Category: Pineapple

January 9, 2010 Agricultural Equipment, Agriculture Grants, General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Pine land to cost $420K a year | The Honolulu Advertiser

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By Rick Daysog
Advertiser Staff Writer

A group that plans to restore pineapple growing on Maui will pay $420,000 a year to lease agricultural lands held by Maui Land & Pineapple Co.

Haliimaile Pineapple Co. also will pay $680,000 to purchase ML&P’s farm equipment, supplies and customer lists, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

ML&P announced in November that it was shutting down pineapple operations after nearly 100 years of plantation-scale farming on the Valley Isle. The company harvested its final crop last month and laid off 206 workers.

But Haliimaile — whose principals include former ML&P executives Doug MacCluer and Ed Chenchin and Ulupalakua Ranch owner Pardee Erdman — said last week they plan restore pineapple farming on 950 acres of ML&P’s 3,000-acre pineapple operations .

The new company said it also will take over ML&P’s Maui Gold brand and will hire back 66 displaced pineapple workers.

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January 8, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Maui Pine assets sold for quarter of worth – Pacific Business News

The group that bought the assets of Maui Pineapple Co. paid a fraction of what the company’s equipment, materials, supplies and customer lists were worth, according to a filing with federal regulators.

The partners of Haliimaile Pineapple Co. acquired the equipment and other items for $680,000, to be paid over five years. The assets had a book value of $3 million, according Maui Land and Pineapple Co.’s filing this week with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission

Haliimaile Pineapple will also pay ML&P (NYSE: MLP) between $20,000 and $30,000 a year to use the Maui Pineapple trade marks, trade names such as Maui Gold, and logos, and will lease 950 acres and 59,000 square feet of office and warehouse space at market rents, which is about $420,000 per year, for 20 years. The new company hired 66 workers of the 206 workers who were terminated by Maui Pine on Dec. 31, which will decrease ML&P’s severance costs, the company said in the filing.

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January 7, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Maui Pineapple erntet letzten Ertrag – Frucht Portal

Maui Pineapple erntet letzten Ertrag

Geschlagen durch ausländischen Wettbewerb und eine stockende Wirtschaft, beendet der letzte große Ananaserzeuger auf Hawaii, Maui Land & Pineapple Co. Inc., seine letzte Ernte nach 97 Jahren in dem Landwirtschaftsgeschäft. Der letzte Ertrag wurde am 23. Dezember auf den Feldern bei Haliimaile geerntet, was das Ende einer Ära markiert, in der einst Ananas ein großer Arbeitgeber in dem Staat war. Maui Pineapple pflanzte seine ersten Früchte 1912 auf West-Maui.

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January 7, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Maui Pineapple Production Resurrected

January 07, 2010
HYPER LOCAL

Reports of pineapple’s demise on Maui were, if not greatly exaggerated, at least premature. From the ashes of Maui Land & Pineapple’s defunct agricultural arm rises Haliimaile Pineapple Company, a venture backed by several former ML&P executives. In a December 31 release, CEO Darren Strand said the company "brings new hope…by immediately saving 65 agricultural jobs with an expectation of adding more in the future." Of course, the issues that doomed ML&P—and plantation-style ag in general—still loom, but hey, it’s the New Year. If you can’t be optimistic now, when can you?…

Loyal Bushies in the Honolulu First Circuit and Maui Pineapple Production Resurrected

January 7, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Maui Pineapple Co. executives start new company | The Packer

Five former Maui Pineapple Co. executives are working with Pardee Erdman of Ulupalakua Ranch to take over pineapple operations from Maui Land & Pineapple Co. Inc.

The new company, Haliimaile Pineapple Co. Ltd., plans continue to grow and market fresh pineapple under the established Maui Gold Brand. The company purchased and licensed key assets, and leased farm land, equipment, and buildings from ML&P with plans to serve the Hawai’i market, according to a news release. The company officially opened Jan. 1.

Key shareholders and directors in the new company include Pardee Erdman, owner of Ulupalakua Ranch; Doug Schenk, former president of Maui Pineapple Co.; former vice presidents of MPC, Doug MacCluer and Ed Chenchin; and current operating directors for MPC, Darren Strand and Rudy Balala.

Haliimaile Pineapple Co. plans consolidate growing, fresh fruit packing facility, cold storage and shipping operations in Haliimaile. It sells fresh pineapple to local hotels, restaurants, and supermarkets and plans to increase  direct-to-consumer business.

Maui Pineapple Co. executives start new company | The Packer

January 6, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

USA – New lease for pineapple company

Haliimaile Pineapple Co. Ltd. on Saturday officially stepped into the void left when Maui Land & Pineapple Co. shut down its farming operations, with crews taking to the fields for the company’s first harvest.

After helping harvesters, drivers, mechanics and other workers clock in by hand Saturday morning, Haliimaile Pine partner Doug Schenk said the company was ready to work the land.

>But he implored Hawaii shoppers to do their part to help the new venture succeed – one sweet bite at a time.

"We need the consumer to go out and buy Maui Gold," Schenk said. "We need the community and the citizenry to go out and buy this product across the state. If people don’t see it in the stores they need to ask those stores to stock Maui Gold.

"We need to get our case volume up for this to work. These are wonderful people. I love ’em. This is all about jobs and preserving open space. That’s what it’s about, buy local. We should support our local farmers."

The financially struggling ML&P announced in November that it would shut down pineapple at the end of 2009. On New Year’s Eve, officials with Haliimaile Pine said they had reached an agreement with the century-old company to take over 1,000 acres of its fields and use its equipment to continue farming.

USA – New lease for pineapple company

January 3, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Pineapple revival – Starbulletin.com

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Pineapple revival

A new, smaller company picks up where Maui Land & Pineapple Co. left off

By Rob Shikina

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Jan 03, 2010

About 65 workers arrived at dawn yesterday for the first day of work at a new though much smaller pineapple company that will allow fresh pineapple farming and packing to continue on Maui.

Haliimaile Pineapple Co. began operations yesterday on 1,000 acres of leased land with some equipment purchased from Maui Land & Pineapple Co.

All workers were former employees of Maui Pineapple, which shut down last week after 97 years in operation. The company laid off about 285 employees and transferred 130 to partner companies.

Yesterday, workers picked more than 41 tons of pineapples in five hours.

"This morning was a real chicken-skin moment," said Rudy Balala, Haliimaile vice president, who worked at Maui Land & Pineapple for more than 30 years. He began talking with Darren Strand, a former Maui Pineapple operating director, about running their own operation a year ago.

"Our thing is trying to run as lean as possible and have everybody involved in the operations," Balala said. "We want everybody to be cross-trained."

Because volume is much lower than Maui Pineapple’s, the company needs a small crew that can do everything, he said.

Some workers who haven’t picked pineapple for more than 10 years were picking pineapple yesterday, Balala said.

"Everybody wants this company to succeed and they’re really showing it, especially on the first day," he said.

Tomorrow, all employees will go to Kahului to train and pack pineapples.

"There were a lot of smiles, a lot of happy people," said Doug Schenk, a shareholder in the new company. "A lot of people raring to go."

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January 2, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Maui-grown pineapple lives on! New company to continue growing Maui Gold brand. | Hawaii® Magazine

by: Derek Paiva

Fresh, whole Maui-grown pineapple will not be a relic of Hawaii’s past after all.

The World knows that Maui produces the BEST Pineapple!
Click for larger image
A consortium of Maui-based investors on Thursday announced the formation of Haliimaile Pineapple Co. Ltd., a new company that would immediately continue farming and harvesting the sweet and juicy fruit on 1,000 acres of Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc. land.

Haliimaile is slated to begin operations today.

On Nov. 3, Maui Land & Pineapple announced that it would shut down all operations at its Maui Pineapple Co. subsidiary at the end of 2009 after 97 years of growing the signature Hawaii fruit on the island. The largest grower of pineapple left in Hawaii, Maui Pineapple Co. sold fresh whole pineapple in stores and online under its Maui Gold brand. Maui Pineapple’s last harvest was completed on Dec. 23.

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January 1, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Hawaii execs step in to keep Maui Gold pineapple growing | The Honolulu Advertiser

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By Alan Yonan Jr. Advertiser Staff Writer

A group of former Maui Pineapple Co. executives have teamed up with the owner of Ulupalakua Ranch to take over some of the pineapple operations of Maui Land & Pineapple Co.

Pineapple is BACK!
YES, YES, YES!
CLICK for larger image
ML&P had announced in November that it would close its pineapple division after nearly 100 years of plantation-scale farming on the Valley Isle. The company last week harvested its final pineapple crop.

The new company, Haliimaile Pineapple Co., will continue to grow and market fresh pineapple under the established Maui Gold Brand, although on a smaller scale. The company said yesterday it will hire back 65 former Maui Pineapple Co. workers and farm about 1,000 of the 3,000 acres that were previously cultivated.

"We’re thrilled to be doing this," said Doug Schenk, former Maui Pineapple Co. president and member of the new management team.

"Maui Gold pineapple is a variety that no one else has. We knew that there was huge demand for it," said Schenk, who left Maui Pineapple in 2001.

Haliimaile has purchased and licensed key assets, and leased farm land, equipment and buildings from ML&P.

The other principals in the new company are Pardee Erdman, owner of Ulupalakua Ranch; former vice presidents of Maui Pineapple Doug MacCluer and Ed Chenchin; and the current operating directors for Maui Pineapple, Darren Strand and Rudy Balala.

Erdman will be the majority owner. The group brings more than 150 years of combined expertise in growing and packing premium pineapple on Maui, the company said.

"We are proud to continue the 100-year legacy of pineapple on Maui," said Strand, president and CEO of the new company.

"Haliimaile Pineapple Co. brings new hope for a new year by immediately saving 65 agricultural jobs with an expectation of adding more in the future."

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