The state is a big importer of asparagus to meet the needs of restaurants and hotels, but so far no company or farmer has jumped in to meet that demand.
However, Maui Pineapple Co. says it has two test asparagus crops in Makawao, and if successful, plans to expand plantings.
Maui Pineapple, a subsidiary of Maui Land & Pineapple Co., has planted four varieties of asparagus on one acre.
While the field test ideally should take three years, the company probably will make a decision "sooner than that," said John Wynn, the company's head of field maintenance, irrigation and diversified farming. Wynn said asparagus should grow well on Maui, provide two harvests a day and produce 1,000 pounds of asparagus per acre per week.
Meanwhile, John Cross, director of diversified crop development at C. Brewer Co., said that company has one-third acre on the Big Island planted in asparagus.
He said he sells to restaurants on the Big Island.
"It's a labor-intensive crop," Cross said. "You need to get the labor (if you are going to expand)." Right now, Cross goes out twice a day to pick the asparagus himself.
Maui Pineapple said it would grow first to meet the Hawaii demand and then, if there is a surplus, send asparagus to Japan and California.
Hawaii is in an ideal position to produce asparagus for export during the months between July and December when the production is low in the rest of the world, said John McHugh, a farm consultant and formerly a horticulturist with the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association.
And the state's relative proximity to Japan also would help local asparagus growers.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, asparagus is the No. 2 vegetable, behind broccoli, imported into Japan from the United States. In fact, Japan is one of the best customers in the world for U.S. grown fresh vegetables and fresh fruits, the USDA reports.
Jersey Asparagus Farms Inc., which sells seeds to farmers using hybrids from Rutgers University in New Jersey, recently held four meetings in Hawaii to spur local asparagus growth.
"We got some good crowds, maybe 30 or so," said Scott Walker, a company representative.
Walker tried to encourage the potential asparagus farmers by telling them there is a short supply now and the price is up on the mainland. The value of exported asparagus from the United States to Japan in 1994 was $40.7 million, he said.
Walker said that asparagus can grow one inch an hour, under ideal conditions, and some areas of Peru require harvesting three times a day.
Asparagus had been grown in Kahuku, Waipahu and other places in Hawaii but today there is no large-scale commercial asparagus farm in the state.
Fresh asparagus can cost from $1 to $6 a pound in Hawaii, depending on availability and where it is grown, say food wholesalers.
They say that when the California supply of asparagus is not available - especially in winter months - they must get asparagus from Chile and New Zealand and that is expensive.