1,743-acre buy likely to boost local farming

The state and a nonprofit organization have finalized the $25 million purchase of one of Oahu’s largest tracts of undeveloped land in a move expected to significantly expand food production and make Hawaii more self-sufficient.

The deal for 1,743 acres of George Galbraith Estate land was completed with a number of parties and the nonprofit Trust for Public Land, which raised funds for the acquisition, according to an announcement Monday by Bishop Street Commercial, a brokerage firm hired by estate trustee Bank of Hawaii. The estate has roughly 600 beneficiaries.

The former pineapple plantation lands near Wahiawa, zoned for agricultural use, will be made available for lease to local farmers, said Matt Bittick, president and chief executive of Bishop Street Commercial. Bittick and Skip Schuman of Bishop Street Commercial were the agents representing the seller.

The Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit devoted to land conservation, says on its website that Hawaii imports 85 to 90 percent of its food, largely due to substantial agricultural land being rezoned for development.

"A disruption in the islands’ transportation corridors, whether by hurricane or other natural disaster, would leave the vulnerable state with just two weeks’ worth of food supplies," the trust said. "The (Galbraith) property could be a game-changer for the future of agriculture in Hawaii."

Lea Hong, state director for the Trust for Public Land in Hawaii, refused to comment Monday on the details of the transaction until a news conference scheduled for today at the state Capitol.

But Hong wrote in an email to the Star-Advertiser last month that "many, many organizations and individuals have been involved in this effort for decades." The deal gives 1,200 acres to the state Department of Agriculture’s Agribusiness Development Corp., whose mission is to acquire and manage land in partnership with farmers, ranchers and aquaculture groups to diversify agriculture, she said.

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs, an independent state agency that owns 27,000 acres of mostly conservation land, received in the transaction another 500 acres near the Kuka­ni­loko Birthstones State Historic Site, one of Oahu’s most significant cultural sites, where famous Hawaiian chiefs were born.

Larry Jefts, who owns the local Sugarland Growers brand and operates several thousand acres of farmland throughout the islands, said the purchase sends a positive signal about the state’s commitment to produce its own food.

"The population in the world is going to move from about 7 billion to 8 billion in the next 25 or 30 years," said Jefts, who hopes to lease some of the plots from the state. "Producing your own food is a very critical component of that. The ability to feed ourselves in case of natural disaster — it’s an important security issue, an important economic issue, and it’s just a (strategically) good thing to do."

State lawmakers set aside $13 million in general obligation bonds to acquire the plots after a 2007 development deal fell through, and the Trust for Public Land raised the remaining $12 million.

The U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii Department of Defense Readiness and Environmental Protection Initiative contributed $4.5 million, Hong told the Star-Advertiser last month. An article in the Wall Street Journal in November said the Army will use the land as a "buffer between development and its nearby Schofield Barracks." Another $4 million came from the City and County of Hono­lulu Clean Water & Natural Lands Program, while OHA contributed $3 million. A private donor gave the remaining $500,000 through the Trust for Public Land, Hong added.

The seller, Bank of Hawaii as trustee for the estate, declined comment.

"This is a solution that gives the beneficiaries substantial value and gives the people of Hawaii substantial value if the land can be held in agriculture," said Ian Lind, whose 98-year-old mother, Helen, is one of the roughly 600 Galbraith beneficiaries. "For so many years the trusts’ lease of lands to corporate farming really didn’t produce anything for the beneficiaries. That’s why a deal like this, that wasn’t at a fire-sale price, but affects the public interest as well, seems like a real win-win. If things go as envisioned, it becomes a resource that can replace some important ag lands that have been lost to development."