When any company shuts its doors and sends hundreds of workers to the unemployment line, it's a shock. But the fact that it's Del Monte hit particularly hard in Hawai'i, where growing pineapple has figured so prominently in Isle history.

The 551 employees of Del Monte Fresh Produce were stunned when the company decided to shut down within two months instead of in 2008, as previously announced. Many had not begun the process of finding new jobs or getting the training needed to gain new skills.

So it's encouraging to see that state labor and agriculture officials are working on a plan to ease the upheaval for those workers, the majority of whom are well into mid-life. That, coupled with the language barrier faced by the more recent immigrants, further handicaps their job-seeking efforts.

In cooperation with the plantation workers' union, the state is planning a Dec. 13 job fair to guide the employees through retraining. Although unemployment is low, this is the only work that many of the field hands know, and the transition is going to be challenging.

An enormous concern at this point will be helping the displaced workers find affordable housing, which is in painfully short supply. Coming up with the right plan, one that buys as much time as possible for the housing hunt, will take negotiating with leaseholder Del Monte and landlord Campbell Estate.

Averting some of the current pitfalls will be difficult. For example, Del Monte began plowing under its current crop, despite offers by another company, Maui Land & Pineapple, to harvest it. Although it is certainly within Del Monte's rights to do so, it's unfortunate, especially because the denuded soil then could pose runoff problems with the approach of the winter rainy season. The state should at least look for ways to mitigate this problem.

And the larger issue — how Hawai'i should work to develop sustainable agriculture, on O'ahu and the other islands — is something lawmakers must grapple with in January.

For the moment, however, the community needs to pull together and help these pineapple workers through their immediate crisis.