Soil to Fiber Baseline in Hawaii

Commodities

• Agronomic: hemp

Practices

• Education and Training: on-farm/ranch research
• Soil Management: organic matter, soil quality/health

Hawaiʻi farmers are hearing many
promotional claims about fiber hemp as a "miracle" crop, but almost
all of the numbers they see-yields, soil benefits, and costs-come
from mainland trials that do not match Wahiawā's climate, soils, or
small diversified farms. Producers around Ohana Hui Ventures are
asking three basic questions: How does THC-compliant Yuma fiber
hemp perform on about one acre? What does it do to their soil in
rotation? And does it pencil out once land, labor, and processing
are included?

This project will establish a
producer-led, one-acre soil-to-fiber baseline trial of Yuma fiber
hemp at Ohana Hui Ventures in Wahiawā. Using a randomized complete
block design with two planting windows and a nearby no-hemp
reference area, the team will measure stand establishment, plant
height, stalk diameter, and dry biomass yields; track soil organic
matter, pH, bulk density, and simple infiltration before and after
hemp; and document retting duration, bast fiber and hurd yields
(including short vs. long fractions) and a simple fiber-cleanliness
score. These data will feed into a partial budget that summarizes
per-acre costs and realistic revenue ranges for fiber and hurd
under Hawaiʻi conditions.

The project's significance is
to provide clear, local benchmarks so producers can decide whether
and how to integrate Yuma fiber hemp into rotations without relying
on hype or continental data. Expected outcomes include
Hawaiʻi-specific soil and yield baselines, an economic snapshot,
and practical guidance on small-scale retting and decortication
logistics. Together, these results will advance sustainable
agriculture by reducing financial risk for small farms, documenting
soil-health impacts, and strengthening producer-to-producer
learning around a new rotation option.

Results will be disseminated
through two on-farm field days in Wahiawā and a concise producer
factsheet and slide deck shared via partner networks and online
channels to reach producers across Hawaiʻi.

Research Objectives

Establish a producer-led hemp
trial.
Set up a one-acre on-farm trial of the fiber hemp variety
"Bocephus" at Ohana Hui Ventures in Wahiawā, comparing two
practical planting windows in a randomized complete block design
(three replications plus a nearby no-hemp reference area) to
generate directly usable data for Hawaiʻi producers.

Quantify agronomic
performance.
Measure stand establishment, plant height, stalk diameter, and dry
biomass yields for each planting window and replication, producing
Hawaiʻi-specific benchmarks for fiber hemp grown under real farm
conditions.

Track soil-health response.
Measure soil organic matter, pH, bulk density, and simple
infiltration in hemp plots and the reference area at baseline and
after hemp production to detect meaningful improvements or declines
in soil health associated with hemp in rotation.

Measure fiber and hurd yield and
economics.
Record retting duration and visible quality, quantify bast fiber
and hurd yields (including short vs. long fiber fractions and a
simple cleanliness score), and develop a partial budget summarizing
per-acre costs and realistic revenue ranges for fiber and hurd.

Education Objectives

Provide hands-on producer
education.
Conduct two on-farm field days in Wahiawā-one focused on planting
and soil-health monitoring, and one on harvest, retting,
decortication, and economics-using Western SARE surveys to document
knowledge gain and producers' intention to trial fiber hemp on
their own farms.

Create and distribute practical learning
tools.
Produce a concise, producer-friendly factsheet, a slide deck, and
two short captioned videos summarizing methods, results, and
lessons learned, and distribute them through partner networks and
online channels to reach at least 100 producers across Hawaiʻi.