Photo: Rodrigo Flores | Unsplash
After years of uncertainty, dozens of Ka'u coffee farmers are now buying the land they've worked for more than two decades. About 300 acres near Pahala on the Big Island have been used by coffee farmers since sugarcane plantation C. Brewer & Co. left in the late 1990s. The land in the Pear Tree-Moa'ula Cloud Rest Area has changed hands several times since then but now the farmers themselves can buy the land from Ka'u Mahi, a subsidiary of a Colorado equity firm which bought it in 2016. Having secured their land, farmers can look to the future, says Chris Manfredi, organizer of the Ka'u Coffee Festival and president of the Hawaii Coffee Association. That means dealing with two threats, coffee berry borer and the prospect of coffee leaf rust. Despite the pandemic, coffee prices have been increasing for Hawaii's farmers, jumping $0.23 per pound since the 2019-2020 season.
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