Water Needs for Sustainable Taro Culture in Hawai'i

Taro is a spiritual and nutritional center of Hawaiian culture, and the future of sustainable taro culture in Hawai 'i depends upon water. Water needs for expanded wetland and dryland field systems can be filled if physical and institutional changes are made. Potential for making such changes grows as agroeconomic alternatives for taro-based farming systems expand. While lands historically used for wetland taro cultivation hold strongly protected water rights, their water needs and those of other taro-producing lands continue to be strongly denied