Darren Strand knows pineapple. Now, he’s getting to know agave, too.
In an effort to breathe new life to former pineapple lands, Maui Land & Pineapple has appointed the longtime ag leader the director of agricultural operations for its new agave venture on the Valley Isle.
In this role, Strand will oversee agricultural strategy and operations, implement sustainable growing practices and help guide the farm’s continued growth, the company said in October.
Aloha State Daily recently spoke with Strand about his background in ag, MLP’s agave venture and his goals in the role.
Planting roots in Hawai‘i
Strand has been working in Hawai‘i agriculture for more than two decades.
He and his family moved to O‘ahu from Oregon in 2000. At the time, he was pursuing a master’s degree in soil chemistry at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.
Soon after, Strand told ASD, he was hired and began working at the Del Monte pineapple operation in Kunia.
“The coolest part about that was I moved my family into plantation housing up in Kunia,” he says. “Having been really in Hawai‘i for less than a year, and then kind of dropping right in the middle of that, was so good for me and my family. … I mean, what a great litmus test — if you can thrive in [the] plantation camp, you’ll probably do OK in Hawai‘i.”
He moved to Maui in 2004, hired by Maui Land & Pineapple’s Maui Pineapple Co. to grow organic pineapple near Kapalua. He eventually worked his way up to managing operations for Maui Pineapple Co. But after the company closed in 2009, he and a few other investors “spun off and started Maui Gold Pineapple Co. in 2009.”
Strand, who’s also serving in his second term as president of the Hawai‘i Farm Bureau, most recently served as a director of Hawai‘i Farm Project, whose brands include Maui Gold Pineapple, where he previously served as president; Maui Pineapple Tour; Maui Pineapple Store; Maui Chocolate Tour; Lahaina Honey Co. and Maui Farm Events.
Now, though, “I’m back with Maui Land & Pineapple in this new venture,” he says.
He wasn’t necessarily expecting pineapple to be a big part of his career.
Strand says he was in a more academic field — soil chemistry — but having grown up in a “rural and farming situation, I think I was just driven to get back into boots-on-the-ground, hands-getting-dirty farming.”
He went to a professor and said he wasn’t happy to be sitting in a lab all day, and they suggested that Strand reach out to Del Monte.
“I think that’s, again, a very uniquely Hawaiian characteristic — everybody’s really spending a lot of time and energy looking out for the people around them. Somebody gave me that opportunity, [I] took it, ran with it. I try to tell my friends and kids and family, ‘Gosh, when you have these opportunities, really embrace them.’”
MLP’s agave operations
MLP’s last pineapple harvest was in December 2009.
“Since then, MLP transitioned from operating commercial agriculture to leasing land to tenants who are still actively farming or ranching on the company’s landholdings,” an October announcement read. “The launch of the agave farm signals the continued strategic shift to maximize the productive use of MLP’s landholdings to create new value and meet community needs, like boosting local food production and new employment opportunities for local residents.”
MLP is now cultivating blue weber agave on 25 acres of underutilized cropland within a larger 120-acre planting zone in Upcountry Maui.
CEO Race Randle said in that announcement that blue weber agave — a succulent native to Mexico and often used for producing tequila — was chosen because it’s “drought-tolerant, low-maintenance and full of potential.”
“It checks all the boxes, honoring our agricultural roots, revitalizing land and reducing fire risk, while using little to no water and creating new job opportunities on Maui,” he noted.
MLP says it is now overseeing the farming operations and incubating the new venture but plans to collaborate with “experts and mission-aligned partners” in the future to scale its cultivation, production of value-added goods and new agritourism opportunities.
Strand shared similar sentiments and told ASD the company has hundreds of acres of fallow ag land that’s fertile and has an “excellent climate, excellent soil — great conditions for farming,” but there’s issues with decreasing rainfall.
Agave, he says, is the perfect crop for a lot those acres, growing well in Maui’s climate and soil, and requiring little water.
Planting began in mid-June and as of late October, about 24 acres have so far been planted, he says — just over 15,000 agave plants were in the ground and growing at that time. The goal is to plant over 100 acres.
Goals in the role
Strand started his role in May.
“Every day with a new venture, we’re learning so much as we’re going,” he says when asked about his top priorities in the role and his goals for the next 12 months. “It’s an interesting transition for me to come from an industry like pineapple or sugar that really had the playbook written for them already, or they wrote the playbook themselves. You knew what you were going to do and you knew what you had to do on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Five years out, there was a plan. I think right now, we have a plan in front of us to plant our acres and to grow and manage our crop, but we also have an opportunity and maybe a responsibility to learn, so we’re continually reflecting back on the practices that we’re doing and then also talking to our other partners that are growing agave on the island.”
Agave, he says, is a seven-year crop.
“You can’t end up seven years down the road and go, ‘Gosh, five years ago I wish we would have done this,’” Strand continued. “Having a mindset that’s very reflective, I think, helps us to make sure that we’re always moving in the right direction. And we’re willing to say, ‘Well, OK, that’s not necessarily working well. Let’s change that and do something different.”
Maui Land & Pineapple stewards more than 22,000 acres of land and approximately 247,000 square feet of commercial properties. Its assets include the Pu‘u Kukui Watershed nature preserve and land for future residential and mixed-use projects within the Kapalua Resort.
MLP has been in the news in recent months over several legal disputes that are still pending. You can find ASD reporting on that here, here, here and here.
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Stephanie Salmons can be reached at stephanie@alohastatedaily.com.
