I was in Hawaii again last week and thought I would share some new pictures.  It was/is the rainy season and the farmers and ranchers I spoke with said they’ve had more rain this year than in the past 10. It was also extremely windy and cool because I was at a high elevation (3500+ ft) part of the time, thus the jackets in the pictures.  Hawaii is an amazing agriculture state with lots of diversity. Did you know that the Big Island of Hawaii has eleven (11) different climate zones?  The ranch I was on had 3 including desert, grasslands (similar to prairie), and rainforest.   State wide they average 400” of rainfall in the higher elevations and as little as 10” near the shores. The average state temperature swings between 77F summer and 71F in the winter and daily temps hover around 80ishF. Farmland covers about 40% of Hawaii and they are best known for growing pineapple and sugarcane. (although sugarcane production has been on a continuous decline for many years)  You might be surprised to find that they even grow corn over there.  Most of the corn production is genetics research and seed corn.  (the major seed companies all have operations in HI because of its year round temps) The state has about 4400 farms and several very large ranch operations that primarily raise grass-fed beef that is exported and sent back to the mainland. 

Click on the image below to launch the slide show.