In 1895, the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association (HSPA) was founded. The HSPA, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, is dedicated to improving the sugar industry in Hawaii, has become an internationally recognized research center.

Its name changed in 1996 to Hawaii Agriculture Research Center (HARC) to reflect its expanding scope to encompass research in forestry, coffee, forage, vegetable crops, tropical fruits, and many other diversified crops in addition to sugarcane. HARC specializes in horticultural crop research including agronomy and plant nutrition, plant physiology, breeding, genetic engineering and tissue culture, and control of diseases and pests through integrated pest management.