Ohana Farm Parcels, a plan by private developer Peter Savio to create a kind of farming condominium concept, offers one promising approach for transitioning away from large-scale agriculture to a model that could meet the needs of family farmers.

In particular, it bears watching by officials of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. The agency is assuming oversight of the dysfunctional Agribusiness Development Corp. (ADC), created in 1994 under the Department of Agriculture to encourage a more sustainable agricultural industry.

The Ohana Farm complex would comprise fee-simple lots, 2 to 5 acres each. Buyers will be selected in a lottery set for Sept. 4, at $109,000 per acre.

And like a residential condo, there would be common facilities, including the road and water system, already used by the previous owner, Aloun Farms. Savio bought the 222-acre property, located north of Wahiawa, for about $29 million.

How exactly it plays out will depend on the winning assortment of owners. But Savio also would like to propose setting aside a portion of land adjacent to the farm fields as a cluster of modest-sized homes where small farmers working the site could live.

The project is tailored to active farmers, not investors, he said. And it could help them find land that’s within their capacity to manage without a major investment in labor, while giving them the stability of owning their farmland in fee. Further, Savio said, Aloun is willing to buy produce from farmers agreeing to plant crops that the company needs. For startup operations, this could be an attractive option.

The early reception to the Ohana Farm proposal — about 650 initial responses from potential buyers of the plots, Savio said — seems enthusiastic. More information will be presented at 10 a.m. and noon Saturday and Sunday at the site, located on the Haleiwa side of Dole Plantation.

No single solution can give Hawaii a better path to agricultural sustainability, but it’s crucial that the state be attuned to new ideas.

The slow pace of the ADC in helping to meet agricultural goals has been a controversy in recent years, culminating, in 2021, with a sharply critical state audit and a report by the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization. For example, UHERO summed up its general conclusion on its website this way: “ADC’s emphasis on land acquisition has made it a costly, disorganized and ineffective program.”

This critique continued to resonate with lawmakers until, last session, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 2473, which transferred the ADC from the Agriculture Department to DBEDT. The governor signed the bill into law in June.

The Agriculture Department testified that the transfer may support the economic development aspect of ADC and generally supported the bill’s intent. However, its officials raised concern about the agency separating from ag oversight entirely.

And there was other testimony from the industry, including a valid one from the Hawaii Farm Bureau, casting doubt that simply moving the corporation to the business agency would help farmers surmount the barriers of needed water systems on ag-zoned land and other lacking infrastructure.

So the measure allows for DBEDT to reimagine agricultural diversification — but officials still must follow through, amending the mission and powers of the ADC. If nothing else, a reformed corporation should work to support private efforts such as Ohana Farm Parcels, possibly reproducing them elsewhere and filling in the infrastructure gaps.

The state must deploy every possible resource, public and private, to make agriculture more self-sustaining and give Hawaii the boost in food security it so urgently needs.