Hawai‘i’s Federal Quarantine: A Century-Old Barrier to Agricultural Growth

For the last 114 years, Hawai‘i has been subject to a federal agricultural quarantine that impacts Hawai‘i-based farms to the tune of $760 million annually. That’s greater than the value of Hawai‘i’s total agricultural sales in 2022 (which was $673 million).

Yet, these quarantine restrictions persist and continue to negatively impact the state and its agricultural industry — despite various advances that have reduced and controlled the four species of introduced fruit flies that initially triggered the quarantine.

Origins Rooted in Century-Old Fears

Dating back to 1912, territorial Hawai‘i’s quarantine was one of the first agricultural quarantines declared by the federal government. It has effectively barred farmers statewide from exporting a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables to the mainland due to strict restrictions placed on the entire state.

The creation of Hawai‘i’s quarantine can largely be credited to traveling entomologist George Compere, who worked as a government entomologist in Western Australia and California. After finding Mediterranean fruit flies in Hawai‘i, Compere stoked fears in California’s fruit industry about a potential invasion. Compere cemented this frenzy through a widely reproduced paper profiling tephritid fruit flies as well as in remarks at the 1910 California state convention of fruit growers, where he pushed for a full quarantine on Hawai‘i.

On June 17, 1911, California, with cooperation from steamship operators serving the California-Hawai‘i route, issued an embargo on all produce from Hawai‘i due to the presence of Medflies discovered in the then-territory.

Both Congress and the Secretary of the USDA followed California’s lead, providing the USDA the power to implement and enforce agricultural quarantines through the Plant Quarantine Act of 1912. The USDA subsequently invoked a full quarantine on Hawai‘i as one of the first federal plant quarantines ever established.

A Blanket Prohibition with Limited Exceptions

Hawai‘i’s quarantine is extremely broad and explicitly entails a default ban on the export of all fresh fruits and vegetables from the entire state. Farmers who want to export must seek approval from the USDA to be on its approved commodities list.

Local farmers attempting to access this approved commodities list for a particular crop must work through the USDA, which in some cases may take years to receive approval. Even after completing this process, farmers still face potential rejection or additional mandates that add time and costs to exporting, known as “pest mitigation requirements.”

Irradiation is the most common risk mitigation process applied to Hawai‘i products and has facilitated the export of Hawai‘i-grown papayas and sweet potatoes. However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires irradiated food to be labeled with the “radura symbol” and the words “treated with radiation.” Unsurprising to many, studies indicate this specific labeling results in adverse consumer impressions about food quality.

True Cost: Lost Opportunities

Although significant, the real cost of the federal quarantine on Hawai‘i’s agricultural sector is not the direct cost of pest mitigation efforts. The real cost is the suppression of entire industry sectors and business models from growing to scale or even forming. This opportunity cost makes up the majority of the estimated $760 million in negative financial impact to Hawai‘i’s agricultural sector each year.

Paradoxically, these quarantine restrictions place Hawai‘i, a full U.S. state since 1959, at a competitive disadvantage compared to foreign countries and other states when exporting certain agricultural products to the mainland. This is particularly contradictory since many of these other regions present their own pest risks, as they share land borders with other countries and states and lack Hawai‘i’s natural geographic isolation.

For example, Mahi Pono, a local farming company that owns and operates approximately 41,000 acres of agricultural land in Central Maui, has struggled in trying to get its limes on the USDA’s approved commodities list.

Mahi Pono is the largest U.S. producer of limes — a significant achievement in so few years — and has been working through USDA export approvals since 2023 for its lime crop. The farm has planted 3,000 acres of limes in Central Maui and is unable to sell limes to the mainland U.S. market due to quarantine restrictions and its pending application for the approved commodities list.

Frustratingly, over this same timeframe, Mahi Pono has been able to export limes with little issue to Canada.

“Regulatory frameworks must evolve alongside science,” said Jayson Watts, Mahi Pono’s director of environmental health and safety. “Mahi Pono has worked closely with industry experts and USDA leadership to develop a proven mitigation approach for our limes, yet we remain unable to access mainland markets without resorting to expensive and quality-compromising treatments. This is despite being one of the largest lime producers in the nation.

“We were grateful for the opportunity to meet with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins in March, who pledged her support for Hawaii’s farmers. We remain hopeful and look forward to continuing to work with her team — in the spirit of ‘Buy Hawai‘i, Buy America’ — to reduce import reliance and ensure American-grown produce from Hawai‘i can compete fairly and fully in the national marketplace.”

According to the International Fresh Produce Association, from Aug. 1, 2021 to July 31, 2022, Mexican lime imports into the United States reached approximately 1.38 billion pounds. That equates to about 4.1 pounds of limes for every man, woman and child in the United States. Imported Mexican limes account for over 90% of U.S. market.

The lime industry has grown rapidly over the past decade, and could have been an incredible market opportunity for Hawai‘i farmers, but this opportunity continues to be suppressed by Hawai‘i’s century-old federal quarantine. Instead, the United States has allowed foreign producers to benefit from a fast growing agricultural market sector.

A Call for Modernization

Gov. Josh Green has announced plans to engage with the USDA and other federal agencies to modernize these outdated quarantine requirements. The governor’s initiative aims to establish a more balanced regulatory framework that protects against invasive species while allowing Hawai‘i’s farmers to compete fairly in mainland markets. 

“Hawai‘i’s agricultural sector has been hampered by these century-old restrictions for far too long,” said Gov. Green. “Modern technology and practices now offer solutions that can protect mainland crops while allowing our farmers to access crucial markets. My administration is committed to developing a more sensible approach.”

The quarantine system appears increasingly outdated in an era of advanced pest detection and management techniques. Modern detection methods and risk-based approaches can potentially replace the current system while maintaining or improving upon necessary protections.

As Hawai‘i seeks agricultural diversification, addressing these long-standing limitations becomes increasingly urgent. After more than a century of restrictions, the time is right for a comprehensive review of Hawai‘i’s federal quarantine regulations to ensure they balance legitimate biosecurity concerns with economic needs in the 21st century.

This article previews research on Hawaii’s federal quarantine that will be published in an upcoming policy brief by the Hawaii Institute for Public Affairs (HIPA).

Have you been impacted by Hawai‘i’s federal quarantine? Share your story by emailing [email protected].