Dole plans new
pineapple for
Oahu lands

The new plant has a sweeter
taste and will stay fresh longer

---

By Tim Ruel
truel@starbulletin.com

Dole Food Co. is drawing up new plans for its crop land on Oahu in an effort to return to profitability, company Chairman David Murdock said.

The Westlake Village, Calif.-based produce company will plant several thousand acres of a new sweeter, longer-lasting variety of fresh pineapple on its acreage on the North Shore in the next few years, Murdock said in a rare interview.

Dole has been experimenting with several crops ever since the company phased out of canned pineapple and closed its Waialua Sugar Co. in the mid-1990s. The crops tried so far -- coffee, alfalfa, lychee, chocolate and papaya -- haven't worked out, Murdock said.

"It's sure not profitable," he said.

The new type of pineapple has proven to make money elsewhere, and the company believes it will turn a profit in Hawaii as well, Murdock said.

Murdock added that Dole is still looking at other crops to grow on Oahu, where the company owns 6,500 acres and leases another 1,500.

Meanwhile, Murdock is spending $500 million on continuing capital improvements in Hawaii through Castle & Cooke Inc., the development company he bought last year.

Murdock revealed the figure in a speech Saturday at the opening of the Central Oahu Regional Park, which is on land the city bought from Castle & Cooke.

Castle & Cooke is spending the money on its well-known development projects on Oahu and Lanai, including:

>> Several hundred new homes in Mililani and Royal Kunia, where the company has built more than 13,000 homes since 1968.

>> Tenant improvements at the Dole Cannery in Iwilei. Costco Wholesale Corp. plans to move its Salt Lake store there by 2002.

>> Renovations at the Manele Bay beachfront resort on Lanai, which opened in 1991. The company is also reseeding the golf course at its other Lanai resort, the Lodge at Koele, because of damage from drought.

>> Expanding the Dole Plantation in Wahiawa to include botanical gardens and diversified crops to educate tourists that sugar and pineapple aren't the only plants that grow in Hawaii.

Murdock said the investment is well timed for the 150-year-old Castle & Cooke.

"I think the state's economy is picking up," Murdock said. "I believe that it will continue to pick up. I think there are many things that we need to do to encourage investments by companies other than ourselves."