For the past six years, Oʻahu consumers have not been able to buy fresh locally produced milk. It's only been available on Hawaiʻi Island, where Cloverleaf Dairy in Kohala is the last remaining dairy farm in the state.
The milk is processed in Hilo but now, through a deal with Farm Link Hawaiʻi, Meadow Gold milk is once again an option for Oʻahu residents. So why is that a big deal? Dependency on imports is a vulnerability for Hawaiʻi. At one time in history, more than 80 dairies existed throughout the islands.
Following this announcement, HPR wanted to learn more about the efforts to keep Hawaiʻi's dairy industry going.
The Conversation spoke with Claire Sullivan, CEO of Farm Link Hawaiʻi, and Bahman Sadeghi, who bought the Meadow Gold’s processing plant five years ago.
Sullivan reflected on Hawaiʻi's dairy industry.
"Until the early '80s, we produced almost all of our own milk locally in Hawaiʻi," she said. "And to have dwindled to a single dairy makes the industry so precarious. And it means that the vast majority of us are consuming milk from elsewhere, and we're not contributing to our local economy and our local food system, with this very basic staple purchase of milk that many of us make every week.”
Oʻahu residents interested in purchasing local milk can do so through Farm Link Hawaiʻi’s online marketplace. Farm Link also offers a full selection of locally produced groceries such as fresh produce, meat, dairy and bread.
Sullivan told HPR that she felt hopeful about Hawaiʻi's dairy industry after Bahman purchased Meadow Gold.
“I think the closure of Meadow Gold on Oʻahu — of course, they continued operation in Hilo — it was the end of an era, or so it felt,” Sullivan said. “And this is why I felt so hopeful when Bahman Sadeghi purchased Meadow Gold, because as a local dairyman, it represented the return of a critical piece of local infrastructure into local hands and local control that was committed to our local industry.”
Sadeghi has worked in dairy since 1986. He said that when he first heard about Meadow Gold ceasing operations, it translated to the end of the dairy industry for Hawaiʻi.
“We only had one dairy farm at the time, and based on my background, I was very familiar with the Boteilho family and their operation, so it just didn't make any sense to me, as a dairyman, that there would be no dairy industry in Hawaiʻi," Sadeghi said. "And that's basically what interested me into looking at it and saying, ‘OK, I know it can be done,’ and I acquired the company, and then tried to help the dairy farm, which I ultimately ended up acquiring a portion of it, and continued to invest in it and grow it.”
He added that he hopes others will be interested in startups of other farms in Hawaiʻi.
“I'm hoping that we can prove the business model, and others would be attracted to enter the milk production side,” Sadeghi said. “On the processing side, we're building a new plant in Kapolei on Oʻahu to ship bulk milk from Big Island to Oʻahu and process and package closer to the market. And next year, we would like to bring back cultured products, yogurt and sour cream.”
This story aired on The Conversation on Sept. 11, 2025. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Hannah Kaʻiulani Coburn adapted this story for the web.
