Agriculture & History
Kilohana
Plantation lives up to its name with the recently added 70 acre tropical
agriculture operation immediately adjacent to the historic home and grounds.
With the Kauai Plantation Railway as the magic carpet, visitors will be
able to tour a working plantation to view the present, past, and future
of tropical agriculture in Hawaii.
Traditional
Hawaiian crops of sugar cane and wetland taro present the early agriculture
of the Native Hawaiians, and contemporary market crops - pineapple, papaya,
banana, coffee and guava give visitors a chance to see how these well known
fruits are grown. Small scale vegetable gardens provide a wide variety of
table crops to be used in area restaurants to make this truly a working
farm that provides subsistence to the local residents who work this land.
Alongside
these fruit and vegetable fields are experimental stands of tropical hardwoods
providing both windbreaks and future lumber. Woven surprisingly into this
mix are rows of exotic tropical flowers whose blooms are used not only for
lei and floral decoration but for scents and essences whose aromas will
grace some of the world’s finest spas. Along side these are found
newly emerging crops, such as hybrid Mango, longan, cashew, sugarloaf pineapple,
coffee, beverage tea, and atamoya.
Where
else could one find such a cornucopia besides the Garden Island of Kauai?
Nowhere in Hawaii is there such a plantation – designed from the start
as a demonstration and study facility that is open to the public, while
producing commercial crops for sale.
The development of the crops is in the hands of a number of individual and
agri-business tenants who cultivate their areas. Students from the adjoining
Kauai Community College Tropical Agriculture are also involved in a hands-on
learning of the skills of the profession, becoming aware of marketing practices,
and developing the new crops under study.