Many farm subdivision lot buyers aren’t typical farmers

Frank Hinshaw doesn’t mind being called a gentlemen farmer.

For the last five years, the owner of Skydive Hawaii has been on a quest to establish himself as a cashew nut and seedling producer. He’s also raising queen bees and growing at least 250 fruit and spice trees on 15 acres within a farm subdivision project being developed by local real estate broker David Taogoshi in Waialua.

“I’m a gentlemen farmer,” Hinshaw said. “I lose about $40,000 a year farming here.”

Hinshaw, 68, is among a diverse mix of investors who have bought small plots within five projects covering 700 acres on the North Shore, where Taogoshi is working to create subdivisions where paved roads and utilities serve mainly 2-acre and 5-acre parcels on which each buyer may build one or two homes under city rules as an accessory to farming.

Hinshaw bought three 5-acre parcels at Taogoshi’s Kaala View Farm Lots #2 project in 2014 and 2015 for a combined $1.3 million.

As a horse owner and polo rider who grew up on a farm in Missouri and lives in Waikiki, Hinshaw said he initially thought one 5-acre parcel would be a good place for his horses. But he instead decided to buy three parcels to grow fruit trees, raise queen bees and help establish cashews as a new commercial crop in Hawaii.

The cashew endeavor has been long and painful. It started with Hinshaw obtaining a federal grant and state permission to import 1,500 cashew seedlings from India.

Most of the plants, which had to spend three years in a quarantine greenhouse, didn’t survive the nursery stage. Hinshaw ended up with 17 trees, of which 10 remain today on his farm.

“It’s a sad story,” he said.

Still, Hinshaw took seeds from his best trees and planted 75 seedlings earlier this year to be followed by 325 more next year with the idea to sell cashew nuts and become a certified nursery to supply seedlings to other Hawaii farmers.

Hinshaw also has several varieties of mango growing on his farm, along with avocado, lychee, longan, lemon, lime, grapefruit, soursop, breadfruit, cherimoya, sapote mamae, yerba mate, cinnamon, lilikoi and guava. In time, the trees should produce marketable fruit.

In the interim, they are a resource for the bees.

Hawaii Queen Bees, co-owned by Hinshaw, sells queen bees for $25. Hinshaw’s short-term goal is to sell 100 a week.

On a recent week, he said he sold 40. Honey and wax are also byproducts.

Hinshaw, who works on the farm and has two employees, said he expects the endeavor to become profitable in the near term.

As for a residence, Hinshaw said he hopes his son one day has a home on the farm, which has distant sweeping views of the ocean.

“Everybody wants to build a home here,” he added.

Hinshaw said he was introduced to the property by a retired Hawaiian Airlines pilot who had a business at Dillingham Airfield, where Skydive Hawaii is based.

The pilot, Bruce Clements, had established Nine Fine Mynahs Cacao Farm and a home at Kaala View with his wife, Jeanne Bennett. According to property records, the couple bought their 5-acre parcel for $800,000 in 2012 and built an $840,000 house a year later.

The farm hosts tours run by another operator, Madre Chocolate, which charges $50 per person for the tour that includes making chocolate from cacao.

On another Kaala View parcel, an owner has developed a solar farm, which is an acceptable use of agricultural land.

At a nearby Taogoshi project called Kaala Ainalani Estates, Rustyn Totoki is part of a local family he describes as having major farming aspirations and no interest in building homes.

Totoki on a recent day was harvesting roselle on a farm being established on a pair of 5-acre lots his family bought for $1.6 million. The plant, a kind of hibiscus, can be used to make tea and is among other crops including fruit trees that Totoki is experimenting with to see what grows well on the site.

The family also has bought 16 acres at two Taogoshi projects near Mokuleia called Kawaihapai Farms and Mahiko Farms, where Totoki intends to focus on fruit trees but also other crops including cassava, sweet potato and cacao slated for planting this year.

“We’re just kind of just getting started,” he said.

Hinshaw also is an investor in Kawaihapai Farms, which is between Dillingham Airfield and Dillingham Ranch. Here he paid $1.4 million for 34 acres where he envisions establishing a polo field, trails for riding and a horse breeding operation.

>> READ MORE: North Shore farmland being carved up for crop, housing use