HONOLULU, Dec. 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Alexander & Baldwin (A&B) (NYSE: ALEX) today announced an agreement that will launch a new era of agriculture on Maui. The agreement provides for the sale of the former Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company lands to Mahi Pono LLC (Mahi Pono) for purposes of cultivating a variety of food and energy crops, ensuring the continued agricultural use of these lands, the preservation of green, open space in Central Maui, and a consistent and long-term source of revenue for the local economy.

Mahi Pono is a farming venture between Pomona Farming, LLC, a California-based agricultural group, and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments), a long-term investor and one of Canada's largest pension investment managers. The Mahi Pono team has significant experience cultivating diverse agricultural crops and managing cattle operations on more than 100,000 acres, with a focus purely on agriculture and a track record of making long-term investments in farming projects. All of A&B's existing agricultural personnel will be offered positions with Mahi Pono, to put their experience and knowledge to use to help further Mahi Pono's farm plan.

Mahi Pono's farm plan currently envisions cultivating a broad range of food crops for local consumption and export, including coffee, various fruit and vegetable crops and an expansion of A&B's grass-fed cattle project at Kulolio Ranch, which Mahi Pono purchased as part of this transaction. Mahi Pono also purchased Central Maui Feedstocks, A&B's energy crop project, and assumed all diversified agriculture leases previously entered into by A&B.

Former HC&S lands to be repurposed as diversified agriculture farms.

A&B Agreement with Mahi Pono Launches New Era of Ag on Maui

More than 1,000 jobs could be generated as Mahi Pono moves forward with its farming operations on 41,000 acres of recently purchased old sugar cane lands, said the company’s new senior vice president of operations, former Lt. Gov. Shan Tsutsui.

Tsutsui, a Waiehu resident, was named today to lead Mahi Pono’s farming venture on Maui. Besides working with local farmers, he said Mahi Pono will assist them with processing and packaging of their products for export and for island use — all based on Maui.

“That’s also exciting in terms of economic diversity, allowing for different types of jobs, not having them being related to the tourists,” said Tsutsui, who will be in charge of business strategy, management operations, community leadership and government relations.

On Dec. 10, Mahi Pono announced its purchase of 41,000 acres of former Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. land from Alexander & Baldwin. The $262 million deal with Mahi Pono, a joint venture of Pomona Farming LLC and Public Sector Pension Investment Board, one of Canada’s largest pension investment managers, ended A&B’s 150-year ownership of the old sugar cane lands. Its subsidiary, HC&S, shut down sugar operations at the end of 2016.

Mahi Pono said it plans to produce high-quality, nongenetically modified food for local consumption with export potential; provide local partners with resources, such as farming expertise, equipment and farming capital; offer water in an agricultural park for use by small, local farmers and create jobs for local residents with job training and educational programs for employees. The new owners said they have no plans to convert any of the land to nonagricultural uses.

Pomona Farming will provide the farming expertise and resources with financial backing from the pension investment board, but decisions for Mahi Pono will be made on Maui, Tsutsui said.

“Mahi Pono will be Maui’s company,” he emphasized. “I’m excited about this opportunity. It’s the new chapter of agriculture on Maui.”

He acknowledged the community’s desire to maintain the green lands of the Central Maui plain.

“That’s why this position is something that is not for me, just a job, it’s really an opportunity to, hopefully, be part of something really special going forward,” Tsutsui said.

He called it a “once in a generation” position.

“We got one chance to get it right,” Tsutsui said. “It’s the beginning, knowing that I will be able to play a role in how this all rolls out. It’s exciting. I don’t think I ever had a challenge like this.”

Former lieutenant governor joins company, set to begin farming on 41,000 Maui acres, as new vice president.

WAILUKU — When livestock manager Jacob Tavares meets with Mahi Pono principal Ceil Howe III, he can dive into the nitty gritty details of cattle operations — and Howe understands.

“I can sit down with him and talk about cattle types, forage types, irrigation systems,” said Tavares, who handles the livestock for Kulolio Ranch, which Mahi Pono acquired in December. “When your principal partners have that level of vocabulary, for us as farmers and ranchers, that makes the situation a lot more comfortable.”

As the ranch moves under new ownership, Tavares is excited to have the financial backing of a company like Mahi Pono, and the expertise of someone like Howe, a fourth-generation farmer and one of the leading faces of the new company that purchased 41,000 acres of old sugar fields from Alexander & Baldwin last month.

Community members who have gotten to meet the new owners feel a mix of optimism that Mahi Pono could create solid partnerships and help farming flourish, as well as the underlying worry that it could repeat the past mistakes of large-scale agriculture in Hawaii.

“I think all of us want ag to return as the third leg of the economy for food security and also for something that makes Maui no ka oi,” said Lucienne de Naie, conservation chair of the Sierra Club Maui group. “In order to do that . . . I think they need to make the soil right. They need to make it right with the Hawaiian people, and they need to have places where small farmers can actually participate in this new economy.”

Howe also recognized that in order for agriculture to move forward on Maui, both Mahi Pono and local farmers have to thrive.

“Our job is to come here and make our farm successful, but in doing so we have to make all the other farmers successful,” Howe said...

Mahi Pono officials making rounds; details about who they are beginning to emerge.

Mahi Pono Officials Reach Out to Community

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A&B Agreement with Mahi Pono Launches New Era of Ag on Maui

Mahi Pono could generate 1,000-plus Jobs

Mahi Pono Officials Reach Out to Community