Sad About The Transition On Maui

They buttered many a slice of my bread:

Honolulu (January 6, 2016) – Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. (NYSE:ALEX) (“A&B” or “Company”) today announced that it is transitioning out of farming sugar and will instead pursue a diversified agricultural model for its 36,000-acre Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company (“HC&S”) plantation on Maui. Sugar operations will be phased out by the end of 2016, and the transition to a new model will occur over a multi- year period. ... Under the new diversified model, the plantation is planned to be divided up into smaller farms with varied agricultural uses, potentially including energy crops, food crops, support for the local cattle industry, and the development of an agriculture park.

“A&B’s roots literally began with the planting of sugar cane on 570 acres in Makawao, Maui, 145 years ago,” said Stanley M. Kuriyama, A&B executive chairman. “Much of the state’s population would not be in Hawaii today, myself included, if our grandparents or great-grandparents had not had the opportunity to work on the sugar plantations. A&B has demonstrated incredible support for HC&S over these many years, keeping our operation running for 16 years after the last sugar company on Maui closed its doors. We have made every effort to avoid having to take this action. However, the roughly $30 million Agribusiness operating loss we expect to incur in 2015, and the forecast for continued significant losses, clearly are not sustainable, and we must now move forward with a new concept for our lands that allows us to keep them in productive agricultural use.”

“This is a sad day for A&B, and it is with great regret that we have reached this decision,” said Christopher J. Benjamin, A&B president and chief executive officer, who ran HC&S as its general manager from 2009 to 2011.

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Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company is the state’s largest farm, with 36,000 acres under cultivation. The Company also generates enough electricity, primarily from renewable sources, to be 100% energy self-sufficient. For more information, please visit hcsugar.com.