Unfortunately the last sugar cane operation in Hawaii is slated to close down soon
When I came to Kauai almost 30 years ago it seemed the whole island was covered in sugar cane fields. No more. Gone. And also on Oahu. And the last one on Maui is closing down. Too expensive. A real shame. But the good thing is that the chemicals used are not leeching into the soil any longer. Bad thing is that thousands of people over the years lost jobs. There is a rum company that has grown some cane for rum production on Kauai but it is a very small operation.
When the cane was grown here, it was harvested and turned into a molasses-looking heavy syrup that got shipped to the West Coast where it was refined and turned into sugar and bagged. Bags were shipped back to Hawaii to the stores where C&H pure cane sugar was MORE EXPENSIVE than on the Mainland.
When I came to Kauai almost 30 years ago it seemed the whole island was covered in sugar cane fields. No more. Gone. And also on Oahu. And the last one on Maui is closing down. Too expensive. A real shame. But the good thing is that the chemicals used are not leeching into the soil any longer. Bad thing is that thousands of people over the years lost jobs. There is a rum company that has grown some cane for rum production on Kauai but it is a very small operation.
When the cane was grown here, it was harvested and turned into a molasses-looking heavy syrup that got shipped to the West Coast where it was refined and turned into sugar and bagged. Bags were shipped back to Hawaii to the stores where C&H pure cane sugar was MORE EXPENSIVE than on the Mainland.