On the green and rolling south shore of Hawaii's Maui Island last week, a huge new doughnut-shaped machine ground into action. It swallowed up thousands of chunks of sugar cane in its maw, and by swirling them through a bath of warm water for nearly an hour, extracted an unprecedented 97% of the sugar from the cane. If the machine continues to perform as well as expected, says Harold Eichelberger, president of American Factors, Ltd., its owner, "I doubt that anyone will ever again build another sugar mill." The sugar business, long Hawaii's basic industry, is not the only...
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