“The Maui Problem” was a term used in the early 1970s by sugar researchers to classify a type of plant or crop damage that, in their words, “they really didn’t understand . . . that  occurred on all islands; but mostly Maui.”

The COVID-19 virus is now teaching us how to better appreciate and assign collateral damage in economic, social and other forms when we recognize and understand the cause. Knowing the cause is often an aid in fixing the problem. In some situations, collateral losses will continue and not be remedied until the cause is recognized and addressed. 

Could our loss of Hawaii’s agriculture, an industry arguably more important in Hawaii’s past and future than tourism, be but collateral damage from a poorly recognized cause, such as “The Maui Problem”? 

Does anyone really know how we lost our agriculture? Can we move ahead while ignoring what brought it down? Is there any individual, agency or group interested in and capable of rebuilding Hawaii’s agriculture?   

Obviously, we’re already 50 years overdue for a plan to save, and the leadership to rebuild, Hawaii’s agriculture. This, also, has become part of the problem and begs another question: How did this happen?

Bob Martin

Paia