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  A farm in Maui                       Ben Reierson/Flickr    

A new law in Hawaii could have a surprisingly big impact on the future of genetically modified food.

On November 4, voters in Maui County approved a ballot initiative that puts a moratorium on new plantings of genetically engineered crops in Maui and Molokai until the county conducts a thorough public health and environmental assessment and deems the crops safe.

The law could bring much GMO research on the islands to a standstill – possibly for quite some time. A company that tried to test a new field of Bt sweet corn, modified for pest resistance, could now face up to $50,000 in daily fines. (The law has an exception for crops that are in mid-growth cycle, so current cultivation doesn’t need to cease immediately.)

Why does that matter? These islands turn out to be fairly important for GMO research. Hawaii has the rare property of being both a) in the United States (which means there are relatively permissive rules for GMO research compared to other countries) and b) in a tropical climate (which allows for up to three plantings a year, speeding up the research process). “Almost any corn seed sold in the U.S. touches Hawaii somewhere,” one biotech executive told The New York Times back in 2013.

Now, Maui and Molokai aren’t the only islands on Hawaii where GMO research is happening, but they’re two key ones. And other parts of Hawaii have been discussing similar restraints on GMO farming recently. Companies that conduct field trials in Maui, including Monsanto and Dow Chemical, are planning to challenge the new moratorium in court. But if that doesn’t work, they could take a big hit – or be forced to shift operations elsewhere.