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After years of operating fairly autonomously — some say too stealthily — the Hawaii Agribusiness Development Corp. (ADC) is suddenly under the public spotlight again.
A lawsuit has been filed over ADC’s diversified-farming project on some 1,200 acres of former pineapple fields in Wahiawa, acreage that the state agency bought for $13 million in 2012 from the Galbraith Estate. The plaintiff, Ohana Best LLC, led by Hwa Young Chung, is suing over alleged mistreatment by the “rogue” agency. Key among claims is that ADC failed to provide irrigation water, which led to a $1.5 million loss on a farm venture that didn’t materialize.
Chung’s experience aside, fledgling small farms do seem to be seeding on the remaining 1,000 acres there, albeit in various degrees. Some immigrant farmers, for instance, have signed land licenses with ADC, but compliance has been difficult over farming regulations and required soil and water conservation plans.
However the Ohana Best dispute ends, the case stands to shed welcome light on how ADC operates — on issues ranging from miscommunication, to millions of state dollars spent on water infrastructure, to charges of favoritism over the former Galbraith lands.
Headed by James Nakatani, a former state Agriculture director, with his handful of staffers, ADC manages about 3,300 acres and wields much power over land eyed for Hawaii’s diversified-ag economy.
Over the past five years, ADC has been allotted more than $250 million in state funds to buy land and do market research — but is not required to submit financial statements; it didn’t even submit annual reports to the Legislature, as required.
Over the years, the agency has successfully rebuffed attempts for a state audit. This year, the Legislature finally mustered enough votes for an audit — an overdue look into the agency’s books, to be delivered in early 2021.
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