Posted on: Sunday, November 26, 2006
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COMMENTARY
Broken ground
By David C. Cole
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The sight of a Del Monte worker planting pineapple crowns in Kunia will be no more come January, two years earlier than previously announced by the company.
ADVERTISER LIBRARY PHOTO | Aug. 8, 2001
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Del Monte's early closure puts its Kunia plantation camp and farmlands in jeopardy. However, the critical juncture affords a chance for officials to reassess agricultural and planning policies for state resources.
JOAQUIN SIOPACK | The Honolulu Advertiser
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n Nov. 17, Miami-based Del Monte Fresh Produce Inc. broke a promise to its O'ahu employees when it suspended operations two years earlier than previously announced. Del Monte claims the early closure was necessary because its pineapple production volumes were low and prices were depressed due to oversupply in the broader pineapple market.
This is a remarkable claim, considering that production volumes are tied to investments in the field, and that pineapple supply is dominated by Del Monte as the global share leader. In fact, earlier this month, the company disclosed in an SEC filing that an increase in sales for fresh pineapples in the third quarter was attributable to higher per-unit prices.
As incredible as Del Monte's claims are, what the company did next is even more disturbing. At sunrise on Nov. 18, the company began systematically plowing under its pineapples — an action taken in spite of Maui Pineapple Co.'s offer to hire Del Monte's displaced workforce and immediately commence cultivating the fruit-laden fields. Beyond the human toll, the potential environmental impact of thousands of acres of distressed fields exposed to runoff must be assessed along with the need to use the surplus nonpotable water from Lake Wilson. In short, an operation of this magnitude cannot simply be turned off overnight.
A great fall for ag land?
It gets worse. The lands used for Del Monte's operations, although among the best agricultural lands in the state, are on the block. Over 13,000 acres in Central O'ahu are presently for sale by its owners at prices that surely will render agricultural uses problematic — on the island where our state's food and energy needs are greatest. Once these sales are completed, stitching together land for strategic crops, such as biofuels, will be like trying to re-assemble the fabled Humpty Dumpty.
For years, policymakers have debated what it will take to safeguard our agricultural lands. Some progress was made in 2005 with the passage of the Legacy Lands Act, which aimed to protect lands of special value to the people of Hawai'i. However, funding is inadequate relative to the scope of the act. Furthermore, related measures to incentivize owners to set aside prime farmlands have stalled.
So how can we ensure that Hawai'i's best agricultural lands do not disappear?
FIVE PRESERVATION STEPS
First, we need to boost funding for the acquisition of lands of sufficient scale to ensure future productivity. Although commodity agriculture is in its awkward final days, we must not throw the farmland baby out with the commodity-crop bathwater. A new era of strategic agriculture — where crops can boost our food and energy security — is in its nascent stages and will eventually justify the use of our best arable lands.
Second, the state Department of Agriculture is charged with proposing incentives for landowners to place productive lands in permanent ag use. These proposals, due next month, will in turn be placed before the 2007 Legislature. At session's end, the success of these incentives will be measured only by the quality and scale of lands dedicated for current and future agricultural use.
Third, state and county agencies need to streamline the funding and permitting processes for vital investments in irrigation, storage and drainage systems. Land without adequate water resources cannot be farmed. In many areas of the state, water collection and distribution systems have been neglected to the point where repair costs can exceed land value. The zoning and regulatory patchwork throughout Hawai'i further increases costs. Legislative help is needed to elevate agriculture as a priority user of our precious water resources.
Fourth, we need to modernize our transportation infrastructure. Because of inadequate air lift and harbor facilities on the Neighbor Islands, producers are forced to transship through Honolulu, thereby wasting time and dramatically raising costs. This is partly due to short runways that prohibit aircraft from departing with full payloads and partly due to harbor facilities that are ill-equipped to handle high volumes of intermodal cargo. By lengthening key runways, we can directly access out-of-state markets and address the problem of "overrun protection" — a problem at eleven Hawai'i runways as recently noted by the FAA.
Finally, we need a statewide planning framework in which development is funneled to locations where families can live closer to jobs and schools, and where productive green space can be preserved. At present, the state Land Use Commission is a quasi-judicial, transaction-oriented body while the Office of State Planning is a tiny unit in the executive branch. Not since the Ariyoshi administration have we seen a comprehensive statewide approach to planning and implementing broad, statewide land policies. It's time Hawai'i's executive branch is empowered to build and sustain planning initiatives that can shape policies, funding and structural change for achieving our strategic aims.
Del Monte's cut and run, although painful, offers us a chance to reassess our agricultural and planning policies against our longstanding political rhetoric in support of open and productive lands. If we don't act soon, all the state's resources and all the state's men will never be able to put our best lands back together again.
