US: Maui pineapple ends operations

After suffering severe financial losses, Maui Land & Pineapple Company announces the end of pineapple production on the Valley Isle. “This is very sad news for our community.”

For generations of Hawai‘i residents, pineapple has been regarded as a sweet symbol of the fruits of their labor. But for some, this iconic “cash crop” is now a bitter reminder of an economy gone sour, as Maui’s longstanding pineapple legacy comes to an end.

After nearly a century of pineapple production on the Valley Isle, Maui Land & Pineapple Company (ML&P) announced last week that Maui Pineapple Company (MPC) will end its Maui Gold operations by the end of the year, ending a significant chapter of Maui’s history and leaving hundreds of residents unemployed.

In a press release on Tuesday, Nov. 3, ML&P Chairman and Interim CEO Warren Haruki explained, “Since 2002, MPC has lost $115 million in this agriculture business, while investing $20 million in capital expenditures for a new fresh packing facility.” Indicating it was a difficult decision for the company, Haruki said, “Realizing that these losses could no longer continue, we spent the last year exploring options to keep pineapple operations going on Maui…. despite our efforts, it became clear that there were no other financially viable options.”

Immediately following the company’s announcement, Mayor Charmaine Tavares issued a statement: “This is very sad news for our community, especially for the employees and their families who will be affected… agricultural fields are part of our heritage and have been a foundation of our island’s history. For nearly a hundred years the company’s pineapple operations have made our community’s character unique.”

Recalling the Valley Isle’s longstanding relationship with the industry, the mayor said, “Working in our pineapple fields has been the source of income for many families, where high school teenagers spent their summers and where multiple members of a family worked in different parts of the operations. I have my own personal memories of summer work in the fields.”

The news of the closure was a devastating blow to more than 250 ML&P employees, some of whom can trace pineapple farming throughout their family trees.



Source: mauiweekly.com

Publication date: 11/12/2009

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