Ohana Hui Ventures operates more than 400 acres of farmland in Whitmore Village on Oʻahu, including 2 acres used to grow hemp.
The hemp variety was developed by a company called Kanda Hemp, with roots in China and the U.S., and is meant to thrive in Hawaiʻi’s ideal farming climate.
The hope is that the test site will become a proof-of-concept to show that hemp can grow in the state — and that it's worth investing in a local hemp industry.
“Rather than have Hawaiʻi do all imports, we want to do exports out of Hawaiʻi to be able to create a vibrant industrial hemp industry here,” said Scotty Wong, Ohana Hui Ventures CEO.
Wong wants to eventually export seeds from Hawaiʻi that can be used to make some hemp products or to grow the plant itself.
But there’s already local interest in using it for biodiesel, and two houses on Maui have already been built using construction material made from hemp.
Part of the interest in growing hemp is its thousands of reported uses. And the state could grow the plant much faster than many other areas in the world.
“ We know that it can grow anywhere, but the best places, that we're told, is in the fertile ground that we're in, and then in the … temperature that we're in,” said Scotty Reis-Moniz, executive director for Friends of Waimanalo, the nonprofit arm of Ohana Hui Ventures. “We in Hawaiʻi and everyone along the equator line… can grow four times a year. Most of the U.S. is only one time a year because of the fall and winter.”
Hemp is actually already grown locally, but mostly for its cannabinoids, the compounds that are used in gummies, tinctures, lotions and even oils. But some shy away from cannabinoids because of the state’s strict and uncertain regulatory framework for hemp.
State lawmakers tried passing a cannabis legalization bill this year that would have added restrictions for hemp farmers, and the state Department of Health is considering changes to its internal hemp rules, which mostly involve processing and labeling.
Those are just the latest goings-on in a years-long battle cannabinoid hemp growers are fighting to keep hemp farming alive in the state.
Industrial hemp avoids a lot of the cannabinoid regulations, but even then, there aren’t many growers.
Using hemp hurd and fibers for industrial purposes requires the plant to be processed in machines known as decorticators.
“Not too many people are doing the fiber hemp grow. A lot of it is because a lot of people don't have a decorticator, and then there isn't really a big market that was pushed for the fiber side. People are just starting to get into it,” Wong said.
Tests like the one Wong is doing can showcase hemp's local potential.
“I think that that's probably the most important thing that we can do is create a large-scale growing operation and getting the funding we need to make that happen. Over and above everything else, the rules and regulations won't make any difference if we can't prove that we can grow this stuff on scale,” said hemp farmer Greg Smith.
Smith spoke during a June meeting for the state-created Hawaiʻi Hemp Task Force.
The task force recently finalized recommendations to lawmakers on how to support what right now is mostly an unrealized fiber hemp sector, and a struggling cannabinoid hemp sector.
They include asking the state to ease its hemp regulations and fund dedicated research, infrastructure and staff. It’s also asking the state to subsidize farmers who grow the plant.
