Big Island rancher Harold "Freddy" Rice, who successfully challenged the Hawaiians-only elections once held by the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs, is asking for some state help with a request for a $200,000 emergency loan from the state Board of Agriculture.
Rice’s written request indicates the money will be used to help his Waimea ranch recover from the recent drought. The emergency loan program was triggered by Gov. Ben Cayetano’s July 28 proclamation of drought emergency.
The decision on the loan is scheduled for the board’s meeting tomorrow. State agricultural loan officials are recommending the loan be approved.
Rice said last night that he applied for the loan to help with the losses to his cattle operation, running some 850 cattle on leased land on the slopes of Mauna Kea.
"Most of the losses occurred in having to haul water and increased pasture rent as a result of the dry conditions," he said.
His losses over the past five years are close to $300,000, he said.
Agricultural loan program administrator Doreen Shishido said Rice’s is the first of about seven emergency loan requests related to the continuing drought.
The cattle industry has estimated drought-related losses of $6.5 million for 1999 and $9.1 million for 2000.
In his loan request, Rice said he would use the money to "repay indebtedness already incurred as expenses directly attributed to the prolonged drought."
He requested $89,000 to pay increased pasture rent; $36,000 for water hauling; $25,000 for feed; $40,000 for replacement cattle; and $10,000 for outside labor, Shishido said.
Rice is requesting a 10-year loan at 3 percent interest. He is securing the loan with a mortgage on a Waimea home and property appraised at $570,000.
The request indicates he will use the money to buy about 100 head of cattle and reduce a line of credit with First Hawaiian Bank.
Qualified ranchers could ask for up to $250,000 in emergency loans, Shishido said. She said the state is reviewing about a half dozen similar loan requests.
For other agricultural loans, the state requires that the borrower be turned down by other lenders. But Shishido said the Board of Agriculture waives that provision under emergency situations.
She said the only thing unusual about Rice’s request is that he is well-known. "He does qualify as a farmer."
Shishido said some of the drought-stricken farmers and ranchers are also seeking federal grant money first before requesting the low-interest loans.
In 1996, the 66-year-old rancher sued the state after he was banned from voting in an OHA election. He is a fifth-generation Hawai‘i resident who took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court to win the right to vote in OHA elections.
