Hawaii Farmers Need Land. State Efforts To Help Aren’t Working…Providing small farmers land is key to producing more local food, but the state’s go-to model isn’t moving the needle.
Tina Bushnell has dedicated many nights and weekends over the past six years to her dream of quitting her day job and opening a tropical fruit orchard. But she’s struggled to clear the first hurdle: finding land.
Bushnell is a graduate of the University of Hawaii’s farmer training program and has real-world experience, so she would likely qualify for a plot of land at an agricultural park run by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture — if there were any available in Waimanalo.
“I’ve been on the DOA waitlist for about three years now and I call once a year and ask them what’s up and they say, ‘Oh not yet,’” she said.
