January 7, 2016

Hawaii’s last sugar plantation, the 36,000 acre Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company (HC&S) plantation on Maui will be exiting sugar production.

Alexander & Baldwin Inc. announced that it will phase out of sugar production by the end of 2016 in favor of a diversified agricultural business which it plans to build over the coming years. The company will divide its 36,000 acres into smaller farms which will include biofuels, food crops, and irrigated land to be used as pasture by local livestock producers.

Founded 145 years ago with sugar planted on 570 acres by descendants of Protestant missionaries, Alexander & Baldwin states that it does not have any plans for major land sales, noting that the company’s total land bank is zoned as agricultural, and will remain so.

The specific crops to be grown moving forward have not been decided yet, however, Chris Benjamin, president and chief executive officer of Alexander & Baldwin, and general manager of HC&S from 2009 to 2011, told The Honolulu Star Advertiser that research trials have been conducted at the plantation with positive results for sorghum and grasses. If the land moves into the successful production of these biofuel crops, the company could gain from Hawaii’s push toward energy and food self-sufficiency.

Mr. Benjamin stated that the decision to exit sugar was made with “great regret”, telling Big Island Now, “We have made every effort to avoid having to take this action. However, the roughly $30 million Agribusiness operating loss we expect to incur in 2015, and the forecast for continued significant losses, clearly are not sustainable, and we must now move forward with a new concept for our lands that allows us to keep them in productive agricultural use.”