The critical need to identify and protect Hawai'i's most important agricultural resources has been clear to everyone for 30 years, but there it still sits on the state's to-do list.

Fencing off ag land from development, in a state where property is a gold mine, is nobody's job of choice. Plenty of landowners with influence have managed to stall the process for far too long.

The push began with a constitutional amendment in 1978 requiring that viable agricultural land be protected. Nothing happened.

Two years ago, the Legislature finally pushed the issue to the front burner with the passage of Act 183, which established that private landowners could petition for the "important agricultural land" designation themselves, or county authorities could start the ball rolling.

But first, the law prescribes, the state needs to enact a set of incentives to encourage needed improvements in the state's aging farming infrastructure. Some of these proposals, at long last, are moving through the Capitol and should be passed.

The controversy over the Hokuli'a development on agricultural land fueled the current push to preclude future "fake farms" on agricultural land, and the progress that measure is making so far this session is also encouraging.

However, there's also House Bill 1901, which should set off alarm bells in its current form.

Some of its general intent — to more quickly move large tracts of marginal agricultural land into a "rural" classification, in which some development would be permitted — is not scary by itself.

But it sets a 2009 deadline for reclassification, and the danger lies in the rush. The IAL lands have not been identified, so some prime agricultural land could be designated "rural" and removed from the inventory for future farming.

The bill does include criteria for excluding the upper tier of ag land, but they're based on soil classifications that are insufficient identifiers of land that should be saved. And better incentives for voluntarily designating important lands are needed.

In its present form, HB 1901 is more likely to encourage, rather than prevent, urban sprawl.