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A complicated land lease arrangement stretching back decades has put the fate of a popular Hawaii coffee farm—and the jobs of 141 workers—in peril.
Kauai Coffee Co. produces between 1 and 2 million pounds of green coffee each year from 4 million trees, making it the largest coffee producer in the United States, according to its website. But the company doesn’t own the 3,000-acre plot on which it farms. Kauai Coffee’s lease expires at the end of March, and the company has been unable to reach an agreement with its landlord on an extension.
In the late 1980s, Kauai Coffee began leasing its farmland from a company called Alexander & Baldwin. In 2011, Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA acquired Kauai Coffee but continued leasing the land from A&B. In 2022, A&B sold a vast tract of land, including the farm, to a Colorado-based investment firm, Brue Baukol Capital Partners (BBCP).
James Priestley, vice president of BBCP, told Kauaʻi Now that discussions over a lease extension began two years ago. “We have been engaging constructively and in good faith with Massimo Zanetti Beverage, and we remain focused on outcomes that serve the best interests of the community,” Priestley said. However, an agreement has not yet been reached.
At a Jan. 7 Kauai County Council meeting, Kauai Coffee Co. senior advisor Wayne Katayama warned of potential layoffs if they can’t agree with BBCP. On Jan. 14, workers received Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notices, which companies must provide to workers if they’re about to be laid off.
BBCP has also hinted that it wants to continue using the land as a coffee farm even if Kauai Coffee is no longer involved. Farm workers could keep their jobs in that scenario. However, Katayama and council members expressed skepticism that continued coffee operations under new management were feasible. “Maintaining a premium specialty coffee business is a challenge,” Katayama said.
The International Longshore & Warehouse Union Local 142 represents 69 of the 141 workers affected. “These workers did not create this situation,” ILWU Local 142 president Chris West told Kauaʻi Now. “They grow, harvest, roast, package and distribute Kaua’i Coffee, a fully integrated agricultural operation built by local people over decades. Yet today, those same workers are being forced to prepare for [an] uncertain future and possible layoffs.”
Read more on the looming layoffs in Hawaii from Daily Coffee News here.
Photo by Fuji Nakama on Unsplash
