The Steelgrass Institute fosters intellectual inquiry into both practical and abstract topics by sponsoring scholarly and scientific research. Entomology In support of the farm's efforts to establish a home-grown chocolate industry on Kauai, since 2008 The Institute has conducted ongoing scientific research into the insect predators and pollinators of theobroma cacao, the chocolate tree. A report of some of this research has been published in a peer-reviewed journal, Pacific Agriculture and Natural Resources (G. K. Smith, E. Gering, T. Lydgate et al., 2009: Theobroma cacao L. (Malvaceae) Agroecology in Kauai: A Case Study. Pac. Agric. Nat. Resour. 1: 21-26.) Additional research summaries are reproduced below. Steelgrass Institute scholars are also engaged in work on scientific approaches to the understanding of consciousness, particularly the way in which brain chemistry influences the form and content of our dreams. The Institute plans to host a series of conferences on consciousness at Steelgrass Farm beginning in 2012. Cacao Research 2009-10 (pdf) Cacao Research 2011_(Word Document)