Ninety-seven-year-old Maui Land & Pineapple Co. announced today it will immediately stop planting pineapple and will cease pineapple operations by the end of the year.

“Since 2002, MPC has lost $115 million in this agriculture business, while investing $20 million in capital expenditures for a new fresh packing facility,” Warren H. Haruki, chairman and interim CEO of ML&P, said in a news release.
“Realizing that these losses could no longer continue, we spent the last year exploring options to keep pineapple operations going on Maui,” Haruki said. “Despite our efforts, it became clear that there were no other financially viable options.
"The painful decision to close pineapple operations at MPC after 97 years was incredibly difficult to make, but absolutely necessary. We realize this ends a significant chapter in Maui’s history and an important part of many lives, over many generations.
“Unfortunately, despite our exhaustive efforts to revitalize the pineapple business over the last few years and efforts to keep agriculture jobs on Maui, market conditions have not improved and pineapple operations at MPC are not financially sustainable.”
The company will issue a notice of termination to employees at the affected KLC divisions and at MPC.
Company officials said that up to 133 employees will be offered employment at partner companies, while up to 285 employees will be laid off, primarily at Maui Pineapple Company. ML&P currently employs 624 people.
“We are hopeful that many employees at the affected resort divisions will be hired by the new management companies and owners,” Haruki said. “We express our deep respect and profound appreciation to our employees for their many contributions to the Company over the years.”
U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawaii, issued a statement this morning in which he offered his sympathies to the workers about to lose their jobs.
“I stand ready to direct whatever federal assistance the law allows and I will continue to do all I can in Washington to ensure that the federal government is supporting the local economy as best it can during these turbulent economic times,” Inouye said.
Maui Mayor Charmaine Tavares issued this statement:
“This is very sad news for our community, especially for the employees and their families who will be affected. Agricultural fields are part of our heritage and have been a foundation of our island’s history. For nearly a hundred years the company’s pineapple operations have made our community’s character unique. Working in our pineapple fields has been the source of income for many families, where high school teenagers spent their summers and where multiple members of a family worked in different parts of the operations. I have my own personal memories of summer work in the fields."
She said the County Office of Economic Development has already begun working with state and private-sector partners to pull resources together and provide help for the displaced workers through job fairs, training, counseling and assistance with the unemployment process.
ML&P also announced structural changes in its two operating companies, Maui Pineapple Company, Ltd. and Kapalua Land Company, Ltd. aimed at improving operating efficiencies.
Kapalua Land Company, Ltd. also will “streamline” operations at Kapalua Resort “to focus on managing a world-class resort,” the company said in a statement.
KLC plans to partner with other operators to manage “select assets of the resort more effectively,” the company said.