FIFTH OF 6 PARTS

Beverly Tuaolo is harvesting pretty flowers again in Opihikao.

Jan Anderson’s Kapoho Kai Nursery is now in Orchidland Estates.

And Eric Weinert is clearing an albizia forest in Keaau to plant papaya orchards.

These three farmers represent some of the re-sprouting taking place in Puna agriculture a year after lava from Kilauea Volcano began paving over fertile lands in one of Hawaii’s prime regions for growing crops.

Almost 14 square miles of Lower Puna was covered by lava, wiping out producers of papaya, ornamental flowers, nursery plants, macadamia nuts, avocados, coffee, noni, cacao, breadfruit, ginger, turmeric and more.

Some of the buried farms included residences that were among the more than 700 homes destroyed by lava that flowed out of the Leilani Estates subdivision near Pahoa and down into Opihikao, Pohoiki and Kapoho.

According to a sampling of farmers who suffered losses and responded to a University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources survey, almost 90% were willing to start over.

“It’s kind of a work in progress,” said Tuaolo, who has raised orchids with her husband, Afa, for 30 years off Kamaili Road about 1.5 miles below Leilani Estates.

Tuaolo’s 12-acre Kamaili Nursery wasn’t overrun by lava, but toxic gasses from the volcanic eruption killed or damaged the plants raised for cut-flower sales.

About half the plants died. Spreading lime with a leaf blower helped save the others by counteracting acid from the fumes, Tuaolo said.

“We’re just trying to recoup what we can and move on how we can,” she said.

For months, flowers from surviving plants were blemished and not saleable. But in February, some good flowers began to appear. Now Tuaolo projects it could be a couple of years to sufficiently recover with the plants she and Afa have left, and if they decide to replace all the lost plants it could take five years.

Eric Tanouye, president of the Hawaii Floriculture and Nursery Association, said it can take that long to reestablish orchids from tissue cultures into mature flower-producing plants.

“It’s a long-term process,” he said. “It’s going to happen slowly. It’s not an easy journey right now.”

LOSING SO MUCH

Anderson of Kapoho Kai Nursery lost nearly everything.

The 67-year-old farmer’s landscaping and plant nursery business was on 2.5 acres along with her home of 40 years. Anderson also owned a vacation rental cottage nearby, and her husband, Greg Braun, ran a 5-acre orchid farm also in Kapoho. All those properties were destroyed.

Before lava overran Kapoho, Anderson rented a moving van and spent several days relocating as many plants — mostly palms — to a friend’s property in Hawaiian Paradise Park about a half-hour’s drive away.

“I would make two or three trips a day,” she recalled.

Anderson removed about 500 plants representing only 10% of what she had. The rest, including stock plants in the ground, was consumed by lava.

Still, Anderson feels fortunate that she saved what she could and before the eruption ended in August bought a home in nearby Orchidland on 2 acres to reestablish her business.

“It was fortuitous to land on this place,” she said, explaining that because the property was once planted in macadamia trees she doesn’t need to clear the land for planting. “If you have to start from scratch and bulldoze, it takes forever.”

However, Braun, whose orchid farm employed five people, elected not to revive his business.

Tallying up farm losses from the eruption has been imprecise. A Hawaii County preliminary damage assessment conducted from mid-May to mid-June found 101 agriculture businesses that reported losses estimated at $23 million.

The UH survey was based on 46 farmers who reported $28 million in losses that included the value of crops, land, buildings and equipment. Floriculture and nursery farms reported the biggest loss at $13.3 million, followed by papaya farmers at $6.5 million. Macadamia farmers reported $2.5 million in losses. Farmers raising a variety of other crops reported $5.7 million in losses.

RECOVERY IS SLOW-GROWING

Several factors — including age, available land, lost employees and crop-growing time — make recovery from the eruption difficult for farmers.

The average age of farmers in Hawaii was 60 in 2017, according to the latest farm census. Tuaolo, 68, said considering how much longer she and her husband want to farm is a key consideration for whether to replant. “When you’re in your late 60s, it’s something that you think twice about,” she said.

Availability of employees is another challenge. Many Puna residents who were displaced by lava moved away and didn’t return, including people who worked on farms.

A third major factor is whether farmers had insurance. The UH survey said only 36% of respondents had crop insurance, while 45% said they had access to a federal noninsured crop disaster assistance program.

Allen Frenzel, state executive director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency, said the disaster assistance program has helped Puna farmers, though he said he couldn’t disclose how much assistance has been provided. Frenzel also said he is optimistic Congress will pass pending federal legislation to provide additional assistance to farmers affected by the eruption and other recent natural disasters.

PROVIDING ASSISTANCE

The Hawaii Department of Agriculture said it provided three emergency loans of $100,000, $35,000 and $25,000 to papaya farmers affected by the 2018 eruption through a “last resort” lending program where loans of up to $500,000 are still available until June to farms that have been denied commercial loans.

Eric Weinert, president of the Hawaii Papaya Industry Association, said adequate assistance has not been made available fast enough.

“Most of the displaced papaya farmers gave up,” he said.

Weinert estimates at least 150 papaya farmers were affected by the eruption, including farms covered by lava, farms cut off by lava and farms harmed by gas. Puna had been home to at least 90% of all Hawaii papaya production, according to Weinert, who estimated that half those farms were hurt by the eruption.

Calavo Growers, a major Hawaii papaya producer managed locally by Weinert, had 700 acres of fields in Lower Puna ready to replant a year ago. But they remain inaccessible because county roadways were cut off by lava and access by private roadways can’t be arranged.

So Calavo is clearing a forest of albizia on a couple hundred acres in Keaau recently leased from W.H. Shipman Ltd. to offset some lost papaya fields.

“It’s just very slow going,” Weinert said.

Shipman and other major landowners are helping farming return to Puna, but preparing land and growing new crops can be a long-term endeavor.

Kapoho Land Partnership had about 16 farm tenants on land cut off or buried by lava last year. Partnership manager A. Lono Lyman said about half the company’s 2,400 acres, which included productive and fallow lands, was buried. Access to the other half was restored April 1 by a road cut into the lava by Puna Geothermal Venture, which will allow farming to return.

“Things are looking better,” Lyman said.