Hawaiʻi Coffee Association names Abigail Munoz executive director to advance industry plan

Hawaiʻi coffee growers are trying to turn a steep production decline into a stronger market strategy, and the association that represents Kona and Kaʻū businesses has chosen a new leader to help make that happen.

The Hawaiʻi Coffee Association unanimously elected Abigail Munoz of Monarch Coffee as its new executive director after board members spent three days in January on a strategic-planning session led by Lee Safar with Map It Forward. The association represents coffee growers, processors, retailers and service providers across the islands, and its mission is to build education, communication and shared goals that support the long-term profitability of Hawaiʻi coffee.

For Hawaiʻi Island, the appointment lands at a crucial moment. USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service estimated Hawaiʻi’s 2023-2024 coffee production at 16.9 million pounds, down 26% from the previous season, with bearing acreage at 7,300 acres and utilized production value at $48.2 million. The state has said weather disruptions, invasive pests and diseases, wildfires and labor shortages all squeezed the crop.

Those pressures are already familiar in Kona and Kaʻū, where growers face competition not just on quality but on branding, consistency and labor. University of Hawaiʻi extension materials identify coffee berry borer as the most economically important coffee pest in the world, a reminder that pest management remains central to the industry’s future even as coffee leaf rust and other threats continue to demand attention.

Munoz’s role is meant to turn the association’s planning work into action. Map It Forward says the strategic-planning project includes community input and stakeholder interviews, signaling an effort to build the industry plan from the ground up rather than impose it from the top down. HCA President Ryson Nakamasu said the board was aligned and ready to serve the coffee community.

The market side of the story is just as significant. A Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture analysis says Hawaiʻi green coffee averaged $27.42 per pound in export value in 2024, with Japan as the largest export market. That premium depends on more than farm quality alone; it also rests on labels, marketing, shipping coordination and the ability of the industry to present a unified identity in specialty coffee markets.

Munoz already has ties to that competitive world. Monarch Coffee says it entered the Hawaiʻi Coffee Association’s statewide cupping competition in 2018 for the first time and won Grand Champion and First Place with a washed Gesha, while another Gesha placed in the top three. That competition drew more than 100 farms from across the islands and has long served as both a quality showcase and an industry gathering point.

For an industry built on reputation as much as production, the association’s new executive director will be judged on whether planning turns into stronger farms, better coordination and a more durable place for Hawaiʻi coffee in the global market.