Fake farms get tax breaks, but Hawaii can't stop them yet

FILE - State Sen. Herbert "Tim" Richards III, speaks during a press conference at the state Capitol, April 30, 2025, in Honolulu, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin, file)

By THOMAS HEATON/Honolulu Civil Beat

Hawaiʻi’s 6,500 farms range from small operations that produce food and raise livestock for their families and their communities to large companies that supply big box stores and export coffee, macadamia nuts and other luxury foods.

But what exactly qualifies as a farm? And should those who live on land zoned for agriculture still reap the benefits of lower taxes, regardless of what or how much they grow?

Illegitimate and unproductive agricultural operations have rankled Hawaiʻi for decades, with some developers explicitly targeting farmland for new housing. Mansions interspersed with fruit trees, classified as orchards, or a handful of goats deemed a ranch are among the many examples cited by critics.

Now, a bill moving through the legislature aims to help officials set clear standards that will allow them to distinguish bona fide farmers from landowners merely looking for a tax break, often called “gentlemen farmers.” In doing so, they could boost the state’s tax base while offering legitimate farmers more support.

A number of states, including New Jersey and Kentucky, have struggled to define farming. In previous years, Hawaiʻi has passed laws to stop condominium projects being built on agricultural lands. Counties have also sought to root out fake farmers in their zoning laws, calling on farmers to prove they earn over $2,000 from their operations.

Neither effort has been a panacea.

While lawmakers say they are looking for ways to make farming easier, farming advocates have mixed feelings. Some are worried that small-scale farmers – whose operations account for a third of farms statewide – will be the only ones who have to prove their legitimacy. Others are cautiously optimistic that the added clarity might be good for the overall food system. Most agree the problem needs to be addressed.

Former Land Use Commission chair Jonathan Likeke Scheuer pointed to clusters of properties across West Maui and the Big Island where farmland is mainly providing scenic backgrounds.

“They’re nothing approaching what any reasonable person would say is an agricultural use,” Scheuer said. “You have the absurdity of people who say, ‘I’m growing turf’ because they just have a large lawn.”

Enter The Matrix

The Legislature’s proposed salve for the symptoms of ill-defined agriculture is to create a tiered system that classifies farms by their output, size and function — from subsistence farmers to corporate food producers.

Senate Bill 2153, introduced by Sen. Tim Richards of the Big Island, calls on the state’s major agricultural agencies to consider such things as production, investment, value to the community and culture, environmental stewardship and operational scale when deciding who to describe as a farmer.

Recognizing the diversity of Hawaiʻi’s farmers has been the top concern for agricultural groups, who worry that Native Hawaiian and subsistence agriculture may be ignored or overburdened. Richards, who introduced the legislation, believes it could actually benefit them the most because they are the ones most often confused with imposter operations.

“What if you have an old, retired guy that raises a couple of grass fats for the family, and he kills an animal every eight months then shares that with his family?” said Richards, a cattle rancher. “That’s bona fide agriculture, absolutely. It’s subsistence.”

Still, advocates fear that the bill could require smaller operators to spend their limited time proving their income while their larger counterparts continue to increase their physical and commercial footprints.

“My concern is that we then increase the hurdles and headaches for smallholders, without meaningfully addressing the consolidation of land ownership,” said Hunter Heaivilin, advocacy director at the Hawaii Farmers Union.

Small farms still comprise a majority of Hawaiʻi’s farms. But the state lost more than 1,000 farms between 2007 and 2022 while the size of the average operation has grown. Indeed, the state’s Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity last year found an increasing concentration of large-scale agricultural outfits dominating the state’s agricultural lands.

Heaivilin spent two years penning a state-commissioned report on Hawaiʻi land management practices, and found decades of misapplied regulations that often benefited larger operations. So he said creating such binding definitions requires careful consideration.

“The concern with developing something that will be a regulatory tool, without considering all of the regulatory uses, is that it gets misapplied,” Heaivilin said.

The bill is only a first step. It would require the agriculture department to develop the matrix this year, with the Agribusiness Development Corp., then bring it back for lawmakers to approve next year.

Scheuer, the former land commission chair, agrees that there could be unseen consequences for both land and water use, or even preferential treatment of certain farmers based on where they end up falling in the matrix.

The bill seems to be “setting up some larger policy discussions,” Scheuer added. “It’s not clear exactly what those are, and some of those could be very contentious.”

Inspired By Another Island

Both the Hawaii Farm Bureau and Farmers Union have suggested the state look to Guam for inspiration in solving its fake farmer problem.

The U.S. territory requires farmers to register with the island’s agriculture department before they can access local markets, tax exemptions and various support programs, including grants. Vermont and other states have explored similar initiatives.

Some farmers might be annoyed by extra paperwork and it could also create more work for the state agriculture agencies. But it could give the state a clear view of the agricultural landscape, said the farm bureau’s executive director, Brian Miyamoto.

For any definition, especially when it comes to taxation and programs, enforcement at both the county and state levels will always be a concern, said Jonathan Helton, policy analyst for Grassroot Institute of Hawaii.

Still, the proposed rubric has Helton and other agriculture advocates feeling quietly optimistic about the definition’s potential to help the state distribute incentives such as state grants, subsidies and tax exemptions to those who need them most.

Richards hopes that clearly identifying the state’s farmers will expedite future legislation and initiatives to improve agriculture throughout the state. He is under no illusion that it will be a quick fix.

“I’m not convinced we have it worked out quite right. But then again, as they say, legislation is making sausage,” Richards said. “It’s going to take a little bit of grinding and mixing before you get done.”

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” Hawai’i Grown ” is funded in part by grants from the Stupski Foundation, Ulupono Fund at the Hawai’i Community Foundation and the Frost Family Foundation.

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This story was originally published by Honolulu Civil Beat and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.