Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate wants to destroy small business farmers in Kamilonui Valley

This letter when out to all the KS Alumni

 From: KS Alumni

Date: November 17, 2010

To: all the KS Alumni

Subject: Background on KS Lease Issues in Kamilonui

Aloha e Nä Hoaloha,

As you may already know, a small group of lessees who hold agriculture leases with Kamehameha Schools in Kamilonui - East Honolulu are protesting lease rent increases that we have proposed and consider to be fair.  We have been negotiating with the lessees since March, and while we continue to meet with them, we are also proceeding with arbitration, which is the process provided for in our lease agreements. We believe the arbitration process is a fair one.  A three-member arbitrator’s panel, selected by the lessees and Kamehameha Schools, will determine a fair lease rent structure based on comparable parcels in the area.  We respect the arbitrators’ expertise and will abide by their findings.

The lessees have taken their cause to the media, suggesting that the proposed lease rent increase is too high and jeopardizes their futures.  The news media appear to have accepted the lessees’ characterization of this process, so we wanted to share our side of the story and hope that you can help us by being advocates.  Here are some facts about the issue:

1.            KS has abides by all of the requirements of the lease contracts signed 38 years ago, even if those requirements did not favor Kamehameha’s interests.

2.            One of those requirements was that rents would not be increased from that time until July 1, 2010.

3.            This has resulted in lease rents for the last 38 years amounting to $15/acre per month (which includes the right to reside on the property).  Clearly this amount is far below market value and far below what is a fair return for KS today.

4.            The lease rent proposed by KS is about $434/acre per month.  Although this is a significant increase from $15/acre, the amount is still low and very fair especially considering the residential element. 

a.            As a comparison, the State Department of Agriculture recently completed a bid process for agricultural acreage in Waimänalo that resulted in leases, for bona fide farmers, of approximately $460/acre per month.

b.            KS has also already settled lease rents with several of the other agricultural lessees in the area who have agreed to KS’ lease rent offers.

5.            A majority of the current lessees are not currently farming the minimum requirement of 50% of their properties.

6.            Although subleasing is not allowed under the current agreement, several lessees are allowing others to use the property – and charging them for it. Two of these sublessees are not farming at all; we’ve also been told that one sublessee pays $1,875/acre per month. That means that their landlord (our lessee) is making a significant profit by subleasing our agricultural land for residential use.

a.            Recognizing that subleasing to bona fide farmers could allow current lessees to generate additional income to offset their new market rent, KS is offering to allow subleasing for bona fide agricultural use in the new leases.

7.            Several leases are in violation – using the land as dumping grounds of abandoned vehicles, scrap metals and discarded plastics.

Unfortunately, a group of the lessees who accepted the favorable terms of the lease agreement for nearly four decades, did not use the long stretch of very low lease rents to prepare for the eventual readjustment to fair market rates. As you know, we have a fiduciary duty to ensure that our lands provide the income critical to our ability to fulfilling our educational mission. We also have kuleana for the stewardship of our lands, and we take our kuleana very seriously.

Please help us be ambassadors for our mission and our children.  We would like to call on you to advocate for a fair and impartial resolution of this issue.  We believe that will be accomplished through the arbitration process.  Please let us know by email at land@ksbe.edu if you are willing to kokua this effort. 

Mahalo nui ia `oukou,

Ann Botticelli, Vice President

Community Relations & Communications Group

P.S.  We’ve also included (below) a quick-reference fact sheet regarding our Kamilonui lease issues. Mahalo for your consideration.

KAMILONUI FACT SHEET

11/17/2010

Lease history and current background

•              For the past 38 years, Kamilonui lessees have paid lease rents that have been far below fair market value; KS has abided by its agreement to not increase lease rents for Kamilonui lessees for that entire time.

•              The average Kamilonui lease rent has been $15/acre per month.

•              The lands have been used by lessees to generate income and for residential use.

•              The leases require at least 50% of the property to be in Agricultural Use; however, fewer than a third of the lessees are currently meeting the agricultural use requirement, and several of the Kamilonui properties have limited or no agricultural activity at all.

•              Although subleasing is not allowed under the current agreement, several lessees are subleasing or allowing others to use the property.

•              One sublessee pays approximately $1,875/acre per month in rent to our lessee.

New Rent Negotiation Efforts

•              The lease renegotiation period has been known since the leases were signed in 1970.

•              KS has granted lessees several extensions of time during the lease negotiation period.

•              KS has been meeting with the lessees and remains open to meeting with the lessees.

•              KS’ offer to the lessees was approximately $434/acre per month:

o        The offer included the right to sublease property for bona fide farm use;

o        A residence is allowed on the property.

Arbitration is Next Step

•              Several of the lessees have rejected KS’ offer; therefore, the new lease rent will be determined by an arbitration process that was contractually agreed upon when the leases were signed.

•              Arbitration requires that the new lease rent be set by a 3-member panel of arbitrators:

o        KS has named its arbitrator;

o        Lessees are required to name their arbitrator by mid November;

o        The two arbitrators will then decide on the third arbitrator.

•              KS believes that its offers were fair but will abide by the result of the arbitration process. 

•              As a comparison, the State of Hawaii recently completed a competitive bid process for Agricultural lands in Waimänalo; the winning bids by bona fide farmers were approximately $460/acre/month.

•              KS is seeking the same return as other comparable agricultural lands for its lands in Kamilonui.

•              KS is seeking fair market rent – nothing more.

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Kamilonui farmers protest

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/Global/category.asp?C=6743&autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=5292070&flvUri=&partnerclipid=


HAWAII KAI (HawaiiNewsNow) - Farmers from Kamilonui Valley and their supporters lined Kalanianaole Highway Saturday in a quickly organized sign-waving effort to get their message out. They claim that a proposed lease rent increase will wipe out their small profit margins -- and their farms -- if it takes effect.


"We want to fight for the farmers in Kamilonui Valley," said Judy Nii, whose nursery, R&S Nursery, has been located in the valley for more than 30 years. "There are a lot of small farmers, vegetable farms, some nurseries, and the rent that they're asking for is just so outrageous that none of us can afford it."


Kamehameha Schools, formerly known as Bishop Estate, owns the six acres under Nii's nursery, as well as other small farms in the valley. Currently, those farmers are paying an average of $15 per acre each month. Kamehameha Schools has proposed increasing it to $434 per acre, per month.
Nii's current lease costs her $1,200 a year. "And what they're proposing in my case is $32,000 a year, which is totally unfeasible," Nii said.


The farmers say the lease renegotiation date came due in July, and claim that Kamehameha Schools is now refusing to talk to them. In response, Kamehameha Schools said, in a statement, "We appreciate that the Kamilonui lessees are facing a large rent increase, but we also hope the lessees appreciate that they've been paying extremely favorable rents for 38 years for land that has provided their livelihood and also their residence.


"The lease renegotiation date has been known since the leases were signed, and we have been meeting with he farmers since March," the statement continued. It also said, "We still believe our expired offer was fair."
The farmers fear that such a big rent hike will put them out of business. "What else are we going to do? That's all we know, farming," said farmer Richard Higa.


"I don't think they realize how difficult farming is, and how small our profit margin is," Nii said, "So basically they're asking us to work and give them whatever we make."


Kamehameha Schools said the issue is now going into arbitration. "We believe that the arbitration process will determine a fair price, and we will abide by the arbitrator's decision," its statement said.

Monday, January 23, 2006
Kamilo Nui farmers hope to stave off development
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Writer

	Richard Nii runs a nursery in Kamilo Nui Valley and is worried about development coming to the last agricultural valley in the Hawai'i Kai area. Stanford Carr Development has entered into a deal with landowner Kamehameha Schools to purchase and develop the 87 acres. DEBORAH BOOKER | The Honolulu Advertiser
	COMMUNITY MEETING Residents who want land in Kamilo Nui Valley to continue to be used for farming, and those who want it to be sold to a developer, can attend a community meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Haha'ione Elementary cafeteria.

HAWAI'I KAI — Rows of vivid red and pink poinsettias fill the entrance to Dean Takebayashi's farm in Kamilo Nui Valley.
Likewise, up the street rows of blossoming roses of all colors greet visitors at R&S Nii Nursery, roosters and chickens roam freely, pecking at the dirt.
This piece of country living is wedged in the back of suburbia and has been here for decades. Every day, customers ask if the farmers will be here next year.
Takebayashi and the Nii family don't know how to answer that.
They'd like to continue farming in the quiet valley in Hawai'i Kai as they have for the past 40 years or so, but their landowner, Kamehameha Schools, wants to sell the land.
There's no value in holding on to the land in agriculture, particularly since the 14 farmers are paying slightly more than $200 a year per acre in lease rent, the landowner has said. Their leases expire in 19 years.
Because Kamehameha Schools has entered into an agreement with local developer Stanford Carr Development, which has agreed to purchase the 87 acres and develop it, Kamehameha Schools is left waiting for Carr to make a move.
This is the last chunk of land that, until recently, residents thought would remain in agriculture and not be turned into homes.
Residents who want to see the land remain for farming have organized a meeting with the landowner, the community and the farmers for the second time in six months to discuss its plans for the land.
That meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at the Haha'ione Elementary School cafeteria.
In September, more than 100 people showed up at the community meeting to voice concerns.
Land use has become a murky issue, as half of the 14 farmers would like to stay and farm and the other half want to retire. The problem is that many of their leases begin renegotiating as early as next year, and banks do not like to make loans to prospective buyers with such unknowns as what the lease rent might be or whether the owner will demand the land back.
And without an agreement from the landowner to write a new lease, farmers don't know where to turn.
"If I stay," Takebayashi said, "I want to renegotiate the lease rent for something that is economically feasible. I'd like to stay and continue my business if the lease rent is reasonable. I can't do my business if it's not.
"It's not easy being a farmer."
Kamehameha Schools has said that it won't negotiate with individual owners, but only the Kamilonui Valley Farmers Cooperative, an organization formed when the farmers first moved to the valley as a way to fund road, sewer and water improvements more than three decades ago.
"There is nothing new from Kamehameha Schools perspective," said Kekoa Paulsen, the landowners' spokesman. "The proposal (from Stanford Carr) is still out there. Stanford Carr is the one to make the deal happen."
Residents say the valley plays a vital role in preserving Hawai'i Kai's ecosystem. It is a watershed, a green belt. Mostly, it's the last valley in Hawai'i Kai to remain free of homes.
"Once it's gone, it's gone forever," said Tai Hong, a member of the Livable Hawai'i Kai Hui, a group formed to preserve open space in the community. "The land is very valuable now, but we want to strike a balance between preservation and development."
The land lies outside the city's designated area for development. Being outside the urban growth boundary and being designated as agriculture land, should offer protection, but rezoning has happened before on farm land in Hawai'i Kai. More than 1,000 new homes have been added to the community during this recent spate of development and is not reflected in current census figures that show there are 27,657 people. That's a 0.8 percent increase from 1990 to 2000.
City Councilman Charles Djou, who will be at Thursday's meeting, said that he believes the land should remain agricultural and not be developed. And while the community of farmers and residents have been discussing the future of the valley as if a proposal is before the city for a housing development, no plans have been submitted to the city for review, Djou said.
The process, should plans come forward, would take at least two years from re-zoning to the start of construction, he said.
"Kamilo Nui's future rests with the City Council," Djou said. "The zoning code is the law of the land and the law of the land says this parcel is designated as agriculture."
Those trying to keep the valley undeveloped and in agriculture believe they have to remain vigilant, despite Djou's promise of many public hearings. It happened before where a piece of agriculture land was carved out to make room for 65 homes built by Schuler Homes. That was nearly four years ago.
Richard Nii, who has spent his whole life farming, sees the area differently.
He sees it as home, the place where he was raised and where he has raised his children.
He has been in Kamilo Nui Valley since his dad's farm was moved from Mariner's Cove in the late 1960s to make room for a housing development. That was the family's second move because of a shift in land use.
"I've always known it would come to something like this," Nii said. "We want to continue farming. Many of our customers ask us if we're going to move or stay."

Bishop Estate refuses to negotiate lease with Kamilonui Valley

Sunday, November 14, 2010

	VIDEO: Bishop Estate refuses to negotiate lease with Kamilonui Valley farmers By News Release  Oahu News, Oahu Politics
"BISHOP ESTATE UNFAIR TO FARMERS" "The Trust refuses to meet with farmers to negotiate new lease rents." from Rep Gene Ward (R-Hawaii Kai) Representative Gene Ward (R-Hawaii Kai – Kalama Valley) said today on behalf of the Hawaii Kai community keenly interested in keeping the Kamilonui Valley farmers on their agriculture lots leased from Bishop Estate – Kamehameha Schools, that the Estate has not negotiated in good faith, and is calling upon the community to support the farmers. The farmers' leases expired and the farmers went to great length and expense to hire expert Agriculture Economist, Professor Chaudrey Shehata (UH-Hilo Campus) only to be told by the Estate's lawyers that such a study is irrelevant and means nothing and refused to meet with the farmers and the professor. This is the same "income based" rather than "commercial land value based" type of study that Dr. Shehata had done for 220 Kona coffee farmers just over a year ago to negotiate their new lease rents with the Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate. They accepted Dr. Shehata's Kona coffee study as relevant. "I find it rather unconscionable that the one of the biggest trusts in the world will not sit down and hear out a small group of farmers who have been on the land for the past 35 years. All Judy Nii and her farmers want to do is present Dr. Shehata's study and ask for fair lease renegotiations like the coffee farmers did," Ward said. Fearing that the Estate will remain obstinate and not meet with her and the farmers after so much time has passed since she has tried speaking to the estate weeks ago, Judy Nii has put out a call to the Hawaii Kai community to begin a sign waving protest campaign beginning tomorrow. Residents of Hawaii Kai fear that if the farmers are forced off their land, a new sub-division will be built and the lifestyle and density levels of Hawaii Kai will spoil the entire community. Sign waving how unfair the estate is in refusing to meet or negotiate lease rents will start at 8am at Maunalua Bay in Hawaii Kai. A second shift will wave protest signs from 10 am to noon. Saturday, November 13th and Sunday, November 14th, are both scheduled for sign waving with the farmers. "My family and I will be joining the sign-wavers at Maunalua Bay until we see some justice," Ward concluded. ---30--- Saving Kamilonui Valley in Hawaii Kai, Hawaii http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fvz_zOUS5c&NR=1 Kamilonui Valley Farmers Speak With Kamehameha Rep http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VIqnNBJOvg Kamilonui Farmers Speak With Kamehameha Rep Part II http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g40sdFZwFjY BISHOP ESTATE UNFAIR TO FARMERS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Rkmg3d_h3k

KEEP KAMILONUI VALLEY OPEN AND UNDEVELOPED

 

By Kimo Franklin

 Kamilonui Valley is the last remaining undeveloped valley in East Honolulu. An agricultural heiau called Pahua remains at the base of Kamilonui Valley. This heiau could be a symbol for what the valley can become again.

Why does Kamehameha Schools not explore the possibility of keeping the valley in agricultural use by making the land available for interested Hawaiians who want to farm? Farmers played an important role in Hawaiian culture. The valley could be used for traditional Hawaiian dry land crops such as sweet potatoes, which this area was known for in the old days, or other viable agricultural ventures and programs.

Kamehameha Schools says the Kamilonui farms aren't meeting the five mandates of the trust's land-holdings. Perhaps with planning and investment, the valley could meet these criteria once the leases expire or the current farmers decide they don't wish to stay. Everyone could learn by observing and practicing traditional Hawaiian land use, which offers advanced methods of conservation and preservation.

Keeping the valley open and undeveloped, but at the same time productive, would help keep this community balanced. Provide Hawaiians with land to work. Once the land is gone, no amount of money will get it back.

Kamilo Nui faces future East Honolulu’s last farm community hangs on

Farms / You know you’ve reached Kamilo Nui when you pass the last California-style subdivision and have to brake suddenly when an entire family of feral pigs walks calmly, in single file, across the road that leads up the tiny, picturesque valley in the back of Hawaii Kai.

On a recent Saturday, the families who have worked 87 acres of farms and nurseries in Kamilo Nui since the early 1970s held a well-publicized open house, designed to draw attention to their long-standing plight: They work land they don’t own–the last sizeable chunk of agricultural-zoned acreage in the Honolulu urban corridor–and it’s worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the various developers who have tried, over the years, to ease them out.

Their leases, with the state’s largest private land owner, Kamehameha Schools, actually run until 2025, but the lease rent is scheduled to be renegotiated in April, and the farmers worry whether they will be able to afford to stay in business after the ink dries on their new arrangements.

State Rep. Gene Ward, whose district includes Kamilo Nui, seemed to be in a nostalgic yet somewhat revolutionary mood in his opening remarks to a crowd assembling around food and informational booths at the Nii Nursery. “Anybody here remember how the Hawaiian Renaissance really got started?”

“Kalama Valley!” someone shouted from the crowd.

“That’s right. Just over there,” Ward said, pointing south-east. In 1970, Kamehameha Schools (then known as Bishop Estate) wanted the 68 families holding short-term leases in Kalama out of the way, so they could sell the valley to developers. By 1971 everyone was gone except George Santos and his 200 pigs. Protesters sat-in, the eviction went forward anyway, and Kalama Valley today is just another subdivision.

For Ward, a lonely Republican in the House, the current situation in Kamilo Nui is not a partisan issue. “It’s about the community and what it wants in the way of quality of life… 2025 is not that far away–it’s about those who come after us. What we leave them.”

Until recently, developer Stanford Carr had an agreement with Kamehameha Schools that would allow him to purchase the fee simple interest in Kamilo Nui, provided he could obtain the leasehold interests from the farmers first. He tried, says Tom Yamabe, Kamilo Nui leaseholder and member of the Liveable Hawaii Kai Hui, a community organization that advocates for what it calls “sensible growth.”

Yamabe, a steely-eyed octogenarian looks like he wants to squash a cockroach at the mention of Carr’s name.

“We let Kam School know we don’t need Stanford Carr around–or anybody else who plans to develop this place,” he said.

According to Kamehameha Schools spokesperson Kekoa Paulsen, “Mr. Carr was not able to get enough of the leaseholders to sign away their interest to him. Therefore his proposal didn’t go anywhere.”

Second-generation nurseryman Glenn Nii, whose father Charles secured the original lease on his six-acre parcel, was one of the featured farmers at the Day on the Farm Event, and has long been a front man in the effort to preserve his family’s way of life in Kamilo Nui. While I was talking with him, a weathered-looking man who identified himself as a Hamakua farmer, inquired as to the possibility of sub-leasing a parcel from one of the farmers no longer working parts of their land.

“I’ve had several inquiries like his,” Glenn said. “I tell them, yeah, it’s allowed on our current lease, and it’s something that can keep Kamilo Nui in ag. But I also have to tell them to wait–until we see what the new rents are gonna be.”

The event on Saturday was two years in the planning and centered around a topic that’s been at the forefront of local discourse, at every level, for even longer.

“Look,” said Gov. Linda Lingle, who made a brief appearance. “I ran on getting rid of the (State) Land Use Commission, not to mention the Water Commission…local opinion on these land use issues should be given credence.” In other words, the governor suggests the debate ought to be under the purview of City–not state–officials.

And at least one City official was there with her. Councilman Donovan Dela Cruz, whose presence so far from his Mililani, North Shore, Windward Side district may have had something to do with the fact that he is running for mayor, stressed that his district contains the majority of Oahu’s ag-land.

“Ultimately it’s a serious decision–and our future is involved. Do I want to pass on the white picket fence, or open space to the generations to come?” he said, referring to the endless density-versus-sprawl debate.

But with 30-story Kakaako apartment buildings steadily climbing into the sky and Kapolei spreading horizontally, it does not seem as though one path is being favored over the other by City or State agencies. Building up and out is bad news for Kamilo Nui.

And as usual, many of the answers to future land-use questions, particularly on Oahu, rest not with government, but with big landowners such as Kamehameha Schools. In Honolulu proper, the trust holds extensive commercial real estate, with plans to redevelop properties in Moiliili and Kapalama. Since there has been no move by local government to force a fee conversion on commercial leasehold land it is presumed that Kamehameha Schools will hold onto its fee interest in these properties and do what it has always done: lease out commercial space at highly profitable rates.

So-called residential holdings–and, its current ag-zoning aside, Kamilo Nui could easily become just that in the future–are a different story. Kamehameha Schools representatives have said that they want to see their residential holdings developed into their “highest and best use.”

Which begs the question: what exactly is the highest and best use for Kamilo Nui?

82-year-old Doris Enomoto, whose family has farmed acreage in the valley for 40 years, has perhaps a partial answer to this question, as she lists the vegetables she has arrayed for sale, on a long table in her garage.

“We grow Manoa lettuce, bok choi, daikon, beets. And, oh yeah–corn in season.”

A Day on the Farm

 

“A Day on the Farm” Hopes to Bring Greater Awareness to Hawaii Kai

by L. Kae Graniel October 14, 2009

Judy Nii, joint owner of R&S Farms

Hawaii Kai is already a beautiful place to be, yet many local residents are unaware of the natural beauty in their own Kamilonui Valley. Judy Nii, joint owner of R&S Farms, and head of the Kamilonui Farmers Co-op, says she has met people who have lived in Hawaii Kai for more than 10 years who have never visited the valley and its nurseries or farms.

The Kamilonui Farmers Co-op, with the help of local community groups and organizations, aims to change all that with their big event “A Day on the Farm.” The event is planned for Saturday October 10th from 10AM – 2PM at the R&S Nii Farms, located at 938 Kamilonui Place. The day will include educational walking tours, door prizes, ono food, a farmers market, and games and a bounce house for kids. Teach-Ins, where the community will learn about the farmers’ plight, the dangers of overdevelopment, and the importance of Hawaii Kai’s watershed, will also be offered.

Representative Gene Ward became involved when first approached by the farmers in late 2007. A brainstorming session between the Co-op and his staff resulted in the concept of “A Day on the Farm.”

According Representative Ward:  “The first thing we came up with was a bumper sticker, ‘Keep the Valley Valley!’ But this was not enough to get the attention of the community about what was really going on with the farmers and the renegotiation of their leases. My office then held a Farmer’s Forum in the fall of 2008 that lead to a public discussion between the farmers and Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate. These farms are a valuable part of the Hawaii Kai community, and if we lose them, we’ll lose a part of our history as well as an extremely important component of our natural watershed, and no one - repeat, no one - wants another sub-division in Hawaii Kai, which, potentially, these farms could become. Most people in Hawaii Kai believe as I do, that we as a community are already over-developed and we really need our farmers and agricultural lands to remain as-is in perpetuity. The community has already risen up against any cabins on Ka Iwi, sharks in Maunalua Bay, lighting on Lunalilo Home Road and now it is the issue of our farmers that we’re hoping will be their next rallying point.  We all have a lot at risk because a sub-division, in place of the farmers, would mean the end of Hawaii Kai as we know it. Again, as previously stated, the farmland in the back of Kamilonui Valley is one of the best-kept secrets on Oahu.  The threat of this becoming a sub-division is even more remote in people’s minds. The wake up call of April 2010 renegotiations that puts all of this on the chopping block is what this event and consciousness-raising by the event is all about. When the renegotiations take place in April, the farmers are going to need as much community support as they can get. One should never underestimate the power of a community that bands together, especially this community. I fully believe this community can do absolutely anything it puts its mind to.”

 Judy Nii expresses that this is not a battle between the Bishop Estate and the farmers. The Kamilonui Farmers Co-op is grateful for the 600 acres they were parceled nearly 30 years ago. It is more about getting them to understand, when renegotiating, that the land has value that does not have a price, such as the value to the Maunalua Bay for beautiful, pristine water supplied by the water shed of the valley. The farmers understand that the cost of the lease will probably be more than it was in the past, they just want a lease that is feasible, so they can continue to support the community and eco system in the way nature intended. When the community shows they appreciate the farms, Nii hopes the Bishop Estate will see the whole picture and help support the continuation of preservation by offering a lease that is affordable to the farmers of Kamilonui Valley. 

As the event nears, Nii is excited and overwhelmed – in a good way – by the support the Co-op has received. She goes on to explain that the 13 farms could not have been able to pull this off alone. “Rep. Gene Ward’s liaison, Pam Kam and his assistant Beth Fukumoto have done so much between rallying community support and writing press releases. As well as securing door prizes from Sea Breeze for water activities, gift cards to Koko Marina Shopping Center from the Hawaii Kai Marina Community Association (HKMCA), Jamba Juice, and Cha Cha Cha Salsaria. And, the event will begin with a blessing by New Hope Hawaii Kai’s Aaron Cordeiro, with music provided by their band. We hope to see as many as 300 residents this Saturday, but we really have no idea what to expect since this has never been done before.”  Other non-profit groups such as the Ka Lui Coalition, Conservation Malama Maunalua, and Hawaii Kai Hui will be there to provide information and support. In addition to Rep. Gene Ward, Governor Lingle’s office confirmed that she will also attend the event.

“A Day on the Farm” is a free event, open to the public. Just follow the signs and volunteers will assist you with parking and direct you to the activities. Door prizes will be given away every half hour and guided tours will be given every hour on the hour, so get there early. The farms will also be offering special prices on their nursery items throughout the day.