There’s a part of Hawaiʻi that most visitors—and even many residents—never see. It lies beyond beaches and busy towns, tucked up rocky mauka roads and behind farm gates. Here, the sun rises on the slopes of Mauna Loa, and the landscape hums with quiet purpose.
These are the working lands of Hawaiʻi Island’s farmers, ranchers and beekeepers—a place where beauty and utility meet, and where a little-known beekeeping community quietly impacts the world.
Leandra Rouse grew up in this world. The daughter of Kona queen breeders, she spent her childhood in these beeyards and felt inspired to capture their story through The Kona Beekeeper Legacy Project—a museum exhibit and documentary. The project began as a birthday tribute to her father, but as Leandra dug into her research, she uncovered a broader community story worth sharing. The story of beekeeping in Hawai’i is one of innovation and kuleana across industries.
For close to a year, Leandra researched Hawaiʻi Island beekeepers, focusing on queen bees. Kona’s mild climate, protected by Mauna Loa, creates ideal conditions for year-round breeding and is a key reason it is home to some of the largest queen breeding operations in the world. Around 25% of the hives in the continental U.S. are run by queens raised in Kona.
In a year when continental beekeepers lost up to 70% of their hives due to colony collapse, Hawaiʻi’s role in global food security has never been more important. Healthy hives are essential not just for honey, but for pollinating crops like almonds, apples and avocados—about one-third of the foods that fill our plates. Hawaiʻi is uniquely positioned to supply the queens needed to rebuild weakened colonies. Queens bred in Kona are shipped across the continent and world, quietly sustaining pollination systems that keep grocery shelves stocked. From this small Pacific corner comes extraordinary influence over what ends up on dinner tables thousands of miles away.
Kona also produces distinctive single-flower organic honeys from vast, unsprayed forests of ʻŌhiʻa, kiawe and Christmas berry. Each reflects Hawaiʻi’s diverse ecosystems—kiawe, smoky and mineral like the lava fields it grows in; ʻŌhiʻa, with herbal sweetness; Christmas berry, bright with a spicy finish. Harvested from remote areas, these honeys are as place-driven as wine.
Another defining feature of Hawaiʻi’s beekeeping culture is the kokua-based relationships between beekeepers and farmers. On the mainland, farmers typically pay beekeepers for pollination. In Hawaiʻi, the exchange is rooted in trust and mutual benefit: farmers gain free pollination, and beekeepers rely on access to farmland. “These relationships are built on history, integrity and mutual support,” Leandra explains. “Beekeepers here depend on landowners, as 90% of their operations run on other people’s land.”
To bring the story to life, Leandra partnered with her friend and renowned nature photographer Andrew Richard Hara to create a vibrant, 10-minute documentary showcasing the beeyards she knew as a child. Filmed over two days in South Kona, the short features beekeepers, ranchers, farmers and scientists speaking to the labor, science and joy of working with bees. It’s a visual tour of South Kona coffee farms, ranches and the morning buzz of a beeyard coming alive at sunrise—honeybees and humans both hard at work at their specialized jobs.
Through aerial footage and macro shots inside hives, Hara’s cinematography captures both the big picture and the intricate details. A Hilo native, his work has appeared in National Geographic, NASA and The New York Times—but he always makes time for community-based stories. The documentary can be seen at the traveling exhibit or streamed on PBS Hawaiʻi.
The film also highlights the diverse faces of those who work in this industry—the men and women whose dusty bee trucks travel Hawaiʻi Island’s roads. It brings their dedication and craft into view. Beekeepers in the film speak of “bee fever”—a lifelong fascination with the insects that drives their careers. “With queen breeding, you never do the same thing twice,” says beekeeper JR Gasbar. “If you think you’ve figured it out, you’re wrong—the next hive will be different.”
As part of the museum exhibit, Leandra’s research uncovered forgotten Kona stories. One surprising find was a connection to astronaut Ellison Onizuka. The exhibit features a 1900s-era honey extractor that belonged to his great-uncle, which Onizuka used as a boy in a local beekeeping club. Another story is of Enzo Kobayashi & Sons, early honey producers in Kainaliu who supplied honey to Mrs. Teshima for making ʻŌkolehao during Prohibition. These stories are now preserved in the Kona Historical Society archives and are among Leandra’s favorite parts of the project. “It felt so special to piece together and preserve these lost stories for Kona,” she says.
The exhibit recently completed a four-month run at the Kona Historical Society and will reopen in spring 2026 at Anna Ranch Heritage Center in Waimea. The next phase will more deeply explore the tie between ranching and beekeeping—a connection dating back to 1852, when the Royal Hawaiian Agricultural Society offered $10 for the successful introduction of honeybees to support crop pollination for cattle feed.
The Kona Beekeeper Legacy Project is more than an exhibit or a film—it’s a celebration of our agricultural history and impact on U.S. food systems. From the volcanic slopes of Hawai’i Island, our beekeepers continue their quiet global influence.
To learn more, support, or volunteer with the exhibit, visit HistoryOfKonaBeekeeping.com.
Leandra Rouse is the daughter of Gus Rouse, a retired Queen Bee Producer from Kona.
As a lifelong resident of Hawai'i Island, deeply rooted in its rich agricultural history, she has always been fascinated by the unsung heroes of our farming ecosystem: the honey bees. Inspired by her parents’ lifelong passion for beekeeping and significant contributions to the industry in Kona, she embarked on a journey to uncover the fascinating story of honeybees in Kona. All in time to celebrate her father's 75th birthday.
Over the past year, she documented this Kona agricultural history by gathering oral histories, producing a 10-minute documentary, and developing an interactive museum exhibit hosted in partnership with the Kona Historical Society.
With queen breeding, you never do the same thing twice.
Beekeepers here depend on landowners, as 90% of their operations run on other people’s land.