Farmland becoming food vs. fuel battleground

Tomatoes can’t power your house, while solar energy can’t feed your family. Yet both are vying for highly fertile farmland in Hawaii.

Several months ago, local farmer Larry Jefts had to pull up 200 acres of tomatoes and bell peppers on land he leases in Kunia to make way for a planned solar farm.

The operator of Sugarland Farms also has been given notice to plow under an as-yet- unspecified acreage of banana trees in Kunia to accommodate the same project, and he expects to lose 100 acres of crops to a planned solar farm in Ewa Beach where he grows tomatoes and watermelons on leased land.

This displacement of agriculture can be considered the leading edge in a greater oncoming conflict between food and fuel farms in Hawaii.

“We don’t know where it goes,” Jefts said. “It’s just kind of eating in. I’m concerned the public doesn’t understand what the trade-off is.”

What’s at stake are two competing state policy goals: producing 100% of energy from renewable sources by 2045, and doubling local food production by 2030.

Problematic seeds of this conflict were sown six year ago at the state Legislature, which passed a bill to lift a limit on solar farms occupying higher-grade farmland.

Jefts said solar farms are attractive to owners of farmland because energy developers can pay more rent, in some cases 10 times more than a farmer would.

“There’s no way to compete with that,” he said.

Prior to 2014, solar projects on farmland with higher-grade soils were limited to 10% of a parcel and no more than 20 acres.

The higher-grade soils have a “B” or “C” rating under a state grading system. No solar projects are allowed on land with the highest “A” rating, while no limit exists for land with “D” and “E” ratings typically more suitable for grazing.

Act 55 in 2014 lifted the limit for solar farms on “B” and “C” farmland under conditions that include obtaining a special permit from a county planning commission and the state Land Use Commission, and making the site available for “compatible agricultural activities” with a lease cost at least 50% below fair market rent. Compatible agriculture activities refer to crops that can be grown under the solar panels. Some solar farms have sheep grazing under the panels.

A major backer of the bill was First Wind Solar Group, which was pursuing solar energy projects on Oahu farmland at the time.

Supporters also included environmental group Blue Planet Foundation and local lamb producer Tin Roof Ranch.

The state Department of Agriculture didn’t oppose the legislation, but expressed concern over prime farmland being used for solar projects.

The state Office of Planning also took no position on the bill, but said agricultural use of high-quality farmland could decline with the proposed change to state law.

The agency noted that only 6% of farmland in Hawaii is “B” land, while 15% is “C.” About 75% is “D” or “E,” while just 3% is “A.”

Successors to First Wind Solar developed two solar farms on roughly 600 acres of B-grade farmland near Haleiwa and in Waipio, yet plans for compatible agriculture haven’t panned out as intended by the developer now known as Clearway Energy Group.

During state special permit hearings in 2015, the developer of the Kawailoa Solar and Waipio PV projects said it had a letter of intent with Kualoa Ranch to establish a sheep grazing operation expected to start with 200 animals on each site and expand to 400 to 500 animals at each site with rent at $10 per acre annually.

The developer also mentioned contingencies that included leasing the site to another sheep rancher, grazing lowline cattle, raising free-range poultry and beekeeping.

Both solar projects were completed in September with capacity to power the equivalent of about 15,000 homes.

According to reports filed in December, 40 to 50 sheep were on each site under a grazing operation established by the solar farm developer, and the combined herd is now up to about 300.

It is unclear what would happen to a solar farm that makes its high-grade farmland available for agricultural use that doesn’t materialize or last long.

During a 2015 state special permit hearing for Kawailoa Solar, the Office of Planning raised a concern that the agricultural component of “agrivoltaic” projects may not be implemented as represented, and that the compatible agriculture operation could be negligible.

The impact on food production was little if any at the Kawailoa and Waipio project sites, as the Kawai­loa land once planted in sugar cane was fallow while the Waipio site was pastureland.

However, the same isn’t true for a few newer solar farm plans.

In Kunia, Hanwha Energy Holdings Corp. is pursuing the 352-acre Ho‘ohana Solar project on farmland with B, C and D ratings.

Jefts, who farms 1,800 acres in the area, said he received notice in September that the project will displace some of his banana production. Then in December, he said he had to quit growing 200 acres of tomatoes and bell peppers in advance of work on Ho‘ohana, which is not yet permitted.

More recently, Hawaiian Electric selected proposals for 12 utility-scale solar projects, eight of which are slated for farmland. Six would be on low-grade farmland largely used for ranching on Maui and Hawaii island. Two would displace crops on highly productive soil.

Mahi Solar is one such project, and would occupy 617 acres of farmland in Kunia with B and C ratings.

Owners of this property are independent farmers — including Fat Law’s Farm that grow basil, papaya and other crops — and industrial seed crop producers Hartung Brothers and Bayer.

Project developer Longroad Development Co. said it intends to lease less-productive areas for solar, and work with the Hawaii Farm Bureau to develop compatible agriculture uses that could include shade-tolerant crops, honey bees, pollinator plants, mulch and livestock.

“We are looking forward to working with the Hawaii Farm Bureau to develop many new compatible agricultural uses,” said Longroad Development Director Wren Wescoatt, who was previously involved with the agriculture plan for the Waipio and Kawailoa solar projects and ended up being part-owner in the sheep venture.

The Farm Bureau declined to comment on the Mahi Solar plan and solar farms using higher-grade farmland.

Mahi Solar would produce enough electricity to power about 37,000 homes.

The second recently proposed solar project on good farmland is Kupono Solar, planned by Bright Canyon Energy on 220 acres owned by the Navy in Ewa Beach.

Because the site is under federal jurisdiction, no state soil rating applies to the site that was planted in sugar cane until the mid-1990s.

Jefts farms about 350 acres on the Navy site he’s leased since 2004, and he said this farm produces 80% of all locally grown tomatoes in the state during a five-month season. At other times, Jefts grows watermelons on the land.

Kupono Solar is expected to consume 100 to 150 acres of land farmed by Jefts, and generate enough energy to power 10,000 homes.

According to a 2015 Navy draft environmental assessment for solar farm development on the site, 1,800 acres of solar farms on Oahu would use only 1.5% of the roughly 128,000 acres of agricultural land on the island, including low-grade farmland.

The report also said a 2011 study showed that 75% of the 42,600 acres of high- quality farmland on Oahu wasn’t being farmed.

“The proposed action, coupled with past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future renewable energy projects will have only minimal cumulative effects on agriculture as a large stock of underutilized high-quality farmland that will remain available to farmers,” the Navy report said.

Phyllis Shimabukuro- Geiser, state Board of Agriculture chairwoman, has a different view. She noted that over the past 10 years, piecemeal amendments to state land-use law have allowed solar farms to dramatically increase their footprint on agricultural lands.

“We have steadfastly made the argument that location of solar energy facilities should be first directed to ‘D’ and ‘E’ rated lands, which are found in abundance on each island, before using ‘B’ and ‘C’ rated agricultural land,” she said.

Hawaiian Electric expects that if the 12 projects it selected in May are completed as planned between 2022 and 2023, they will boost renewable energy production by 7 percentage points from about 30% at the end of this year.