Farm development agency may be plowed under by Hawaii lawmakers
A state agency with special powers to expand diversified agriculture could be nearing a brink of perhaps its biggest accomplishment in 27 years, or disbandment.
The Agribusiness Development Corp. hasn’t been a terribly active agency for most of its existence despite lofty expectations of lawmakers who created the entity in 1994 partly to improve infrastructure of closed sugar and pineapple plantations for new diversified farming endeavors.
This year the agency, which owns irrigation ditch systems on Oahu and Kauai along with 22,535 acres of farmland mainly on the same islands, has come under fire at the Legislature following a searing performance audit published last month.
https://www.staradvertiser.com/2021/02/27/hawaii-news/farm-development-agency-may-be-plowed-under-by-hawaii-lawmakers/
