OK Farms was established in 2002 by Troy Keolanui and Ed Olson. They now have over 1,000 acres on the Wailuku River in Hilo, Hawaii.
The farm specializes in high-quality tree crops such as coffee, macadamia nuts, lychee, longan, citrus, cacao, heart of palm, and a wide variety of other tropical fruits and spices.
Leileihua High School is in Wahiawa, Hawaii.
Southern Turf
Dole Food Company Inc. is the largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world. They grow and produce over 300 products in 90 countries while employing over 74,000 people.
The history of Dole can be traced back to 1851 with the establishment of Castle & Cooke. Castle & Cooke quickly became the largest company in Hawaii with interests in shipping, railroad construction, sugar production and seafood packing. Dole also has important roots with the Hawaiian Pineapple Company, which was founded in 1901 by James Dole. Dole opened his first pineapple plantation on Oahu that year.
Kumu Farms is an 120-acre farm in Ho`olehua, Molokaʻi. Grant Schule has owned the farm for more than 30 years making it one of Molokaʻi’s longest-standing and most successful farms.
They have become Hawaii’s largest exporter of organic papaya to the U.S. mainland but also grow a variety of organic produce for the local community. Fresh herbs are another major crop for Kumu Farms. Every week the farm harvests about 20,000 pounds of papaya and 4,500 pounds of fresh herbs, processed by Kumu’s 25 full time employees. That produce travels to the U.S. west coast and even as far as Chicago.
Kumu Farms produces both organic papaya and non-organic, or “conventional” fruit. None of their papaya is genetically modified (GMO), however.
