DOUBLE HIT ON KONA COFFEE FARMS
For more than a century, Kona coffee has represented the pinnacle of American-grown specialty coffee. Cultivated on the volcanic slopes of Hawaii’s Big Island, it’s known for its complex flavor, rich aroma, and small-farm heritage. Kona Farmers have faced numerous threats to their farms, such as the borer beetle and coffee leaf rust. We have always preserved and survived each new threat, However, this year Kona coffee farmers are facing two threats which may push many of them out of the coffee business, (1) international retaliatory trade tariffs and 2) picker shortages due to ICE raids. If these conditions continue, many farmers will be forced to scale back operations or even stop growing coffee entirely.
This is more than a local issue. It's a cautionary tale about the Law of Unintended Consequences - How well-intentioned political decisions can disrupt a legacy that took generations to build.
The Tariff Squeeze
Kona coffee isn’t just a local treasure. For decades, its reputation has grown overseas, especially in countries like Japan, South Korea, Canada, and parts of Europe, where discerning consumers will pay a premium for authenticity and quality. But new retaliatory tariffs and trade restrictions—imposed by countries responding to U.S. trade policy—have made exporting Kona coffee more difficult and more expensive.
Japan and South Korea, which have long been top buyers of Kona coffee, have introduced retaliatory agricultural import tariffs in response to U.S. steel and auto tariffs. Kona coffee, already one of the most expensive coffees on the market, is now even more costly to foreign buyers. Some foreign buyers have responded by reducing or canceling orders, opting for cheaper alternatives from Southeast Asia or Central America.
For the Kona farms, which have built a market selling containers of green Kona coffee to foreign roasters, the drop in overseas demand is devastating. As the new crop looms, many large Kona farmers report stacked up containers of last year’s crop which they cannot export. The crisis will hit in the next three months, when Kona Farmers face the bleak choice of dumping last year’s crop or selling their green coffee to foreign buyers for less than the cost of production. If the big farmers sell for low prices, it will drive down the price for small farmers, resulting in many of them going out of business.
No Coffee Pickers
Kona coffee is hand-picked. Kona farms rely on seasonal laborers to selectively pick only the ripest red coffee cherries, revisiting the same tree several times during the harvest.
But in recent months, stepped-up immigration enforcement actions by ICE have drastically reduced the number of available pickers. California pickers, who in the past moved to Hawaii to pick coffee after the end of the lemon harvest, are afraid to travel even though they have valid work permits. They have seen the news reports that in some cases, ICE has picked up travelers, cancelled their work permits and deported them.
Undocumented workers who live in Kona, many with legal spouses and children, are refusing to leave their homes for fear that they will be picked up by ICE. The local news reports that ICE has deported over 100 people in Hawaii in the last three months.
Ironically, even though demand for labor is high, the immigration crackdown has made it almost impossible to meet that demand. Legal guest worker programs, such as the H-2A visa, are too bureaucratic, too expensive, and not scalable enough for most Kona operations, which tend to be small and independently run.
The shortage of pickers is going to result in a dramatic increase in expenses. Farmers facing the reality of losing their entire crop will compete with other farms for workers, which will result in a cost increase of 50% to 100% over last year’s wages.
Citizen workers
The idea that pushing out immigrant workers will open agricultural jobs for citizens is a myth. Politicians have known for years that citizen workers won’t replace migrant workers. At the end of the Bracero program, in 1968, the federal government tried to recruit high school boys to work in the fields. The program was a disaster and many of the boys walked off the job after a few days in the fields.The result was a flood of undocumented immigrants taking over the jobs of the legal Bracero workers.
The idea that pushing out immigrant workers will open agricultural jobs for citizens is a myth. Politicians have known for years that citizen workers won’t replace migrant workers. At the end of the Bracero program, in 1968, the federal government tried to recruit high school boys to work in the fields. The program was a disaster and many of the boys walked off the job after a few days in the fields.The result was a flood of undocumented immigrants taking over the jobs of the legal Bracero workers.
In 2011, Alabama passed laws with criminal penalties for farmers who employed undocumented workers. Politicians stated that people receiving unemployment benefits or convicts on probation could do the jobs. Neither group was willing to take the jobs. Alabama farmers would up leaving crops worth millions of dollars rotting in the fields.
Florida recently tried replacing migrant workers by paying convicts to work. In every case, after a day in the fields, the convicts preferred to stay in their cells.
In Hawaii. welfare benefits are generous, local citizens who are out of work refuse to take coffee picking jobs because they would rather keep their welfare payments.
Conclusion
Kona Coffee consumers can expect:
• Some Kona Coffee brands will disappear
• Higher prices for Kona Coffee brands that survive
• Coffee rotting on the trees after ICE raids
• Possible criminal sanctions for employing undocumented workers for some farmers
• More news reports of long-term undocumented residents being split from their citizen families
