Hawaii’s involvement in the modern commercial seed corn industry dates to the 1960s, according to the Hawaii Department of Agriculture. Trials at the University of Hawaii, conducted for Illinois Foundation Seeds and Cornnuts, Inc., led to a five-acre farm established in 1965 on Molokai Island. Pioneer Hybrids and other seed corn companies soon established a Hawaiian presence.
Hawaii offers natural advantages to U.S. seed corn companies. Tropical weather allows four corn harvests each year. According to the Maui Chamber of Commerce, the seed industry benefits from established air freight lines to the mainland United States, as well as U.S. intellectual property laws clearly applying to innovations made in Hawaii.
Hawaii also has long-term experience in plant breeding and research, especially pineapple and sugarcane; some of those resources were adaptable to seed corn. Seed corn acreage started increasing in the 1990s, as pineapple and sugarcane producers started exiting large-scale "plantation" production.
"Late 20th century decline of plantation crops, sugarcane and pineapple, released thousands of acres of prime agricultural land along with agricultural infrastructure that could be redeployed in the fast-growing seed industry," said Paul Brewbaker, author of an analysis for the Maui Chamber of Commerce.
The seed crop sector now accounts for 45 percent of Hawaii farm gate receipts, according to the Hawaii FSA. "The sector employs nearly a quarter of all agricultural jobs and currently utilizes only 5 percent of the arable land in the islands," stated the FSA Hawaii profile.
The state realizes a growing economic impact from the crop seed industry. The industry contributes $264 million in direct contributions to the economy and pays $76 million in wages, while employing 1,493 people, according to a 2013 study.
The industry also provides an annual indirect impact of $473 million and more than 1,000 jobs, reported the study, commissioned by the Hawaii Crop Improvement Assoc. and Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation.
Critics of the seed industry’s growth in Hawaii have two main arguments. One is that using the state’s land for seed production takes land away that could be used for food production. As an island state, Hawaii is extremely dependent on food shipped from the mainland United States and other sources.
But seed industry proponents point out seed production only takes up about 5 percent of Hawaii’s arable land, according to the most recent USDA data.
A second argument used by groups opposing the state’s growing corn seed industry involves the environment. "Most of these crops are engineered to resist herbicides and produce their own pesticides," stated the Center for Food Safety, which represents Maui County groups against the referendum. "Testing and producing these crops means repeated spraying of dangerous chemicals near neighborhoods, schools and waterways."
But analysis of USDA data by Brewbaker indicates Hawaii’s seed industry contributes 10 percent of all agricultural chemical use in Hawaii – while contributing 23 percent of Hawaii farm receipts.
"Urban – not agricultural – applications are the most likely potential sources of environmental exposure to pesticide residues in the Hawaiian Islands," said Brewbaker.
"No epidemiological evidence for adverse human health effects has arisen in the seed industry’s 50-year history in Hawaii pointing to it as a smoking gun."
Media attention to the lawsuits around the Maui County referendum will likely continue through the winter. But with the injunction preventing the referendum from being enacted, Midwest grain producers need not worry about immediate impacts on seed supply. Production of varieties needed to grow seed corn should be available for shipment for the 2015 growing season, producing seed for 2016.
