Greener pastures

The state’s largest private landowner is dipping its toes into a state program that provides incentives for protecting productive farmland for perpetual agricultural use.

Kamehameha Schools filed a petition with the state Land Use Commission earlier this month to designate 190 acres on Kauai as "important agricultural land" under laws created by the Legislature in 2005 and 2008 to preserve farmland.

The trust follows four other big Hawaii landowners — Alexander & Baldwin Inc., Parker Ranch, Castle & Cooke and Grove Farm Co. — that have sought and obtained so-called IAL designations for close to 100,000 acres statewide.

The 190 acres in the petition are split between the neighboring valleys of Luma­hai and Waipa near Hana­lei.

Kamehameha Schools said in its petition that both valleys have a long history of agriculture and that it is trying to increase food production and restore traditional Hawaiian agricultural systems on its lands as part of a strategic plan to make the trust an agricultural leader in Hawaii.

"The proposed IAL designation for the property furthers Kame­ha­meha Schools’ goals for its agricultural lands and is consistent with its statewide strategic plan," the petition said.

In Lumahai, rice and taro were grown from the 1860s until ranching largely replaced those crops in the 1930s, according to the petition. Since the 1990s, taro resumed being a primary agricultural use with pasture use.

The trust proposes IAL designation for 66 acres in Luma­hai licensed to a local family farm that grows taro on six acres and uses 37 acres as pasture. The tenant also grows beans, squash, sugar cane, papaya, bananas, ti leaf, pumpkin, chili pepper, fruit trees and heliconia, the petition said.

Kamehameha Schools said an additional 23 acres could be put into agricultural use, including six more acres of taro using the existing stream-fed water supply and with some irrigation ditch restoration.

In Waipa, taro was a traditional cultural crop that gave way to rice in the 1860s and then ranching in 1945, the petition said. Hawaiian Farmers of Hana­lei Inc. leased the land in 1986 to grow taro and later formed the nonprofit Waipa Foundation to manage the 1,600-acre ahupuaa, or mountain-to-sea tract, of Waipa owned by the trust.

Kamehameha Schools partnered with the foundation to expand farm operations and help establish educational facilities, and has proposed 124 acres as IAL in Luma­hai valley.

Current operations by Hawaiian Farmers of Hana­lei include 45 acres of pasture and 15 acres of crops that include taro, organic vegetables and a native plant nursery. The expansion plan envisions putting 34 more acres into diversified farming, the petition said.

Adjacent to the Waipa area proposed for IAL, the trust and the foundation plan to establish a school, worker housing, a campsite and food preparation facilities including a kitchen, poi mill and imu.

The Land Use Commission has yet to schedule a hearing on the petition, which typically receives comments from the state Department of Agriculture, the state Office of Planning and county officials.

Hawaii’s IAL program offers benefits to private landowners who voluntarily apply. Benefits include tax credits for investments in agriculture facilities, loan guarantees and placement of employee housing on farmland.

Kamehameha Schools spokes­man Kekoa Paulsen said such benefits would be available to the Luma­hai and Waipa farm tenants and that the trust encourages them to explore the opportunity.

One controversial benefit allows landowners to take 15 percent of the acreage designated and develop that amount of farmland for urban uses, including housing. However, all applicants to date, including Kame­ha­meha Schools, have waived this benefit.

The state Land Use Commission is charged with determining whether a private landowner who voluntarily seeks the IAL designation can get it.

In addition to owners volunteering their land for the designation, counties can produce their own recommendations for designations of public and private land. If a county designates private land as IAL, the owner does not get the benefits available to those who volunteer their land.

So far, Kauai County appears to have done the most work to identify land for IAL protection but has not completed the process. Kame­ha­meha Schools said 73 percent of the land in its IAL petition is within the county’s preliminary IAL maps.

As the biggest private landowner in the state, Kame­ha­meha Schools is expected to file more petitions under the IAL program, though Paulsen said it would be premature to specify a time frame or locations.

The trust owns 181,373 acres of agriculture land on five islands dominated by 160,935 acres on Hawaii island. The trust’s smallest ag land holdings are on Maui, with 1,200 acres, and Kauai, with 1,215 acres. The trust also owns 14,755 acres of agriculture land on Oahu and 3,270 acres on Molo­kai.

To date, about 100,000 acres have been voluntarily designated IAL, including about 57,000 acres of ranch land by Parker Ranch on Hawaii island, 11,000 acres by Grove Farm for a planned biofuel farm on Kauai, and about 30,000 acres by A&B used to grow sugar on Maui and coffee on Kauai.