So Mahi Pono has successful pivot during COVID-19 pandemic

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Farmers in Central Maui have pivoted to tackle challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, including So Mahi Pono, the island’s largest agriculture company. | Pixabay

Farmers in Central Maui have pivoted to tackle challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, including So Mahi Pono, the island’s largest agriculture company, The Maui News reported.

Shipping costs, new safety protocols for the in-field workers, and closures of restaurants and hotels pushed the company to look at what they grew and the scale, but it also showed a stronger need for food sustainability, according to Mahi Pono officials.

“We’re an island state that continues to import about 90% of all of our food; that makes us vulnerable every time there’s a natural disaster, shipping issues or a global pandemic,” said Shan Tsutsui, Mahi Pono chief operating officer.

The company is working on a pilot for new crops, a community farm that rents parcels to local farmers, and has recently planted watermelon, broccolini, kale, and green beans, and all of which have done surprisingly well. Mahi Pono wants to be known for a variety of locally-grown foods, instead of the monocrop of sugar cane.

“Transforming former sugar cane fields into diversified agriculture is not an easy task,” Tsutsui said. “It takes time, hard work and financial commitment.”

At Mahi Pono’s Chef’s Corner farm, there are rows of green, yellow and purple beans, butternut and kabocha squash, red kale, green kale, dinosaur kale, bok choy, green onions and orange sweet potato. The farm is about 40 acres of organically managed land, and it is the place where crops are tested for the farmers and the market. And each time the crops are rotated, it adds nutrients to the soil.

Chase Stevenson manages the Chef’s Corner farm and has about 10 years of Maui farming experience at Kula Agriculture Park and in Haliimaile, said farming in the central plains is both challenging and rewarding.

“You never know what you’re going to run into. It is fun even though it doesn’t sound fun — it keeps things interesting,” said Stevenson.

Watermelon grown on half an acre at the farm was consumed almost entirely by the local market. The rest went to the Big Island, according to Shan Tsutsui, Mahi Pono chief operating officer. The plan is to expand the watermelon fields and have a harvest in the summer.

While beans, broccolini, and kale do really well, the scaling back of hospitality markets and restaurants has made it difficult to sell those crops, said Darren Strand, Vice President of Agricultural Outreach and Business Development.

“Anything you grow with a good quality and a consistent supply, you are going to be able to move,” said Strand. “Hopefully things are going to turn around in the next month or so and we will be positioned with this project, and some potatoes, onions and papayas, to be ready to hit that and run.”

In all, Mahi Pono will plant more than 3,500 new acres of crops this year, according to Grant Nakama, vice president of operations.

The Mahi Pono community farm expects tenants to move in by the end of February. The program provides “farm ready” land, including water, to local growers for $150 per acre a year. Tentative agreements have been reached with 14 farmers and small businesses for an initial 60 acres. A second phase of community farmland will add more acreage, officials said.

The pandemic-caused pivot helped the company to bring products to market under the Maui Harvest brand in multiple stores, and also allowed them to donate an increased amount of produce to nonprofit organizations.

“This shift allowed us to donate more than 60,000 pounds of produce to nonprofit organizations like Maui Food Bank, Hawaii Foodbank and Chef Hui that directly helped those in need,” Tsutsui said.