About HOSPRO

Briefly:

Hawai’i Oil Seed Producers (HOSPRO) is a federally recognized 501(c)5 corporation licensed as a tax exempt, nonprofit agricultural cooperative in Hawaii and operates under CFDA # 10.769 and NAICS code 0173. This structure allows all profits to be returned to the shareholders, a group that automatically includes the farmers who will receive one share for each tree grown.

Hawaii Oil Seed Producers is led by a small group of scientists and palm growers who have been working to introduce oil palm to the Hawaiian Islands as a way to create new industries and jobs and improve Hawaii’s self-sufficiency.

Why HOSPRO

Hawaii is an extremely isolated complex of islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean some 2,300 miles from continental land masses. Its relatively young, volcanic origins have resulted in no natural resources except rich soils for agricultural production — no carbon-rich resources such as coal, natural gas or petroleum. The Hawaiian Islands lost the last of its commercial sugar cane and pineapple in 2017 from Maui Island. Dole Pineapple has closed all of its plantations but one on Oahu for tourism purposes. Sugar cane production ended on Hawaii Island around 1996. All of these closures have left over 150,000 combined acres of fallow land available for other forms agriculture, in addition to acreages held by state and private sources. Most of this available land is now growing grass for cattle or growing weeds, contributing to Hawaii’s wildfire and invasive species problems. Weeds provide a nutrient source for non-native insects and birds which then spread seeds that compete against native plants. They inhibit the ability endangered species to bounce back, further challenging fragile Hawaiian ecosystems.

Closure of sugar and pineapple not only left much land available for growing oil palm, but it also represented a huge loss of jobs. At its height, the production of sugar alone was said to require one man for every ten acres of production. There were no industries available to take up this big burst of available labor. Currently, jobs in Hawaii lie primarily in construction and tourism, but construction is cyclical and tourism — now in decline — especially runs on mainly low paying service jobs. As a result, Hawaii has one of the lowest per capital income levels in the United States while having one of the highest costs of living due to the high cost of housing and the importation of food, fuel and consumer goods — in short, everything.

While solar, geothermal and wind are growing sources of energy, still over $5.1 billion is spent annually on imported fossil fuels to support land, ocean and air transportation systems in the Islands. Importing edible oils and livestock feed — costing approximately $25million and $31million respectively — adds to the large burden placed on Hawaii’s families. One study from 2013 showed that almost 90% of the food consumed in the Islands is imported (3). This siphoning of cash to off-island sources limits technological improvements and local investments here in Hawaii’s communities. In the past decade, at least eight different energy projects have entered the state from outside entities which either provided their own funding or gained access to bond and grant support from state and/or county coffers (4). While most aimed to provide energy to produce electricity, several sought to produce biofuel for the transportation sector. Almost none of these projects survived, sucking millions of dollars out our local economy all the while. These companies recognized profitable opportunities in Hawaii, but they did not understand our culture of preserving the life of the land. What works elsewhere may or may not work in Hawaii.

Hawaii’s history is replete with such episodes of outside investors developing extractive industries and leaving. Hawaii needs to develop its own sources of feed, fuels, feed, etc., while keeping the profits at home.

HOSPRO was formed to address these problems.