For over a century, until its closure in 1996, the Waialua Sugar Company in the town of Waialua, on the North Shore of Oahu, was home to one of the largest sugarcane plantations in the state of Hawaii. The North Shore is also the original location of Dole Food Company's pineapple growing and processing operation established by James Dole in 1901. Several generations and many thousands of immigrants from China, Japan, Korea, Portugal, and the Philippines came to work and live in the plantation towns and camps, raising their children and making Hawaii their home. With increasing globalization of agriculture, an economic need to diversify arose and culminated in the mid 1990s. With the closure of the sugarcane plantation in 1996 and in response to a growing consumer demand for distinctive, high quality Hawaiian grown products, Dole initiated a program of diversified agriculture to assist displaced workers while expanding the local market with new products. Crops were selected and planted to take advantage of new, emerging markets and products included papaya, mango, tropical flowers, and specialty crops such as coffee and cacao. Mr. David Murdock, Chairman of Dole Food Company, was especially interested in the healthful antioxidant benefits of coffee and cacao. Waialua Estate Coffee and Cacao is dedicated to this vision of healthy, nutritious food products and the continued practice of diversified agriculture on the North Shore of Oahu.
USA (Wahiawa, Hawaii)
