Few would argue with the overall mission of the Agribusiness Development Corp. (ADC). Its “ultimate goal,” according to one of the required annual reports the state agency did manage to submit, is “to ensure that agricultural production and agribusiness ventures will be responsive to the current food and other agricultural needs of the state.”

But neither would most people argue with scathing reports from the state auditor and the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, both of which conclude the ADC has failed to deliver on that mission. It’s also hard to refute that this is principally a failure of leadership.

Where the disagreement occurs is how to fix the problem. Ideas currently boil down to two bills before the state Legislature: one that seeks to dismantle the agency and move the task to the state Department of Agriculture, and one that proposes reforms aimed at cleaning up ADC’s mismanagement and making its work publicly transparent.

The first, a House measure, would shift all the ADC staff to the Agriculture Department, with the exception of its executive director, James Nakatani, whose spotty responsiveness to the Legislature and to the state auditor is the core of the controversy.

Members of the House Finance Committee will hear House Bill 1271, at noon today. The measure should be advanced to the House floor and cross over for the Senate to consider.

Its solution, to shut down the corporation, may not be ideal, because the whole reason for creating the ADC in 1994 was that the Agriculture Department staff was not succeeding at transitioning Hawaii to a more diversified industry.

Simply shifting it back may not move the needle any more quickly toward that ultimate goal. But the ADC needs to face this existential threat in order to make needed improvements.

The other approach, Senate Bill 335, would reform the ADC on several fronts. It would, for example, demand reports on leasing activities, that the overseeing board include more farmers, and that a higher premium be placed on issuing leases for cultivating food crops.

Lawmakers should advance this measure as well, with the eventual aim of crafting a strong path that exceeds SB 335 in a final bill.

At a minimum, ADC top leadership requires an overhaul, including the board, which has not held Nakatani’s feet to the fire. The Legislature should crack down with the power of the purse, setting a short deadline for the corporation to meet conditions under which it would receive further funds.

Standing center stage is Nakatani, who will go before the House Committee on Agriculture for an informational briefing at 10 a.m. Friday. It will be livestreamed on the House YouTube channel (http://808ne.ws/ADC).

The agenda states that Nakatani will give a report on the agency’s “history, its strategic plan, vision, and challenges faced,” and then will take questions from the committee.

The questions must pin down the executive on numerous issues. The audit found the ADC records in disarray, its files submitted in response to the audit incomplete, and its documented policies and procedures wholly lacking. Millions of public dollars have gone through ADC, but Nakatani was quoted as saying he does not want to “get stuck with something in writing.”

That’s nonsense. The auditor rightly underscored that ADC owes the public accountability for its use of taxpayer funds. It attached a raft of recommendations for ADC’s deficiencies, including such basics as taking inventory of potential project lands and infrastructure.

The ADC has the tools it needs to help Hawaii boost agricultural production. What it lacks are people at the top on whom the public can rely for that achievement.