I found it particularly interesting to learn about and see the growing process of the pineapple plant. Pineapple plants are actually bromeliads and the only bromeliad fruit in widespread cultivation. New plants can be grown from the crown or top part of plants that are harvested.
The year-round warm sunny days tempered by gentle trade winds, perfect amount of rainfall and rich volcanic soils on the slopes of the West Maui Mountains is a major reason that Maui Gold® grows so well on the lands above the Kapalua Resort.
Even in today's highly mechanized world, pineapples are still planted and harvested by hand. The workers that do the actual planting are the most experienced and best paid workers. If not for more modern equipment used to collect and transport the harvested fruit, what you see taking place in the pineapple fields today is very much the same image you may have seen in motion pictures or Hawaii travelogues of the 1940's and 50's.
ML&P owns approximately 28,600 acres on the island of Maui, on which it operates the Kapalua Resort community and cultivates approximately 6,000 acres of pineapple. ML&P also owns and manages the 8,661 acre Pu'u Kukui Watershed Preserve, which is the largest private nature preserve in the state of Hawaii.
