Agroforestry transitions in Hawaiʻi: Navigating structural barriers through diverse economies

Abstract

Agroforestry is a set of practices that integrate trees and shrubs into agricultural cropping systems. It is widely regarded as a strategy that supports agricultural production while enhancing ecosystem and community well-being. Current research addresses the challenges farmers face when transitioning to agroforestry in Hawaiʻi, with particular attention to the social and political factors that constrain participation for a range of practitioners. However, we know less about the economic conditions that shape agroforestry transitions among commercial farmers. This thesis investigates the economic challenges to agroforestry transitions through a statewide farmer survey, ten interviews with beginning farmers, and eight detailed economic case studies with established agroforestry practitioners. Drawing on frameworks of political ecology and diverse economies, I argue that agroforestry transitions reveal the structural inequalities of Hawaiʻi’s agricultural system and that commercial farmers engage in diverse economic practices, combining capitalist and non-capitalist strategies to navigate systemic barriers and pursue viability in their unique contexts. In doing so, they create political-ecological feedback loops, wherein non-market activities lead to market outcomes, as well as non-monetary returns, both of which support viability and help farmers navigate structural inequalities. In this way, farm viability is being renegotiated both within and beyond the market, and structural constraints are being reworked through creative, values-driven social relations of production and exchange. This argument is based on quantitative data on the costs and benefits of agroforestry as well as qualitative data on farmers’ perceptions of agroforestry, their challenges, and viability strategies. This thesis contributes to new insights into how an integrated political ecology and diverse economies framework offers empirical and theoretical understandings of agroforestry transitions, and facilitates the development of concrete interventions that support equitable transitions within Hawaiʻi’s post-plantation agricultural landscape.