The land of Āhualoa differs from many other parts of Hawaii in that it was never used for either sugarcane plantations or large-scale cattle ranching. Instead, in the late 19th and early 20th century it was allocated to families of sugarcane workers as farm homesteads, and remains largely so today.
Āhualoa is distinct from other parts of Hawaii due to its history of being allocated to sugarcane worker families for farming rather than large-scale agricultural practices like sugar plantations or cattle ranching.