Kona Coffee Production by New Farmers and Associated Issues on the Island of Hawaii

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to clarify Kona coffee production by new farmers and the issues they face on the Island of Hawaii, and to examine their impact on the Kona coffee production area. Descendants of Japanese immigrants have produced coffee cherries, the source of coffee beans, since the 1890s, and millers in Kona have processed the cherries. After the 1980s when the worldwide specialty coffee boom occurred, new farmers immigrated to Kona from the US mainland and Europe and began to grow coffee. New farmers not only produce coffee cherries but also process them and roast the beans themselves. They then bag the beans for sale labeled with the farmers’ or plantations’ names. However, new farmers face issues of customer attrition as they must increase the sales price of coffee beans to compensate for decreased coffee cherry production caused by insect pests. New farmers must also deal with issues concerning flavor variances in coffee produced in the area because they each adopt new cultivars and processing methods different from conventional ones and pursue their own ideal flavors.