Agribusiness Development Corp. separates from the State Department of Agriculture

Agribusiness Development Corp. was removed from the state Department of Agriculture and placed within the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

Among the bills Governor David Ige has signed into law this year is Senate Bill 2473, which transferred the ADC to the DBEDT for administrative purposes. The bill also changed the responsibilities and powers of CDA, its board of directors and its agribusiness plan.

The purpose of SB 2473, now Bill 219, was to address internal issues and the CDA’s lack of support for local agriculture, as presented in a 2021 state audit. The company, established in 1994 to manage the thousands of acres of land left over from sugar and pineapple plantations, has done little in that regard, according to the audit.

He concluded that CDA’s board, which receives little training and guidance, and staff do not understand the corporation’s purpose and that legal requirements, such as developing a agribusiness plan, were considered unnecessary.

One of the issues noted during the audit was that ADC’s essential documents relating to its land management and day-to-day operations were “inconsistent, incomplete and, in many cases, non-existent”. it’s not even possible.

Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz, who introduced the bill, hopes the DBEDT will provide the CDA with the administrative support it needs.

“ADC needs help with human resources, accounting. Everything the audit said was problematic with CDA, DBEDT is already helping other agencies with this,” Dela Cruz said.

DBEDT provides administrative support to 10 agencies, including the Hawaii State Energy Office, Land Use Commission, and Hawaii Tourism Authority.

While Dela Cruz said the ADC’s function and purpose are determined by state law rather than the department to which it reports, major stakeholders in Hawaiian agriculture have opposed the project. bill while it was before the state legislature.

The Hawaii Farm Bureau and the DOA itself were among the witnesses who expressed concern about the ADC’s withdrawal of USDA expertise. The State audit had noted that there was little agricultural expertise within the ADC when it was attached to the DOA.

It’s unclear exactly what the implications of moving ADC to DBEDT will be, but that’s part of the concern.

“I just think there may be unintended consequences in terms of the mandate of the two different agencies,” said Anne Frederick, executive director of the Hawaiian Alliance for Progressive Action.

Similarly, the DOA, in testimony, said it was “concerned about potential unintended impacts that may result from an unraveling of our administrative and operational relationship with CDA.”

Apart from that, opponents of the decision said the bill did not do enough to address the slow progress made by the company.