Last year was a good year to be a cucumber or leaf lettuce farmer in Hawaii, as these two crops drove a rebound in production values for vegetables and melons statewide as described in a report released last week.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture report estimated that commercial vegetable and melon production generated $45.4 million in revenue for Hawaii farmers last year. That represented a 14 percent rise over $39.8 million in 2014 and a rebound above the 2013 figure of $43.5 million.
Severe vog and drought were largely behind the decline in 2014, and those conditions were not big factors last year, said Kathy King, Hawaii’s statistician for the National Agricultural Statistics Service, which produces the report under the USDA with assistance from the state Department of Agriculture.
“I think it was just a better year for vegetables — no major drought, no major vog,” King said in an email.
Producers of leaf lettuce, as compared with head or romaine lettuce, accounted for the biggest gain last year: a 78 percent jump that pushed revenue to $5.2 million from $2.9 million the year before.
King said the increase
was due to more aquaponic and hydroponic production of lettuce, which helped
volume nearly double to
2.19 million pounds last year from 1.13 million pounds the year before.
The biggest vegetable crop by revenue last year was cucumbers. Hawaii farmers earned $6.5 million from this vegetable last year, up
51 percent from $4.3 million the year before.
Not all vegetables had revenue increases last year. The report indicated that revenue was flat for Chinese cabbage, eggplant and green onions. There were declines for head lettuce, Oriental squash, snap beans and watercress.
Revenue figures for some vegetables, such as dry onions, bittermelon and others aren’t disclosed because it would identify revenue of
an individual company. These are totaled in a group category that represented $16.8 million of the total.