Most people in Hawaii understand we need to diversify our economy to include more than tourism income and military spending. We also understand the need to grow more of our own food, rather than depend on imports and, ideally, export high-value food products as well. Not incidentally, one factor contributing to the wildfires that ravaged Lahaina and damaged Kula and other places in our islands is that so much land now lies fallow, uncared for and unirrigated, covered in wild grasses that are fuel for wildfires. This needs to change.

Hawaii has a significant opportunity to help solve these problems. Agtech on land and aquatech in our ocean are food production systems that apply digital technologies and tools to replace or support human labor with smart systems that increase efficiency and profitability. Higher profits enable these systems to be made more resilient, more attractive to young people and, ultimately, more sustainable. They enable us to provide more sustainable agriculture and food to Hawaii and beyond.

A great example of how these technologies can thrive and provide is what we’ve done with aquatech. It’s a technological innovation born and bred in Hawaii more than 20 years ago, which has created significant jobs and profits here and has changed shrimp farming around the world.

The technology is called Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) shrimp. It started with a U.S. Department of Agriculture-funded research and development project to solve real-life problems, especially that U.S. shrimp farming was too susceptible to disease. Following initial development of SPF shrimp, commercial trials across the U.S. were so successful that the entire industry agreed to use SPF shrimp from Kona to stock their farms the following year.

The industry-wide use of SPF shrimp from Kona resulted in doubling U.S. production and led to investment in the world’s first SPF shrimp company, High Health Aquaculture (HHA) at NELHA (Natural Energy Laboratory Hawaii Authority) in Kona. Significant innovation at HHA in essential technologies was partly financed by Small Business Innovation Research grants from the U.S. government.

Outstanding results from global distribution of SPF shrimp from Hawaii led to more local interest and development of other Hawaii SPF companies, including Kona Bay Shrimp (KBS) on Kauai. Further global successes led to global investment in KBS by Hendrix Genetics, a world-leading breeding company. KBS is now the main shrimp breeding center for SPF shrimp for the company that has developed broodstock multiplication centers in major shrimp markets such as Indonesia, India and China — helping feed a hungry world.

In 2022, Hawaii companies exported 450,000 SPF shrimp broodstock worth $25 million. Since 2003, more than 7 million broodstock worth $400 million have been exported from Hawaii.

Clearly, development of genetic stocks of important aquatic and agricultural products for global sales is a major opportunity for Hawaii. Seedstock is, in fact, Hawaii’s most valuable agricultural commodity. Such high value products use far less land and water than traditional commodity agriculture and build on Hawaii’s legacy as a leader in ag and aquatic technology.

Recognizing the importance and economic-growth opportunity in developing agtech and aquatech products and processes, we have organized a conference to showcase examples of the latest technologies in these fields: the THRIVE Hawai‘i Agrifood Summit will convene at the Hawai‘i Convention Center on Sept. 26 and 27. A tour to NELHA will be available on Sept. 29.

Attending will provide networking opportunities, knowledge and insights, business development, collaboration and a focus on sustainability and resilience in the agrifood and aquaculture industries. The summit offers a platform for connecting with global experts, learning about the latest trends and innovations, accessing funding sources, promoting partnerships and collaborations, and promoting sustainable and regenerative agrifood and aquaculture practices.

In short, this is not only an opportunity to learn about the potential of developing and building our innovative ecosystem in these areas, but also a way for you to be a part of it. See www.HawaiiAgrifood.com for more information.