Amfac gets grant
to try new crops

The company will use the
$1.5 million to diversify its Kauai
sugar operations

By Trish Moore
Star-Bulletin

LIHUE -- Amfac/JMB-Hawaii received a $1.5 million federal grant to diversify sugar operations on Kauai with other crops, said Amfac president Gary Grottke.

The Rural Economic Transition Assistance grant though the U.S. Department of Defense was announced today by U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye.

Amfac will match the grant with its own money to plant alfalfa, papaya, mango, seed corn and taro on 3,000 open acres of land mostly in west Kauai, Grottke said. High-energy sugarcane, used to supply electricity to Kauai Electric's power plant, will be planted in Lihue.

The hope is that worker furlough periods will be shortened and more workers will stay employed, Grottke said.

Amfac is viewing the diversified agriculture project as a supplement to its sugar operations. The new crops are scheduled for planting this summer and into the fall -- during the sugar off-season.

Inouye said Waialua Sugar on Oahu received a similar grant that eventually aided the transition to other crops when the company quit sugar.

Amfac hopes to reach agreement on a new contract with the sugar workers union by the end of the month. Workers have twice rejected contract proposals that included wage cuts and profit-sharing incentives offered by the company.

Grottke said the negotiations "will help define the future of sugar on Kauai."