After more than 20 years of tussling, a significant transfer of land from Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) control over to the Department of Agriculture (DOA) is moving toward fruition.

A 2003 Hawaii law, Act 90, placed about 110,000 DLNR acres up for the shift, but DLNR concerns over lands better suited to conservation or recreation stalled progress. In 2021, however, pressured by agricultural and ranch users, legislators formed a working group to make recommendations, and Gov. Josh Green, elected in 2022, pushed the process forward. Now about 70,600 acres total will end up with DOA by midyear — much of it ranch land on Hawaii island — while DLNR retains the rest.