Maui’s biggest coffee farm wants to double or triple in size, and would like some state help to get there.

MauiGrown Coffee Inc. is asking the Legislature to approve $13 million in special-purpose revenue bond financing through a bill that was approved by a Senate committee Wednesday following committee approvals in the House.

The company owned and run by Kimo Falconer aims to plant 500 acres of coffee trees initially and possibly another 500 acres later in Central Maui, where 146 years of sugar cane farming ended in December.

If realized, the endeavor would fulfill part of a plan by Hawaiian Commercial &Sugar Co. to introduce new crops on its 36,000-acre former sugar plantation and allow Falconer to grow more of a crop that he said can become much bigger in Hawaii.

“There’s a lot of future in it,” Falconer said. “I know the market really well, and I know where the market’s going, and it’s all positive.”

Coffee farming is a roughly $50 million to $60 million industry statewide, with about 35 million pounds of beans produced annually on around 7,000 acres on Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Kauai and Hawaii island, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Unlike sugar from Hawaii, which was mainly sold in bulk as an unbranded raw commodity at low prices, Hawaii coffee has survived because the crop can be sold at premiums compared with low-cost producers in foreign countries. One-pound bags of MauiGrown coffees retail for more than $20.

Falconer, who describes a big order for him as 10,000 pounds of coffee beans, said he’s had requests for 150,000 pounds — enough to fill three or four shipping containers — that he can’t fulfill. “I certainly believe the sky’s the limit for this particular crop,” he said.

The existing MauiGrown farm contains 400 acres of productive trees that were planted on part of a former West Maui sugar plantation called Pioneer Mill in Kaanapali that shut down in 1999.

HC&S announced in early 2016 that it planned to quit farming sugar, and Falconer has been talking with the company for almost a year about leasing some land to expand MauiGrown, which was previously known as Kaanapali Coffee Co.

Falconer said that water, zoning and other limitations prevent him from expanding in Kaanapali. “I can’t really grow much more in West Maui,” he said.

Revenue bonds would provide Falconer with low-interest financing to prepare the land and plant trees that take about five years to mature. Trees would be planted over several years, he said, and an initial 500 acres could be doubled if the new farm is successful. He said he would need to add about 20 employees to farm an additional 500 acres.

Falconer added that he would initially improve his existing processing mill in Kaanapali but intends to build a bigger replacement in Central Maui if the expansion does well, and that he would be able to buy and process coffee from others if more farmers get into the business, which he thinks could grow to 5,000 acres on Maui.

“It’s a dream, but there is definitely interest,” said Falconer, who was a research agronomist in the sugar industry for 20 years and was involved in efforts to expand coffee production outside the Kona region of Hawaii island 30 years ago.

Special purpose revenue bonds would use the state’s strong borrowing power to provide Falconer’s farm with financing that’s cheaper than what’s available commercially. Such bonds must have a public purpose — in this case supporting local agriculture — but the obligation to repay investors who buy the bonds would rest solely with MauiGrown and not the state.

Scott Enright, director of the state Department of Agriculture, supports the bond financing for MauiGrown.

“Having the opportunity to expand their operations will help with employment of displaced sugar workers and ensure that lands will continue to be utilized for agricultural production,” he said in written testimony on the bill, House Bill 1230.

Other supporters include the Maui County Farm Bureau, the Hawaii Coffee Association, local coffee roaster Hawaii Coffee Co., Maui coffee shop Akamai Coffee Co. and Alexander &Baldwin Inc., which owns HC&S.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represented HC&S workers, also endorsed the bill.

“The recent closure of the last plantation in Hawaii was a sad event from many different perspectives,” the union said in written testimony. “The impact of the sugar workers losing their jobs and losing their means of providing for their families was a fundamental concern that raised many uncertainties for the workers and their loved ones. The opportunity to create new agricultural jobs would help to boost their spirits, and keep hope alive.”