Hawaii Dairy Farm cancels plans for pasture based dairy

Hawaii Dairy Farms announced it was discontinuing plans for a pasture-based dairy farm on Kauai. Instead, it will explore other alternatives for food production on the Grove Farm land in Mahaulepu on the South Side.“It is disappointing we were unable to find a path forward to help bring a more sustainable model of dairy farming to Hawaii,” said Amy Hennessey, director of communications for investor Ulupono Initiative in a statement. She points out the proposal for the farm was based on best-management practices proven around the world “to create a more environmentally sustainable model of dairy farm that utilized active pasture management to minimize runoff and use grass as a low-cost source of feed.”“But rather than incentivizing local food production to meet our state’s food goals, Hawaii’s environmental regulations seem to unfairly place dairies and other similar animal agriculture operations in the same category as wastewater treatment plants,” Hennessey said.