I hate that we have to go to SFGate to get this kind of news, its important to keep in mind at least a touch of the history here.
Alexander and Baldwin as a corporation is one of the largest land holders in Hawaii, and this is a direct extension of the forced labor sugar plantation system, that dominated Hawaii under both the kingdom, and the “Republic of Hawaii”.
Right now the vast majority of the same land that used forced labor to extract the wealth of Hawaii and move it into the hands of rich. Effectively, these same names were the ones who performed a coup to kidnap the Hawaiian Queen in a corporate coup. When Queen Liliuokalani speaks of this time, she uses the word “oligarch” in her contemporary writings, notes, and speeches of the time. These same oligarchs (not just A&B, but other old missionary families) still control 90% of the private land in Hawaii. They came as missionaries, converted the royalty to christianity, then stole the government when Liliuokalani wanted to reform the constitution. In the sugar planters own writings they basically cite two reasons for the coup: 1) they didn’t want to allow the reformation of the labor system; 2) they didn’t want to pay tariffs into the US.
That 90% of the land is basically almost all of the prime farm and ranch land in Hawaii. They almost exclusively do not sell it, but use a “leasehold” land lease system. This is exactly why Kauai coffee is going under. If land is kept expensive, you can’t afford to grow food on it. Hawaii imports 90%+ of its calories. In-spite of being some of the most prime agricultural land on the planet, its almost all been left fallow since the collapse of sugar cane last century.
Edit: There are other pressures on coffee right now. Specially disease and labor pressures (ICE raids focus on areas of the islands requiring seasonal labor, and much of the coffee labor is central/ south American). But that is NOT why this is happening.
Sounds like a trademark/name dispute even though the reason for non-renewal seems to have been kept close to the chests of the two companies involved.
I mean, its not what the article says and its not what is happening.
Its the leasehold system. When farmers don’t own their land, this is what happens.
Kauai is insanely expensive land. This will become cookie cutter subdivisions if the state doesnt step in.
Katayama told the council he wouldn’t discuss details of the lease or explain where the disagreement lies.
James Priestley, the vice president of Brue Baukol Capital Partners, told SFGATE in an email that the firm has always hoped to reach an agreement with Massimo Zanetti.
He [Priestley] explained that, in 2024, Brue Baukol listed 4,713 acres of its coffee lands for sale. “When we received an indication that a renewal was uncertain, we considered leasing or selling the land to another interested steward whose values aligned with ours and could continue the legacy of agriculture on this land,” he wrote.
Priestley said that the company intends to keep coffee operations going, even if ongoing lease negotiations are unsuccessful, and that it would like to “retain all Kauai Coffee employees who wish to continue working with us.”
“We remain open to all options that achieve our goals of supporting jobs, maintaining coffee operations and responsible land stewardship,” Priestley wrote.
“Let me be clear, Brue Baukol Capital Partners has negotiated in good faith for more than two years and has no plans to lay off employees or rezone important agricultural lands (IAL),” he said in his email. “Our focus is, and will remain, on the employees — the heartbeat of Kauai Coffee — and we are committed to doing everything we can to ensure stability and a smooth transition, with or without Massimo Zanetti Beverage Group’s agreement to new lease terms.”
Its a direct consequence of the leasehold system. If you aren’t familiar with Hawaiian land ownership or Hawaiian agriculture, I doubt you have much experience with it.
A landlord wants to extract more rents, the farmer who knows what their margins support say no can.
If the farmer owned the land, this wouldn’t be an issue. Its not a brand/ trademark issue. Its a structural issue related to land tenure and land ownership in a state where a 5000 square foot lot goes for 300k+ minimum and where five corporations effectively control 90%+ of private land.
Agriculture can’t support the kind of rents modern capital expects to collect.
I’m not disputing what you said. Just pointing out the parts of the article that lead me to my conclusion. The Landlord seems to not want to sell off parcels of this land according to their own statement, but to continue coffee operations. What you said makes sense (as far as extracting more rents), but so does trying to buy the rights to the Kauai Coffee Company name to continue their operations because of brand recognition.
You are correct in that I don’t know much of anything about the lease hold system for such lands in Hawaii.
Yes. And the farmer didn’t offer comment so we only get the land lords perspective. I’m heading over there next month. I’ll probably head over and ask around as to what the community thinks.
