Kaua`i Council Member Gary Hooser is working on a plan to transform a potential forest into small, independent farms. Hooser said he begun discussions with local businessman Bill Cowern – of Hawaiian Mahogany – to possibly help displaced Amfac workers
Kaua`i Council Member Gary Hooser is working on a plan to transform a potential forest into small, independent farms.
Hooser said he begun discussions with local businessman Bill Cowern – of Hawaiian Mahogany – to possibly help displaced Amfac workers and other interested local residents obtain their own small farms.
“He (Cowern) has a master lease on a lot of the Knudsen estate lands,” Hooser said. “Much of that (land) is already in forestry projects, but some (other) of those lands will be unplanted for 10 to 15 years.
Cowern’s company grows trees and harvests them for various products.
But Cowern is willing to put up some of the unforested land for farms at low cost, long-term leases, according to Hooser.
The two discussed using some of those parcels for small farms for at least 10 years, according to the council member.
Hooser said the plan was in its earliest stages.
“It’s in the conceptual stages right now. We’re trying to work with different agencies,” Hooser said. “There’s a (agricultural) training program at Kaua`i Community College. And the Kaua`i Business Assistance Corporation works with young people, – an advantage since (both) those training programs are already in place “We have to determine the feasibility of all these people working to together,” Hooser noted.
Hooser said the program, which is not affiliated with the county council, will need management if it does go forward.
“Either a government agency or a private, non-profit will have to step forward to manage the program,” he said.
Hooser said the training would have to be more than simply learning farm work.
“It’s one thing to train a person to work on a farm. But this (expanded) training would be great for an individual if that person really wanted to own their own small farm,” Hooser said.
Hooser said although he, Cowern and others were still working on the details for the proposed program, one plan they had already discussed was tying the individual lease/rents to the success of the farms.
Another part of the project is to attempt to tie the entire operation to the Kaua`i Food Bank’s Hui Mea`ai program, which sells produce grown by local farmers to local stores and restaurants.
“On the surface, it appears that many key elements for the success of the (tentatively titled) “New Farmers Project,” are already in place. It’s also clear however that significant work must still be done to determine the project’s viability, locate a managing entity and secure necessary funding,” Hooser stated.
Staff writer Dennis Wilken can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) and dwilken@pulitzer.net
