Farming to expand on Punaluu land

Kamehameha Schools is expanding food production on land it owns in Puna­luu as part of an effort to improve management and use of its vast agricultural property holdings.

Hawaii’s largest private landowner said Thursday it is creating an agriculture park, which it has named Puna­lu‘u Ahu­pua‘a Farms, where plots from two to 10 acres will be available for rent.

The plan represents an initiative to significantly increase food production on the site, where farmers already grow a variety of crops including bananas, tomatoes, squash, betel leaf and taro on 80 acres.

Kamehameha Schools said it will add another 140 acres to the park over the next two years for a total of 220 acres.

So far, three new tenants have agreed to farm some of the expanded area, including Ikaika Bishop, a second-generation Koolau Loa farmer who plans to establish an organic farm producing taro, vegetables, fruits and tilapia on five acres.

"I’m extremely grateful for this opportunity," Bishop said in a statement. He said irrigation infrastructure, security and common area maintenance provided by Kamehameha Schools helped make his farm plan viable.

The trust hasn’t set general rental rates for plots. Instead, farmers may submit business plan proposals, and rent will be based in part on farm plans selected by the trust, according to Kamehameha Schools spokes­woman Kau‘i Burgess.

Kamehameha Schools is the largest private lessor of agricultural land in Hawaii, with 800 tenant agreements.

The trust owns about 365,000 acres statewide, about half of which is agricultural land.

In 2009 the trust adopted a strategic plan to optimize use of that land and firmly position itself as an agricultural leader in Hawaii.

The plan — which includes goals to increase Hawaii’s supply of locally grown food, to restore traditional Native Hawaiian farming systems and to promote renewable energy production — represents what Kamehameha Schools calls a "bold stake in the ground" transforming the trust from passive land management to active engagement and stewardship connected to farming.

In Punaluu the trust owns about 3,600 acres that make up nearly all of the ahu­puaa, or uplands-to-sea land division. The property had been leased for nearly 100 years to entities that used the area to grow sugar cane and diversified crops as well as cattle ranching. Kamehameha Schools assumed direct management of the property in 2000.

More recently the trust published a conceptual plan for the Puna­luu ahu­puaa that includes the farm expansion under way now. Other pieces of the plan include an agricultural processing complex, a farmers market, stream stewardship, flood mitigation and archaeological surveys.