Princeville Ag Gated Home in 25 Acre Tree Farm

So, according to the video, the emphasis was on the "Ocean View", and also, there was absolutely nothing said about the supposed agricultural nature of the "tree Farm", which was pretty much planted all around the house, and served more as a privacy blocker, since the forest was very close to one of the windows. Will be very interesting when the supposed tree s are harvested, in oh about 10 to 15 years.

Another thing that gave me red flags, was the price, a million and a half bucks and also, the comment from the realtor which reads:



@lehuastouch Aloha - yes it is a unique opportunity!  Listed this week at $1,050,000 - it looks like they'll be receiving an offer soon. If it's of interest, time to write an offer and include time to visit and inspect! Not sure the exact kind of trees - believe they are hardwood. I took a video of the drive into the home, and can email it to you. "Princeville Ag" is a country estate subdivision with a homeowners assocation and building guidelines. Please call or email for more info. Mahalo!
Susie4Kauai 1 week ago

SO, did this give you red flags yet? This is exactly the type of thing we wish to stop here on Kaua'i If you agree with me, then please, help to vote in people that will stop this sort of blatant abuse of our ag lands. Planting a "tree farm" is a misnomer, when your trees are 10 to 15 feet away from a million dollar house. The harvesting operation for trees such as this, and also you can also see that the trees are planted more as a bush line or windbreak. As a former tree farmer on a 50 thousand acre plantation and irrigater, I can tell you that for these trees to be harvestable, in about 10-15 years, you would have to cull about 9 out of 10 sapling trees on this property, or the trees would not be able to grow properly, and they would be sucking up exceptional amounts of soil and water from the soil layer, thus denegrating the soil badly.

Further, if you take this to its more logical conclusion, I defy the millionaire that lives here to be happy when workers start cutting down the trees 10 to 15 feet from the window.

Rest assured, the clearing will begin soon with a new prospective owner. The reason? Subtle little hints throughout the video, hint at clearing out some of the trees to get a better look at that ocean, of which you can only get a peek, and the forest (Not the trees for farming, it is called a forest), is kinda in the way.

This land will get the right to clear the land of a majority of its trees, because in order to be harvestable, it will have to be.  Clever, huh? I also love how this is booked to a prospective owner. Not as a farm, with a working operation but as a " country estate subdivision with a homeowners assocation and building guidelines".

Uh huh. 

Large scale Commercial Ag worker issues-My thoughts.

 Using an anacronym I posted to a freinds blogs my thoughts on Ag large scale commercial operations in Hawaii and ag labour issues.


When we talk about large scale ag, even if we are using the most sophisticated tech out there currently today, which essentially cuts labor force needs in half, and requires some levels of technical skills for at least half of those workers, as well as supers and crew chief leaders, you are still talking about a significant number of people needed for stooped over labor work, in the hot sun, able to withstand that sort of a physical job. Too many people cite the whole "Hey, we can rehire all of those retired sugar workers.

They are probably dying to get back into ag. We will just hire them." Ok, lets be realistic. The majority of those folks would be 50,60, even sometimes 70 and 80 years old. These types of workers truly are some of the most amazing people you will ever meet.

They can do things with seemingly frail looking bodies that would embarrass most teenagers due to a lifetime of hard physical labor. However, frankly there are simply not enough of these people to go around. This rare group of amazing individuals needs to be supplemented by younger crews.

That is a necessity and a fact. So, where will these people come from? Most of the people here would rather work on their own pieces of property and farm for themselves and sell their produce rather then go and stoop labor in someone else's, unless the job was a technical or supervisory position. So where does that leave large scale commercial ag? Needing to import labor.

Now, you have just gone backwards 150 years into Hawai'is past. You need worker housing. You need to provide for them. They will eventually assimilate. Where will they live permanently? Will they come on worker Visas? How will they get along with the locals? How will you treat them? Will they be on contract?

Now, I am coming from a former ag supervisory angle on this. So the issue is far more complicated. Right now, workers are being imported from Asian countries and Mexico to fill out the labor force from local ag workers because the pool is so thin.

They are currently being housed on private properties scattered throughout the islands, and right now do not have it so bad, but the fact remains that they are indentured contracted workers. Their freedom of movement is curtailed, there are language barriers and fraternization is watched carefully by the handlers.

They are not allowed to currently bring spouses or children, so they lack female companionship which is also a concern for various reasons, as it was a major area of concern 100 years ago. Immigration issues are also a concern.

Costs for them to purchase equipment and clothing,as well as food and housing are taken out of wages exactly as it was done 100 years ago in Hawaii, as well as all personal needs. As you are all well aware, isolation, inflated costs and homogenous groupings contributed to much of the strife suffered by indentured workers in Hawaii.

It is a fact that over half of all laborers returned to their countries of origins many times poorer then when they began for most what was a 7 year journey. This is the human side of this issue.