Quote:
Originally Posted by redpoint5
Bring the cane fields back? Would it be more cost effective to provide the subsidies required to make it worthwhile?
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Besides the political issue with provided subsidies to incredibly wealthy landowners - I doubt that would be the cheapest solution. The owner of the mill (Alexander & Baldwin) exited the agriculture business. They have converted into a publicly traded Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT). They sold their 42,000 Acres of farmland to Mahi Pono which is a new agriculture company.
To me it would make the most sense to use that land to raise livestock or grow crops that people actually eat. Hawaii imports 90% of their food. Mahi Pono is doing this but the going is slow. They are only farming or grazing 1/2 the land that they own and that is happening in the wetter central part of the Island
As it stands today land owners like Mahi Pono aren't required to do anything to mitigate wildfire danger and they don't in the areas they aren't farming.