Maui family-owned Ka Ike Ranch will operate over 1,000 acres of land in West Maui, in a long-term lease from Maui Land & Pineapple Company. The landholder wants to reactivate its agricultural lands and strengthen local food sustainability.
Ka Ike Ranch has started fencing the parcel and has 62 head of cattle there.
Maui Land & Pineapple Company CEO Race Randle said the lease marks one of the company’s first new agricultural leases under new leadership and a renewed mission to put its land back in productive use.
“As we have looked at our assets and engaged with the community on Maui, what's risen to the top, pretty clearly, is some key ways that we can help to stabilize the community over here, and that's housing, that's jobs, food and water security, and most importantly, is connecting people back to the land,” Randle told HPR.
“This particular lease with the ranchers, with Ka Ike, is special to us because it checks a lot of those boxes… and it gets local families back on the land in a stewardship opportunity that, in virtue of doing it, also helps to reduce fire risk, keeps the fire fuel down in those areas, through the careful grazing of the cattle.”
The ranch’s mission takes Maui Land & Pineapple Company back to its roots when it was primarily a cattle ranch in the late 1800s, before its pineapple operations.
“This lease provides a place for our families to share the knowledge of paniolo culture that we hope to instill in future generations,” explained Ryan Wendt of Ka Ike Ranch, in a release. “Ka Ike Ranch is a partnership of four ranching families from Maui who are passionate about local food production and ensuring sustainable ranching while caring the land and the cattle.”
Maui Land & Pineapple owns more than 22,000 acres on Maui, which includes more than 9,000 acres of Pu‘u Kukui Preserve, a watershed area in the West Maui Mountains.
Randle said the company is open to other leases.
“If there are other farmers and ranchers that are looking for land for those activities, please reach out,” he said. “We have been marketing some larger parcels. We recognize there may be challenges but we're here to help.”
