My family and I have had the fortunate experience of visiting the Island of Hawai'i, or what is colloquially known as the Big Island, for the last two years during spring break. Maybe it was just the fact that I was on vacation in a tropical paradise, but I enjoyed one of the best steaks of my life at the Volcano House in Hawai'i Volcano National Park in March 2022.

Normally, I don’t eat beef on an island vacation because I’ve been spoiled by Midwestern grain-fed beef for years, but my wife snagged the last seafood special that evening. So, I settled for the beef filet, which isn’t my typical go-to steak. I braced myself for a bad steak, especially after seeing how the steak was cut out of the head of the tenderloin, but my implicit assumptions were immediately challenged after the first bite. I then passed the steak to my wife for validation. She confirmed my response by asking for another bite. The umami was palpable. The beef also had a distinct flavor unlike anything I have ever tasted, and I surmised that like the Big Island’s coffee, the grass that grew in the mineral-rich volcanic soil imparted a distinct flavor profile to the cattle. I immediately grilled the server for information, and he informed me that the beef was sourced from Paniolo Cattle Company, which is owned by Parker Ranch. I was intrigued, but we didn’t have enough time to add any additional stops on our visit. When we returned to the Big Island this year, my wife made it a priority to visit Parker Ranch, travel cattle country, and find out more about the cattle and beef industries on the Island of Hawai'i.

As the name suggests, the Big Island is the largest of the eight principal islands in the Hawaiian archipelago, but it is also one of the most unique places in the world because it is home to five volcanoes, one of which, Mauna Loa, is the largest volcano on the planet and is considered one of the most active in the world. The Big Island also has several different ecosystems because of the rain shadow effect caused by the elevation of two massive volcanoes, Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. Cattle are mostly raised in the area known as Waimea near the northwestern part of the island, but they have always had a presence on the island since British Royal Navy Captain George Vancouver provided Hawaiian King Kamehameha I (1795-1819) with six cows and a bull in 1793. King Kamehameha built a pasture of 400 acres for the animals and protected them and their offspring from harvest by enacting the law of kapu, or “forbidden” or “off limits.”

But by the early 19th century, the cattle became so pervasive on the island that they destroyed much of the natural habitat of Hawai'i, along with crops and gardens. In this way, the presence of feral cattle presented a problem for Hawai'i’s culture of sustainability, especially for an island community that had limited resources. King Kamehameha I’s son, Liholiho (later King Kamehameha II), started small scale cattle harvest operation to reduce the feral herd, but their method of driving cattle into pits was not particularly effective.

In 1815, John Palmer Parker, a transplant of Massachusetts, met King Kamehameha I, and the king engaged Parker to shoot the wild cattle with a new American-made musket. Parker quickly helped resolve the problem. Shortly thereafter, he married Kamehameha’s granddaughter, Chiefess Kipikane, and as a wedding gift Kamehameha I provided them with two acres of land on the slopes of Mauna Kea. In 1819, Kamehameha II succeeded to the throne after his father’s death, and the new king ended kapu on cattle. Kamehameha II died in 1824 and was succeeded by his brother, Kamehameha III. The latter Kamehameha formed a constitutional monarchy and allowed the purchase of land by private individuals, including Parker. Parker founded his eponymous ranch in 1847 and continued to purchase land or lease land from the king with acquisitions in 1850 and 1851. I should note that the founding of Parker Ranch predated many other American ranches started in the American West by at least 25 years. The Parker family continued to expand ranching operations through the 19th century, and cattle, beef, and cattle byproducts were among the important exports of Hawai'i. At 133,000 acres, Parker Ranch is the largest ranch in the United States.

Kamehameha III also recognized the value of the cattle and beef industries to the Hawaiian economy, so he invited Spanish-Mexican vaqueros, or cowboys, to the islands to help teach Hawaiians the art of the cowboying, ranching, tanning, processing, and horseback riding. The paniolos, a Hawaiian mispronunciation of the word español, became a crucial part of the operations and heritage of the beef and cattle industry in Hawai'i.

Today, most Hawaiian calves are exported to the continental United States because several feed lot operations closed in the early 1990s, making cattle the third-largest exported commodity of the state. However, it is apparent that there is a resurgent demand for local, Hawaiian beef that is sustainable and resonates with the Hawaiian tradition of self-sufficiency. Several factors are at play: According to a University of Hawai'i Extension survey, 63% of island consumers prefer Hawaiian beef. In 2011, the Hawai'i Cattle Producers Cooperative Association started Hawai'i Ranchers Hawai'i Country Beef, whereby calves were shipped to Oregon, fed out, processed, and the steaks and sub-primals were sent back to the Aloha State. But large tracts of land also started becoming more readily available in Hawai’i so that ranchers could avoid the additional cost inputs of transportation. Beginning in 2008, the pineapple and sugar industries cut back land for planting operations, thereby making more pasture available for cattle operations. The additional grassland initiated a conversation about best practices, which were strongly informed by growing calls for culturally appropriate and sustainable cattle management strategies. In 2020, the Hawai'i Cattlemen’s Council released a roadmap, Hawaii Grass-fed Beef Quality Standards, to assist ranchers in marketing their beef. The Council recommended developing a label to point out the attributes of Hawaiian grass-fed beef and the sustainable ways in which Hawaiian ranchers have been raising cattle for years.

The plan to raise and market local, Hawaiian beef is clearly working. Hotels and resorts feature Hawaiian beef on their menus, introducing tourists to the island’s rich history of cattle production. Grocery stores such as Safeway advertise local, Hawaiian beef. The beef cattle industry in the Aloha State is also bucking trends of herd liquidation and contraction when compared to the mainland. Whereas the USDA reported a national cattle herd decline in 2021 by 2%, Hawai'i’s cattle herd, according to a September 2022 report published by the Hawaiian Department of Agriculture, increased 1.4%. Calve marketings and commercial cattle meat production also increased 3.7%, respectively, in 2021 in the state.

The increased herd size and marketings in Hawaii might be the direct result of increased shipping costs in 2021 and 2022 to the mainland, but one thing is clear: What Hawaiian ranchers have been doing with their beef cattle since the 19th century in the face of limited resources is remarkable. Their key management practices and focus on raising beef sustainably is clearly reflected in the quality of their beef, which is why when we returned to the Volcano House this year, I did not even ask for the seafood special; I ordered the ribeye steak. It, too, did not disappoint.

Aloha at First Bite: The Beef Industry on the Island of Hawai’i

Join for free* to continue reading.