Hawaii’s last sugar mill wraps up final harvest
WAILUKU, Hawaii — The only remaining sugar mill in Hawaii is ending its final harvest.
The last cane haul at Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company on Maui is expected to happen Monday, Hawaii News Now (http://bit.ly/2gRzI03 ) reported. Parent company Alexander & Baldwin announced in January that it would phase out sugar production this year.
“Hawaii produced over a million tons of sugar per year for over 50 years. At one time that was 20 percent of all the sugar that was consumed in the United States,” said Robert Osgood, a retired consultant for the Hawaii Agriculture Research Center and co-author of “From King Cane to the Last Sugar Mill.”
Sugar farms in Hawaii have closed or consolidated, and competition has increased worldwide.