Much has been written over the past decade warning of problems with sustainability that could impact Hawaii’s economy. Shipping strikes, pandemic quarantines and destructive fires based in part on climate warming clearly demonstrate Hawaiʻi’s vulnerability.

The disappearance of tourists will impact our economy demonstrating a necessity for stable and better paying jobs. State Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz recently commented on a need for “public-private partnerships” to reduce liabilities and diversify our economy with new industries. No one has come up with a solution beyond suggesting that one is needed.

The loss of tourism raises a horrifying vision, yet it is an easy prediction with climate change already impacting our cattle industry. Scientists are seeing ever-faster glacial melting and the Hawaiʻi State Climate Portal now predicts an additional 8 inches of ocean rise by 2050 with 70% of our beaches already impacted.

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This comes on top of problems associated with the need for energy and food imports, loss of small farms, low farm incomes, low educational rankings, and high emigration rates leading to population loss. Recent federal job and program cuts and higher tariffs exacerbate these problems and UHERO now projects our state moving into a recession in 2026. Hawaiʻi must reduce imports, move away from overdependence on tourism, and build a sustainable economy that benefits everyone.

An Integrated Approach

A circular bioeconomy is described here as one where resources are agricultural or biological in nature and locally sourced, waste products are recycled and reused, and spin-off industries create new opportunities for job and business creation. Biotic resources are important in Hawaiʻi where land is its major resource. Better paying jobs arise through new manpower training programs, increasing educational opportunity required to build the bioeconomy workforce.

The key biotic driver is to build a semi-tropical, vegetable oil-based economy centered on food, energy and industrial development like systems based on soy and corn oil. The crop of choice would satisfy the various criteria in Table 1. The fruit and nuts of hybrids of American and African oil palms (Elaeis guineensis x Elaeis oliefera) offer an oil source currently being tested in Hawai`i as a proof-of-concept study on the Big Island.

In the POC study, we imported phytosanitized seeds for tests of harvest, fertility, production, intercropping, and drought tolerance. We collaborated with landholders who grew seedlings in return for access to monitor growth, insect and mold pests, and response to different climatic zones and different soil types. Young palms produced thorns prohibiting feral animal grazing, offering future opportunities to graze livestock in integrated oil-animal production systems.

A crush test suggested a rate of oil production averaging 600 gallons per acre, near the global average. The POC study was a great success and projections show a potential vegetable oil production for Hawaiʻi of 400 million gallons annually.

Providing A Production Platform

Hawaii Oil Seed Producers agricultural cooperative when it became obvious production could occur and grower needs would have to be met. Oil palm produces 10-12 times more than soybeans, and 4-6 times more than sunflowers, maximizing production in our land-limited, semi-tropical islands.

The Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil licenses, monitors and tracks production, guaranteeing it meets sustainable practice standards and bypassing ethical concerns. About 40% of oil palm production in RSPO countries consist of small farmers on 5 acres of land producing 19% of global palm oil. Hawaiʻi automatically qualifies for the round table’s rating since its fields were cleared for sugar cane 150 years ago and no new forests would be cleared. In Hawaiʻi, the ways palm production benefits conservation is found in Figure 1.

Hybrid oil palms can be easily integrated into any size farm or ranch to provide extra income to those suffering from low incomes. The edible oil can be used for biofuel or manufacture of industrial products now imported including cosmetics, soaps, biofibers, bioplastics, and pharmaceuticals.

The waste can be used to make animal feed or compost or fermented to produce ethanol or biomethane for aviation fuels. Development of industries will require new educational programs and research, creating new and better paying jobs and opportunities for investments, while stimulating students to help build the circular bioeconomy.

How Landholders Benefit

Farmers gain a share of the Hawaiʻi State Climate Portal for every palm seedling purchased through the cooperative. Farmers also benefit from application of biochar to their soil. Profits and losses pass through to shareholders. Farmers and investors earn from oil and carbon credit sales, from crops or livestock integrated with the palms, and from sales brought in by share earnings.

The Hawaiʻi State Climate Portal handles all sprouting and seedling rearing, oil extraction, marketing, biochar production for soil nutrition and water retention, carbon credit monitoring, and sales. It will provide research into new palm strains and product development.

What The State Needs To Do

Urgency is required and the time to start is now. Oil palms major productive years are in their first 25 so an independent economy would reach its maturity as Hawaiʻi’s beaches go underwater, flooding threatens harbors and major airfields, and tourism collapses.

Specific objectives for the state include a bonded loan system to support farmers and ranchers wishing to grow oil palms integrated into their current growing plans. Repayment schedules must account for palm development. Funding to establish nurseries to provide tens of thousands of palm seedlings per year for landholder orchards is required. Nurseries may have to be established on different islands to prevent spread of island-specific pests. Kilns manufacturing biochar for each palm planted will promote rebuilding of resource-depleted soils.

A five-year moratorium of taxes would help stabilize capital development. New technical training courses must be funded and developed at the community colleges to sustain the new demands of island-wide vegetable oil production. The system should become self-sustaining in 3-5 years from marketing of palm seedlings.

As Sen. Dela Cruz recently said,“We just can’t keep planning. … We need to start investing in facilities.” At stake is survival in an unforeseeable, unpredictable, and challenging future.