Kamehameha Schools has received state approval to preserve nearly 10,000 acres on Oahu for agriculture under an incentive program expected to enhance food production and provide the state’s largest private landowner with financial benefits for farm-related investments.
The state Land Use Commission issued an order Thursday approving a petition Kamehameha Schools filed in December seeking to designate 421 acres in Punaluu and 9,171 acres between Haleiwa and Waimea Bay on the North Shore as "important agricultural lands."
The trust said it plans to increase food production on the land, of which about 12 percent is currently used to raise crops including banana, taro and seed corn.
"We believe the approval of our petition moves us another step closer towards food sustainability for Hawaii," Sydney Keli‘ipule‘ole, the trust’s land assets division director, said in a written statement.
Kamehameha Schools also intends to establish a 50-megawatt photovoltaic energy facility on about 500 acres of the North Shore site that the trust said it will also use to raise sheep that can graze on grass around the solar panels. Under Hawaii land-use regulations, renewable energy production is permitted on agriculture land.
The state’s important ag land program was established by the Legislature in 2005 and 2008 with the intent to preserve high-quality farmland. For voluntary applicants, the program makes benefits available including tax credits for investments in agriculture facilities, loan guarantees, placement of employee housing on prime farmland and expedited permitting for processing facilities.
One additional and controversial benefit allows participant landowners to take 15 percent of the acreage designated and develop it for urban uses including housing. Kamehameha Schools waived its right to this benefit. A side benefit also exists for landowners that voluntarily seek the designation, because voluntary designation limits how much land can be involuntarily committed for protection by counties.
Under the law, counties are required to evaluate and select appropriate lands, including privately owned property, for important ag land designation. But they can’t impose the protection on more than half of any private landowner’s holdings within urban and agricultural districts.
The 9,592 acres of Kamehameha Schools land approved for protection amounts to 52 percent of all the trust’s urban and agricultural land on Oahu.
The state Department of Agriculture raised some concerns over the proposed solar facility on 500 acres that includes gulches and lacks high-quality soil and irrigation. However, the department said it would support the designation for this piece of land if Kamehameha Schools commits to using the solar energy or a substantial portion of income from electricity sales for agricultural activities.
The state Office of Planning was fine with the North Shore land uses but recommended only 290 acres of the 421-acre Punaluu site be designated important ag land because of poor soil quality and slopes greater than 20 degrees.
The nearly 10,000 acres of Kamehameha Schools land was once largely planted in sugar cane, and has not rebounded with much diversified agriculture after sugar plantations went out of business decades ago.
About 722 acres of the trust’s North Shore land produces crops including seed corn, banana, taro, papaya, mango and hydroponic lettuce. Another 297 acres is used to raise cattle. There are also 30 wind turbines on the land.
On the Punaluu site about 120 acres is in crops including banana, papaya, mango, cucumber, taro and cacao. Another 33 acres supports livestock, aquaculture and plant nursery operations.
Kamehameha Schools said it has invested $17 million in irrigation and other farm infrastructure in both areas and expects to be able to provide long-term leases for more farming that includes organic crops, orchards, forestry and the solar farm with sheep.
