Hmmmm. It seems that the state’s purchase of the Galbraith Estate land in Wahiawa was just the first step in the process of preparing the area for farming.
The Agribusiness Development Corporation has now applied for a waiver to purchase 4,000 tons of calcium carbonate from Larry Jefts Farms, LLC for $90,000.
From their application for an exemption from normal bidding:
On September 10, 2012, the Agribusiness Development Corporation (ADC) closed the purchase of 1,200 acres of Gaibraith Estate lands for development of agricultural lands. The ADC plans to prepare 200 acres of land initially for small farmers (mostly S to 10- acre parcels). The soil is currently highly acidic and is not conducive for most truck crop farming. In order to make the soil less acidic, liming needs to be done and left to set for at least six months. Applying the calcium carbonate as soon as possible helps to assure that planting can begin in summer 2013. The sooner farming begins, the sooner farmers can harvest their crops. Procurement by competitive means could cause delays that would impact the farmers. In order for crop farming to be successful, timing is of essence.
That’s 20 tons per acre, if they intend on using the entire quantity on this 200 acre section. I don’t know anything about farming, but that sure sounds like a lot.
But at least the state is moving quickly to rehabilitate the soil and get the land back into production.
This is standard procedure for acidic soils. If soil is too acid, it will not hold nutrients and crops will fail.
Ian,
The proper term for this process is “amending ” the soil rather that
“remediating” it.
As a longtime farmer on leased lands with various soil types here in Hawaii I find this occurence highly unusual. Normally a landowner leaves the decision, and the expense, to the lessee/farmer. There is no cost efficiency gained, it is not a permanent adjusting of the ph (acidity/alkalinity level ), and crops vary in their requirements for a particular ph. It would be best to leave this farm practice to the individual farmer. However, 20 tons per acre of calcium carbonate ( we used to use crushed coral) is not an unusual amount and will not likly move the acidic soils to even a neutral level.
BTW, strictly speaking, there are no “fertile” soils in Hawaii, and to be a successful farmer in Hawaii requires the grower to provide all the nutritional requirements a crop will demand. This starts with amending the soils ph so that when fertilizers are applied key nutrients are not “fixed” in the soil but are available to the plant.
Oh…meant to include the only possible rationale for doing this soil amending now. That reason would be that it takes some months for the ph to actually adjust, so if it is done now when the soils are tested in the future they will have a more conducive ph for the crops most likely to be grown.
20 tons of lime per acre does sound like a lot of lime. 20 tons = 40,000 pounds, and an acre = 43,560 square feet, so 20 tons of lime would almost a pound of lime per square foot.
For purpose of comparisons, I can report on the recommendations that I received from the University of Hawaii’s Agricultural Diagnostic Service Center (ADSC) when I submitted several samples of the soil on my acre of land in Hilo for testing. The pH of the tested samples ranged from 5.1 to 5.8, which the ADSC described as “low”. The ADSC’s reccommendatons for raising the pH of the sampled soils ranged from adding 2,948 to 4,386 pounds of lime per acre (in other words, adding about 1.5 to 2 tons per acre).
Of course, we don’t know the pH of the soil on those 200 acres of Galbraith lands. Perhaps that soil is much more acidic than the soils on my property.
Measured in tons or metric tons?
This does raise the question of remediation from years of pesticides and organic certifications will not likely be possible for some time until the pesticides/toxins are mitigated. Bringing the ph toward neutral en masse is foresightful and will save the individuals time and $. But imported fertilizer will be needed. Perhaps they could start a centralized green waste compost manufacturing process there? That would also help jump start the inclusion of organic mulch and reduce need for imports over time.
Call me ‘sour’ as opposed to ‘sweet’ but this proposal shouts incompetence and corruption with expensive failure [ala Alawai canal and garbage Gulch] waiting at the end. It seems wrong-headed in conception and will, almost certainly be, in execution. The most I can say for it is that it ‘may’ be well intended.
I have reconsidered the position that I took earlier in the day. I now think that the Agribusiness Development Corporation (ADC) may have good reasons for applying 20 tons of lime per acre to those 200 acres of land. I came across a thoughtful discussion about amending very old, extremely acidic rainforest clay soils that made the following points:
*Such soils can have a pH in the range of 3.8 to 4.6.
*Application of one or two tons of lime per acre will have little effect on the pH of those soils because the soils “tie” the calcium up– they bind it in an unavailable form. “So, for this particular soil type, we have found that it requires…12 tons of agricultural lime (crushed coral) mixed with the top 9 inches of soil to raise the pH from 4.3 to 6.0…”
(I cannot give a URL for the discussion that I just quoted because the website no longer exists.)
Having covered the epic Big Island trial brought by Stanley Roehrig and Andy Wilson that resulted in a more than $20 million judgment against infamous du Pont and its needless Benlate crisis, I would say remediation is more an issue of restoration than adding calcium to soil to diminish acidity.
Hawaiino is on point, I think.
For those who may have forgotten, Benlate was a toxic fungicide compound that ruined soil for flower and vegetable growers on Big Island . It represented triumph over a crooked industrial giant.
These twi attorneys made history against a cadre of high-powered attorneys from afar.
It was a great Goliath slain story with a side benefit of $1 million fine that benefited Hawaii’s judiciary because du Pont lied in the trial proceedings.
From the “allocation of responsibility” POV, it makes sense that the landlord — the Agribusiness Development Corp. — would provide tenants with land ready for farming, a blank slate, so to say, for the farmers to further amend/fertilize as dictated by the needs of their respective crops.
As for the particular technique of amen dment (or remediation), I’ll defer to the farmers here. However, calculating quantity of lime per unit of area diesn’t give the whole story. As Mr. Mike’s follow-up comment shows, that lime will, at some point be worked into the soil to a depth of, in the case of the cited treatise, 9 inches. That means not 1 pound per SQUARE foot but 1 pound per .75 CUBIC feet (I think, says the NOT math wizard).
I wonder if they’ll be removing the 15′ high california grass first.