Hawaii’s fresh milk supply appears as though it might go down in connection with a planned sale of one of the two remaining large dairy farms in the state, though the deal would also lead to a new supply of organic local cheese, yogurt and butter.

Cloverleaf Dairy on Hawaii island plans to sell its operations to another experienced dairy farmer, Kees Kea of Mauna Kea Moo, who has been laying groundwork in recent years to establish a farm producing cheese and other dairy products.

The proposed sale is outlined in a state Department of Land and Natural Resources report prepared for the agency’s board, which would have to consent to a sale that involves transferring Cloverleaf’s lease for 880 acres of state land.

Kea did not return requests for comment on the planned $2 million acquisition.

Ed Boteilho Jr., Cloverleaf’s owner, reserved comment because the deal is pending.

Cloverleaf has struggled to stay in business since the state Board of Agriculture voted in July 2015 to relax minimum wholesale milk prices paid to local dairy farmers after milk processor Meadow Gold Dairies threatened to quit buying local milk unless the change was made. The change produced a 23 percent cut in the price of wholesale milk.

Meadow Gold, an affiliate of Texas-based Dean Foods, said it couldn’t sustain paying significantly more for local milk than imported milk.

Boteilho last year said he would be forced to go out of business without the minimum price support, and he has been looking to sell his operation, which last year included 13 employees and about 700 cows.

“A price like this means — and they all know it — there’s no chance I can survive, not in the long run,” he said last year in response to the price change.

Ulupono Initiative, a local investment firm that is funded by billionaire eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and is working to establish a dairy on Kauai, explored buying Cloverleaf last year, but no deal was made.

The other major dairy in Hawaii is Big Island Dairy LLC. It has been expanding operations under a model that produces its own feed for cows, and didn’t have a problem with the minimum milk price being relaxed.

Kea, who plans to buy Cloverleaf, has a 30-year-or-so history in dairy farming, according to DLNR.

He and his wife, Malena, moved from the Netherlands to work on an Oregon dairy farm that they eventually bought from Malena’s father. Around 2003 the Keas moved to Hawaii after investing in Island Dairy Inc. on Hawaii island. Kees Kea managed the dairy for five years but then parted ways with other owners after disagreements over operations. Island Dairy was later sold and is now Big Island Dairy.

Mauna Kea Moo produced an environmental report on another dairy farm in which Kees Kea laid out a plan to help reverse the loss of local dairies that up until 1985 supplied 100 percent of Hawaii’s milk supply.

The beginning of that decline was kicked off by a consumer backlash in 1982 when heptachlor was found in milk from cows eating tops of pineapple treated with the pesticide.

Mainland milk began flowing in 1985, and more Hawaii dairies began shutting down in the face of pressures that included rising feed costs and farms moving to marginal land because of urban development.

Since 1999 eight Hawaii dairy farms closed. The last on Oahu was Pacific Dairy in Waianae, which folded in 2008. Today imported milk represents about 80 percent of what is consumed in Hawaii, according to the state Department of Agriculture.

Kea’s plan for Mauna Kea Moo is to make cheese and other dairy products under The Dutch Hawaiian Cheesery name on a Hawaii island farm with about 600 cows.

”The long-term goal is to have several small dairies start up on the island, all shipping milk to Meadow Gold or The Cheesery and receiving a decent payout for all their hard work so they can not only survive but enjoy life as well,” the 2011 environmental report said. “Our goal is to change this downward spiral to an upswing bringing back the small thriving family farm to Hawaii.”

Kea acquired a lease from DLNR for 1,400 acres of former sugar cane plantation land in 2014, and has been working to establish the farm and convert a greenhouse in Honokaa into a production and retail outlet for cheese, butter, yogurt and ice cream, according to DLNR reports.

Kea plans to produce organic cheese, yogurt and butter once the facilities are ready. Until then Cloverleaf’s operations producing milk for drinking would be continued.