Normally, state law mandates a public auction when leases for state-owned lands come up for re-negotiation, or when a former lessee vacates the acreage. So, how was Gay & Robinson, the island’s only remaining sugar plantation, allowed to take over
Normally, state law mandates a public auction when leases for state-owned lands come up for re-negotiation, or when a former lessee vacates the acreage.
So, how was Gay & Robinson, the island’s only remaining sugar plantation, allowed to take over more than 4,000 acres of state land formerly planted by Kekaha Sugar without a public auction being held?
The answer, apparently, is as simple as A-D-C.
That’s the Agribusiness Development Corporation, a state agency with its own state funding and the power to bypass auction requirements and negotiate directly with, in this case, current users of around 6,000 acres of state land in Kekaha managed by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
The ADC was formed in 1994 to facilitate and provide direction for the transition of Hawai’i’s agriculture industry from sugar and pineapple to one composed of a diversity of different crops.
The mission of the ADC is to provide leadership and advocacy for the conversion of agribusiness into a dynamic growth industry through the use of financial and other tools enabled by the founding legislation for the pursuit of specific projects to achieve the legislative objectives.
The ADC at the request of DLNR is managing the Kekaha lands, in part because ADC has powers enabling it to negotiate leases directly with current users and bypass public-auction requirements normally required for DLNR leases, said Alfredo Lee, ADC executive director.
Currently, ADC is negotiating lease rents with a cooperative of west Kaua’i agricultural entities led by G&R that includes the Ceatech shrimp farm, farmers of diversified crops like papaya, and others already working the acreage, according to Lee.
The DLNR controls around 14,000 acres in the Kekaha area, and the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands has about the same amount.
Amfac Sugar Kaua’i’s Kekaha Sugar Company leased much of that 28,000 acres until the plantation closed in 2000.
Lee said only between 7,000 and 8,000 acres of the Kekaha Sugar lands are farmable, with around 6,000 of those acres managed by DLNR.
G&R won the right to take over 4,000 acres of the farmable former Kekaha Sugar lands from DLNR when Amfac abandoned them near the end of 2000, after Amfac announced it was getting out of the sugar business on Kaua’i.
The state Board of Land and Natural Resources approved a right of entry to the property for G&R in December 2000. This enabled the plantation to try to salvage a sugar crop Amfac already had in the ground that was no longer being irrigated or cultivated.
Efforts were unsuccessful to reach G&R manager Alan Kennett for comment. Earlier, though, Kennett said G&R needed the additional acreage in order to grow and mill more sugar in order to approach profitability.
Lee said that the ADC takes its land management function seriously. “We are managing some very valuable assets for the state,” and the agency wants to allow current users to continue working the land while providing lease revenues for the state.
Guided by a statewide board, the agency has taken lead roles in everything from the Kekaha land lease negotiations to more volatile items like the Waiahole Ditch water-use controversy in windward O’ahu.
Allan A. Smith of Grove Farm had been the Kaua’i representative on the ADC board, but resigned due to increased commitments on Kaua’i. Wayne Katayama of Kilauea Agronomics has been nominated by Gov. Ben Cayetano to replace Smith. That nomination still requires confirmation by the state Senate.
In the meantime, Katayama has been attending ADC board meetings on O’ahu, Lee said.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
