Vol. XV. No. 376. 



THE AGKICULTUKAL NEWS. 



315 



HOW HAWAII HELPS HER FARMERS 



TO MARKET THEIR PRODUCE. 



In the West Indies, Antigua affords the best example of 

 iin island where the Agricultural Department assists in the 

 marketing of locally grown produce. In this connexion 

 reference may be made to the Antigua Onion Growers' 

 Association, to the Government Granary and, to a less extent, 

 to assistance rendered by the Department in connexion with 

 the sale of cotton. In ihe American tropical territory of 

 Hawaii a great deal more than this has been done to develop 

 the production by the establishment of a territorial market, 

 under the supervision of the Hawaiian Experiment Station. 

 Mr. E. V. Wilcox, of the States Relations Service, gives an 

 account of what has been done in an interesting article in the 

 Yearbook of the United States Department of Agriculture 

 for 1915. In this he says that prior to the establishment of 

 the market, fruits to be obtained in Honolulu were mostly 

 imported, and the same held good to a large extent in the 

 case of vegetables. When it was asked wliy Honolulu markets 

 were not properly supplied with tropical products, the 

 farmer replied that the dealers apparently did not want such 

 produce, or at any rate would not pay enough for it to give 

 the farmer a profit; while the dealer replied that either the 

 produce in question could not be profitably grown in the 

 territory, or the farmers were not sufficiently industrious to 

 engage in any special line of agriculture. 



To understand how such a situation arose necessitates a 

 study of the economic history of the territory. It is suffi- 

 cient here however, to indicate the action which the territorial 

 legislature took to remedy it and to bring about a develop- 

 ment of diversified agriculture. In 1909 a Commission 

 recommended the establishment of the territorial market, 

 and in 1913 this market, which had been in existence for two 

 years, was brought under the supervision of the Hawaiian 

 Agricultural Experiment Station. 



The ditficulties attendant on the production and sale of 

 produce by the amall estate owner were considerable until 

 this market began operations. In the first place they could not 

 individually produce large enough ([uantities of material to 

 secure reduced freights. Moreover, the individual small farm 

 could not be allotted to different crops in such a manner as to 

 bring about a steady supply. The worse feature of all from 

 a standpoint of the small farmer was that no market informa- 

 tion was available in any of the local newspapers. Another 

 serious difficulty was furnished by the uneven nature of the 

 land, the prevalence of insect pests and fungus diseases, the 

 unusual heaviness of the soil, and poor roads. In fact the 

 whole field of diversified agriculture in Hawaii, was until 

 quite recently neglected by reason of the intense interest in 

 the production of sugar. There was also to be faced compe- 

 tition with produce shipped from the United States and 

 the Orient: peanuts were imported in large quantities from 

 China and .lapan, beans from the mainland, corn from Seattle 

 and Manchuria, oranges, grape fruit, carrots, beats, asparagus, 

 potatoes, and various vegetables, as well as cold storage, 

 chickens and turkeys from California, and onions from Te.xas 

 and Australia. Therefore without any information as to the 

 actual condition of the Honolulu market, it was practically 



impossible for the farmer to prevent glutting the market by 

 making a shipment to Honolulu. 



The first work of the territorial market was the encoui* 

 agement of organizations among farmers. Great difficulty in 

 this respect was met with because of the great diversity of 

 races and languages, English itself being by no means a uni- 

 versal language as it is in many other cosmopolitan places. 



Through the medium of pigeon English, however, th« 

 universal business language of the Orient, and by enlisting 

 the interest of representatives of various races, quite satisfac- 

 tory co-operative association.", have at last been formed in the 

 various farming communities. The simplest form is a mere 

 voluntary organization of fariners who pool their produce and 

 ship it in common in the name of the organization to the 

 territorial marketing division. One association on the 

 island of Maui is composed exclusively of American farmers. 

 Their main crop is pine-apples. They were induced to take 

 up land in this locality by contract with the local cannery, 

 which agreed to take their pine-apples on a sliding-scale 

 system regulated by the price of canned pine-apples. 

 Unfortunately after the arrangement had been made the 

 price of fresh fruit was reduced one-half or more, and 

 t'he farmers were brought face to face with a new emer- 

 gency; but a movement was at once started to establish 

 a co-operative cannery for handling the fruit of the com- 

 munity; the first crop was sold fresh to the territorial 

 marketing division. In a neighbouring community, corn, 

 beans, cabbage and poultry are the main products for sale. 

 The community does its business through an elected 

 manager, who makes shipments to the territorial marketing 

 division for sale in Honolulu or for reshipment to San 

 Francisco. 



In order to keep the farmers in the different islands 

 informed as to prices and demands, a market letter is circu- 

 lated, printed in dift'ersnt languages. On their side, the 

 farmers have been induced to supply the division fortnightly 

 with information as to the kinds and amounts of produce 

 which they are likely to have in the near future for shipment 

 to Honolulu. This system of mutual exchange of infor- 

 mation tends to prevent the flooding of the market. 



As the result of the establishment of the Hawaiian 

 territorial market, the demand for local produce in Honolulu 

 has greatly increased in every direction. This not only 

 applies to fruit and vegetables but to the supply of poultry 

 and meat. Little Indian corn is now imported, and the 

 reader will remember that efforts are being made to reach 

 a similar position in Antigua, in the West Indies. 



One good effect of the co-operative marketing has been 

 that the steamship companies have taken greater care and 

 provided better facilities for the transportation of perishable 

 produce. Simultaneously, the farmers themselves have 

 graded and packed their produce in a more satisfactory 

 manner than previously. 



In the course of the article from which this information 

 is obtained, reference is made to a recent shortage of onions 

 which are derived from the Bermuda crop. This stimulated 

 local production, satisfactory prices were obtained, and no 

 difficulty was experienced in shipping onions from Honolulu to 

 San Francisco. Similarly with sweet potatoes; while from time 

 to time it has been found pofitable to ship dry beans. In order 

 to facilitate business on the American Pacific Coast, the 

 Hawaiian territorial market has a branch market in San 

 Francisco. Its main business thus far has been the handling 

 of fresh pine-apple,s, but in the future it will no doubt bo 

 concerned with the disposal of other products. 



