.1 million, up 5 percent.

Maui County produced 16.2 million pounds of vegetables and melons, up 2 percent. Maui onion production was up 59 percent. Total farm revenues are estimated at $9.4 million in 2003, up 6 percent from 2002.

Most of the increase in farm revenues came from a 42 percent increase in dry onions to $2.1 million. A major reduction in tomato acreage on Molokai accounted for most of a 1 percent decline in Maui County acreage planted.

Oahu farmers produced 60.5 million pounds of vegetables and melons, up 1 percent. Oahu accounts for more than half of the state's production of bittermelon, mustard cabbage, eggplant, green onions, green peppers, Oriental squash, tomatoes, watercress, and watermelon. Farm revenues totaled $31.4 million, up 3 percent.

Kauai was the only county to register double-digit percentage increases in production and farm value during 2003. Production reached a record high 1.5 million, up 19 percent. Sweet corn, the major vegetable on Kauai, recorded a decrease in production. But this was more than offset by increases in a variety of other vegetables. Farm value is estimated at $1.6 million, up 30 percent.

Farm revenues from the sales of all types of lettuce were at a record high $5.5 million in 2003, up 17 percent from 2002. Production of head and semihead lettuce, better known at Manoa lettuce, is estimated at 1.2 million pounds. Aided by a record-high farm price of 58 cents per pound, farm revenues increased 2 percent to $696,000 in 2003, the highest return in four years. Romaine production totaled 1.9 million pounds in 2003, up 6 percent from 2002's 6-year low of 1.8 million pounds.

Farm prices, however, decreased from the 2002's record-high to an average of 44 cents per pound in 2003. The decrease in farm price more than offset the increase in production and resulted in a 1 percent drop in total farm revenues to$836,000 in 2003. Production of all other lettuce totaled a record-breaking 2.4 million pounds in 2003, up 50 percent. Farm value also rose to a new record high at $4 million in 2003, up 25 percent from 2002. Since estimates were started in 1997, production for this category of all other lettuce has grown at an average annual rate of 24 percent while farm value grew at a 31 percent rate.

Tomatoes are Hawaii's No. 1 vegetable crop in terms of both production and farm value. With 2003 production of 17.5 million pounds, tomatoes were almost 5 million pounds ahead head cabbage. The gap is even greater in farm revenue as tomato's 2003 farm revenue of $10.2 million is more than $7 million higher those for watermelon. Farm revenues for tomato growers have increased for nine consecutive years and have grown at a 6 percent average annual rate over the past 25 years (1979-2003).