International competition and retirements are decreasing the number of commercial orchid growers in Hawaii.
“I do have concerns for the commercial orchid growers, not in the next few years, but in the next decade,” said Elton Mow, president of the Orchid Growers Association of Hawaii and chair of the research and education committee of the Hawaii Floriculture and Nursery Association.
International competition is tough and getting tougher, industry insiders say. Growers say some of their peers are leaving, or in danger of leaving, the market. Hawaii, they say, needs to reinvent the orchid industry through hybridization of new orchids — and marketing — to keep it sustainable.
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