Although there is an infant coffee industry in California and a small volume of beans are grown in Puerto Rico, Hawaii is the largest coffee producer in the United States, and it has been for years. The USDA forecasts utilized production of 26.2 million pounds of coffee beans this season, marginally lower than last season. During the same period, acreage is down by nearly 3 percent.
About 900 farms scattered across the Hawaiian Islands grow coffee, which, by one count, is the No. 3 commodity in the state, trailing only cattle and sugarcane. The USDA’s Coffee report estimates that the 2019/20 crop will be worth $52.7 million, harvested from 6,900 acres compared to 7,100 acres last season and 7,200 acres in 2017/18.
Coffee has been grown in Hawaii since the early 1800s, and the first commercial operation was established in 1836. “The only region that has remained in continual production to the present day is Kona, on the Big Island,” said the Hawaii Coffee Industry website. Coffee plantings expanded when growing sugarcane became less profitable, and by 2007, more than 8,200 acres in the state were in coffee.