- the availability of locally grown produce and value-added products in Maui Nui's restaurants and grocery stores
- attractions that allow visitors to learn, firsthand, about our islands' agricultural practices, history and lifestyle
- agriculture's contribution to Maui Nui's beautiful scenery and breathtaking landscape
Did you know?
- Approximately 55% of Maui Nui, 260,000 acres, is agricultural land.
- Diversified agriculture currently accounts for about 70% of farm revenue in Maui Nui and the islands Maui, Moloka'i and Lāna'i are home to 800 farms.
- Agricultural sales for Maui Nui top $124.5 million per year.
- Maui is the only county that continues sugar and pineapple crops.
- Once the most influential crops in the daily lives of Maui's residents, sugar continues to be an economic contributor for the State of Hawaii, both as a leading agricultural crop and, in the form of bagasse, fuel for steam-driven electrical generators.
- Hawaii's "king of fruits" is the subject of Maui's only Hawaiian Pineapple Plantation Tour. Led by plantation workers, the tour provides area along with facts about Hawaii's most famous fruit. Visitors learn about the unique growing cycle of this crop, and they have the opportunity to pick their own pineapple to take home.
- Hawaii is the only state in the U.S. with a climate conducive for growing coffee. The combination of rich volcanic soil, warm temperatures and abundant rainfall offer an ideal environment.
- From 1850 to 1900, coffee was Hawaii's biggest agricultural crop. Hawaiian coffee was traditionally grown on small independent farms. Recently, relatively large plantations have been supplying the bulk of the crop. After petroleum, coffee is the second most heavily traded commodity in the world.
- Maui Community College's state-of-the-art, 17-plus million dollar Pa'ina Building may best be described as the culinary crossroads of the Island where students, instructors, farmers, producers, chefs and restaurateurs converge.
This award winning culinary arts program not only produces talented young chefs, servers, and managers to staff the Island's restaurants, but also operates a fine dining lunch restaurant, a food court that spotlights local product, arranges externships with restaurants throughout Maui Nui, and partners with local companies to research, test and, market gourmet products.
- Local folks love sweets especially those baked fresh from the ovens of family-owned and operated Island bakeries. In Wailuku, Home Maid Bakery is generally acknowledged as having the very best malassadas (Portuguese donuts) and is also well known for their Japanese pastries: mochi and manju.
Makawao is home to what is arguably Maui's best-known and best-loved bakery, Komoda's. The donuts and the skewers of donut holes affectionately known to locals as "sticks" are, many folks think, the best in the world.
Kula's stunningly restored Holy Ghost Church has what local folks know is absolutely the best Portuguese sweet bread money can buy. Soft, luscious, golden brown loaves are lovingly baked every other Sunday by a group of women - and one man who happens to be the keeper of the recipe!
On Moloka'i, Kanemitsu Bakery is a must stop for Hawaiian style breads. There's an "excellent adventure" surrounding shopping for bread at Kanemitsu's. You'll just have to make a friend over on the Friendly Isle and get him or her to share the special - and specific - instructions with you. I promise it will be worth it. Drop me a note and I'll let you know the secret!
- Second and third generation food manufacturers abound on Maui. Maui's own Roselani Ice Cream is owned and operated by the Nobriga family. This ‘ohana's youngest members are now sixth generation Mauians. Cathy Nobriga Kim is a third generation ice cream maker who continues to produce many of her father's and grandfather's delicious tropical flavors, including best selling Haupia (coconut), while expressing her own creativity with such exotic delights as Pumpkin Pecan ice cream for Thanksgiving and Mango Lavender Sherbet.
- In Central Maui, Aloha Poi and Teruya Tofu manufacture two staples of the local culture from both the Hawaiian and Japanese branches of the Maui family tree. In addition to being highly nutritious, both kalo and tofu have spiritual and emotional significance for virtually every island family.
