After the closure of Molokai Ranch and the departure of ATA and Aloha airlines the latest challenge to Hawaii’s economy comes from Mother Nature – vog.

Ever since a new volcanic vent formed at Halemaumau Crater on the Big Island in mid-March the Aloha state has been battling a mixture of volcanic gas, dust and sunlight - or vog – especially on days when Hawaii’s normal trade wind pattern is interrupted.

The vog has hit leafy vegetable farmers and tropical flower growers especially hard according to Dean Okimoto, the president of the Hawaii Farm Bureau and owner of Nalo Farms in Waimanalo. “You got problems with burn,” said Okimoto. “Sulfur dioxide right? So we're getting leaf burn.”

Workers at Okimoto’s 3.5 acre farm have already thrown away three plantings because of the voggy conditions and have had to pick some crops early. Okimoto says rain also presents a problem because the sulfur dioxide is brought down on the plants.

The vog also prevents workers at Nalo Farms from watering or spraying for insects. “If you got a bug problem,” says Okimoto, “and the vog comes in, you can't spray and you can't water overhead for the bugs because you bring the particles down onto your plants and that's just going to burn it too.”

Flower growers are also suffering loses and the setbacks are occurring just before the profitable graduation season when parents and friends snap-up fragrant leis for high school and college students. “The most impact for us has been on the real fragrant local flowers like your tuberous or your ginger,” said Monty Pereira of Watanabe Floral.

Pereira, who deals directly with flower growers across the state, says the decreased sunlight from vog affects how certain flowers grow. He says the soot that continues to fall also hinders how long a flower lasts.

Some protea farmers in Ocean View on the Big Island have seen nearly their entire crop wiped out. “From what we're seeing my guess would be from 25 to 30 percent of their crops are not being as productive as normal in what is a critical month for all of us,” said Pereira, the sales and marketing manager for Watanabe.

While farmers and flower growers try to adjust as best they can to the voggy conditions, Hawaii tourism officials are not concerned. Rex Johnson, the president of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, says the agency is not planning any promotional campaigns to combat any bad publicity the vog has generated on the U.S. Mainland. “When the trade winds come back it’ll all blow away,” he said.

But San Francisco resident Rachel Dowson, who was taking surf lessons in Waikiki Thursday, believes some visitors may get the wrong impression about the vog. She said an ad campaign educating tourists about the haziness that has plagued parts of the state in the past several weeks might not be a bad idea.

“For anyone who’s out of town and doesn't know what's going on then yeah, that might be a good thing to do,” she said. Others like Sean Murdoch of Grand Rapids, Michigan believes the vog won’t deter many people from coming to Hawaii.

“Being from Michigan there's a lot more sun here than there is there, so a few clouds here and there really didn't bother me all that much,” he said.

Big Island Mayor Harry Kim says the new vent that formed at Halemaumau shows no signs of stopping and officials will be tracking the effects the vog is having on farm and ranch operations.

Andrew may be reached at apereira@khon2.com or ph. 591-4263.