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New opportunities Sugar dies. Workers leave. Communities flounder. It's a cycle repeated too often in Hawaii, but a group of North Shore farmers believes it doesn't have to happen in their town of Waialua.
sprout from old
sugarcane fields
A farmers cooperative
turns the end of an era
into a growing businessBy Betty Shimabukuro
Star-BulletinBefore Waialua Sugar shut down in 1996, these farmers worked the fields and ran the mill. Now they are part of the Waialua Farmers Cooperative, coaxing onions, beans, eggplant, sweet peppers, tapioca and more from ground that once yielded only cane.
Two crops show considerable promise: asparagus and the new Waialua Vine Ripe tomato. The asparagus is already a favorite among Oahu chefs, and the tomato is on the verge of full commercial production.
"We're just breaching into that next level," said Jeanne Vana, president of the cooperative. During the past few months she's noticed a higher level of excitement among the farmers."It really has taken off," she said. "They have to see success before everyone else will follow. In this case, success is breeding success."
Dole Food Co. Hawaii employed 400 workers on more than 6,000 acres of sugar in Waialua. Compared to that, the 70 people working today's 130 acres of diversified crops are taking baby steps. But they are making progress.
"Most of the farmers haven't reached the point where they can do it full time," Vana said. She calls them "multi-income farmers" who work regular jobs and tend their land on the side.
The farmers lease from the cooperative for $300 per acre annually. The co-op, in turn, pays Dole, which still owns all the land. The co-op also handles distribution of water to the farmers, at 30 cents per 1,000 gallons.
Through partnerships with an alphabet soup of federal and state agencies, and with technical advice from Crop Care Hawaii, a private consultant hired with a $100,000 state grant, the cooperative provides member farmers with help developing crops, controlling pests and bringing their produce to market.In a year, Vana said, the co-op plans to open a cold-storage facility for farmers to store their harvests and a commercial kitchen where cooks and caterers in the Waialua community can turn farm produce into value-added products. Vana said she already knows of people interested in making items such as jams, jellies and salad dressings.
Vana is herself a multi-income farmer, working as a horticulturalist for Dole while farming 5 acres of land with her husband, Steven, on afternoons and weekends. The result of their efforts has been the new Waialua tomato.
So far, sales have been small-scale and local, but buyers have taken notice. By December Vana expects to be producing 3,000 pounds weekly.
Produce wholesaler Dean Okimoto of Local Island Fresh Edibles said he is impressed by the Waialua tomato's deep flavor and low-acid content. He said he will take half of Vana's tomatoes, mainly for sale to restaurant clients.
Okimoto also wholesales Waialua asparagus, which farmer Milton Agader has been harvesting since 1998. Al Medrano has joined Agader in planting 40 acres in the slim green spears."We are hoping that next year about this time we will tie into a supermarket," Medrano said.
For now, though, the tomatoes and asparagus remain specialty crops, available at restaurants and some gourmet food stores, but priced too high for most supermarkets.
Okimoto said the key for the Waialua farmers will be to maintain high yields for several years, so the supply is dependable. "I think it's looking real good right now."
Demand is not the problem. Vana said the co-op has been approached by chefs seeking specialty vegetables and by manufacturers, such as a hot-sauce bottler who wants a steady supply of chili peppers.
Developing growing techniques for this particular area in those particular crops, then sustaining good quality and high yield are the challenges they face, she said.
It's not easy, even for large-scale growers with far more resources. Dole has been experimenting with coffee, tropical fruits and cut flowers, also in Waialua.
"They're coming along slowly but surely," company president Jerry Vriesenga said. "None of them are really profitable yet."
Dole's plans to grow a Waialua sweet onion have been set aside, he said, because yields just weren't high enough.
But Vriesenga said Dole is committed to continued farming in Waialua and will extend the co-op's five-year leases once they start expiring next year. The company also plans to make another 50 acres available for lease soon. "Our intent is to keep our land in agriculture and stay involved."
Only a handful of the cooperative's members aspire to commercial-scale businesses, Vana said. Most want to keep their farms small, family affairs, growing just enough to sell to ethnic markets or at swap meets -- and the cooperative is committed to protecting those interests as well as encouraging more ambitious growers.
There is a waiting list for land, though, so growers have to be productive. "We're weeding out the ones who can't pay their bills, replacing them with those who want to expand," Vana said.
Priority is given to ex-sugar workers.
"If they moved away and want to come back to the cooperative, they would get first priority for land," Vana said. "We want to find any of them who have fallen through the cracks, because there is opportunity."
On Saturday, the Waialua Farmers Cooperative celebrates its successes and its hopes for the future with a Harvest Festival at the old Waialua Sugar Mill, now the site of the Waialua Coffee Visitor Center, on Kealohanui Street. Harvest Festival
The event commemorates the USDA's National Cooperative Month and the virtues of farmers pooling their resources to develop new crops and crop-care techniques.
The festival runs 8:30 a.m. to noon with produce booths, entertainment and farm tours. Visitors also may pick their own produce on the farms.
Call 637-2786.