Central America may be the original birthplace of corn, but Hawai'i for many years has been involved in the gestation of just about every corn plant grown from seed cultivated by the world's largest commercial seed producers.

If it's in the supermarket, fed to livestock or used to make fuel or other industrial products such as plastics and fiber, chances are the corn is from seeds at least partly developed in Hawai'i.

Corn seed companies have had a presence in Hawai'i for more than 40 years, initially as a home for winter nurseries. But advances in breeding work to give hybrid plants desirable traits helped grow the industry from $1 million in annual spending in the early 1970s to $10 million in the early 1990s.

In the past decade, industry growth has soared from about $30 million to $177 million last year as molecular breeding technology has became cheaper and faster, and more companies have set up or dramatically expanded local operations.

James Brewbaker, a professor of plant breeding and genetics at the University of Hawai'i, predicts that the state's seed crop industry could level off at $200 million to $250 million in annual spending — roughly the annual average value of sugar cane production in the 1980s before its precipitous decline.

"There is still a lot of growth that needs to happen," said Jonathan Bryant, managing director of plant science for BASF Corp., which is one of five global seed companies operating in the state.

LOW PROFILE

Despite being the state's top crop by production value, seed research has largely been a low-profile industry where consumers never see what's produced by the seed growers at the farmers market or the grocery store produce section.

The five seed companies — BASF, Dow AgroSciences, Monsanto, Pioneer Hi-Bred International and Syngenta — operate 10 farms on O'ahu, Maui, Moloka'i and Kaua'i.

Corn seed is the core product, though some of the companies also work with soybean, wheat, sunflower, rice, rapeseed and sorghum.

Seed production primarily involves studying plant genes and properties, breeding plants with desired genes both traditionally and using biotechnology, testing the resulting plants, and, finally, growing large quantities of favorable plants to produce parent seed that is sent to the Mainland for mass reproduction and sale to farmers.

The entire process from gene selection to corn planted in a farmer's field can take anywhere from one to seven or so years.

Hawai'i is optimal for much of this work because corn can be planted and raised to maturity three or four times in one year compared with only once on the Mainland, thereby speeding up the volume of research. Hawai'i also has more attractive political and economic stability than other places in the world with similar climates.

"We're able to get product to market quicker," said Laurie Goodwin, Hawai'i outreach manager with Syngenta. "That's a tremendous value when you're doing research and development."

The seed companies tailor seeds for specific climates, soil conditions and to be more suitable for everything from pest resistance and herbicide tolerance to nitrogen utilization and draught tolerance. Other traits include stalk strength, oil content, starch content and even enabling livestock to use more protein from feed corn they eat.

Combinations of traits, referred to in the industry as smart stacking, result in thousands of varieties of seed.

Most of the industry's work in Hawai'i over the past decade involved developing herbicide and pest-resistant corn plants. A newer area of research is focused on improving crop yields and tolerance to stresses such as drought, as pressures such as economics and global warming become greater on farming.

USING CHEMICALS

Some of this innovation, however, is opposed by environmental groups that say developing herbicide and pesticide-resistant crops encourages greater and more indiscriminate use of chemicals that aren't good for the environment.

Industry critics also believe genetically modified food can be harmful, and fear that genetically altered plant traits threaten the ecosystem if genes accidentally spread to other plants.

The Hawai'i Crop Improvement Association, a trade group for the seed industry, said 50 percent of seed industry breeding in the state involves genetic modification, which includes inserting genes into corn plants from other organisms. The industry said it takes great precaution to ensure traits are not spread to other plants, and notes that one benefit to conducting the work in Hawai'i is the isolation from other corn crops.

Paul Achitoff, an attorney with Earthjustice in Honolulu, said the seed industry discloses few details of the work it does, which makes it hard for the public to be informed about potentially dangerous research.

California-based Earthjustice in 2003 filed a federal lawsuit in Hawai'i seeking to halt field testing of crops genetically engineered to produce nonfood materials such as drugs or industrial chemicals.

The lawsuit led to a requirement for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to disclose where such biopharmaceutical crops are tested. Though four entities, including Monsanto and what is now a subsidiary of Syngenta, had permits for biopharmaceutical testing in Hawai'i, it was disclosed in 2005 that all such testing had been ceased.

Achitoff said permit data shows no biopharmaceutical tests have occurred since then. But identifying what kind of genes from what kind of organisms are being introduced to corn and other crops is often kept confidential for competitive reasons.

"They have guarded their secrecy to a remarkable degree," he said.

Another criticism of the seed industry is that it doesn't have the same value as other crops like coffee or tomatoes that are grown by farmers and bought by consumers.

The seed industry dethroned pineapple as the state's "biggest" crop in 2006 based on crop "value." But unlike other crops where the value is measured by sales, the seed industry is measured by operating expenses, excluding land purchases, because the seed produced isn't sold.

Operating expenses for other crops would be less than sales in profitable years, so the seed industry's ranking is not disputed. But Achitoff questions the value of an agribusiness that uses farmland and water but produces no food here.

"Virtually none of the product is staying in Hawai'i," he said, adding that seed research doesn't help Hawai'i improve its food self sufficiency.

The seed industry counters that it uses relatively little farmland compared with other crops and drastically less water than sugar cane, while providing higher-paying jobs.

EXPANSION MODE

According to a July study commissioned by the Hawai'i Farm Bureau Federation, 14 percent of the seed industry's jobs are in the high-tech sector, helping produce an average annual wage last year of $39,824, compared with $30,960 for the state's agricultural sector overall and $41,630 for all Hawai'i jobs.

Seed companies employed 1,863 people last year. That represented 23 percent of all agricultural jobs in the state, and compares with 1,100 for sugar cane and pineapple combined.

Also, the seed industry points out that Hawai'i agriculture overall has been in decline, and that seed research is helping keep farmland in farming and stem the downward trend of agriculture's contribution to the state economy.

"It's one bright spot in the economy," said Adolph Helm, head of local operations for Dow AgroSciences.

Dow AgroSciences earlier this year leased 3,400 acres of land from Gay & Robinson Inc., which is winding down sugar cane production on Kaua'i.

Dow, which conducts mostly research and development work on nearly 500 acres on Moloka'i with 50 employees, is expanding on Kaua'i to grow out dramatically more parent seed. Helm said the company expects to hire close to 20 full-time employees to start up, including some formerly with Gay & Robinson.

Growing out parent seed is also where Pioneer has recently expanded operations, according to Cindy Goldstein, the company's local business and community outreach manager.

Syngenta has been in expansion mode after buying 848 acres of former pineapple and sugar cane land in Kunia on O'ahu last year. The company is seeking to hire 30 full-time employees on Kaua'i at a job fair on Saturday.

BASF is the newest seed company to Hawai'i, setting up operations on Kaua'i in 2006. Bryant said the company uses about half of its nearly 1,000 acres and is putting more land into use every year.

Paul Koehler, scientific and community affairs manager for Monsanto in Hawai'i, said much of the industry growth comes from the seed companies trying to be more competitive with each other and provide the most attractive seeds to farmers.

"Like the technology for computers, cell phones and hybrid vehicles, everyone wants the latest and greatest widget," he said. "The seed industry is no different. There's a great deal of demand for improved plant genetics."