Protected Lands: Hawaiʻi Island
Honolulu Coffee Company, Kealakekua, Kona
Size: 225 acres
Year Protected: 75 acres in 2016 and 150 in 2017
Land Protection Strategy: HILT Conservation Easement
Conservation Values: Agricultural lands, wildlife habitat
Land Features: Forest
We were really excited to find a conservation group aligned with our goals for protecting agricultural land in Hawai‘i for the long term. HILT’s leadership team did a great job of educating us on the process and really worked with us every step of the way to ensure our land was conserved the right way.
- Ed Schultz, President of Honolulu Coffee Company Farms LLC
About Honolulu Coffee Company
Located on Kealakekua Ridge on the western slope of Mauna Loa, you'll find 75-acre HCC Farms LLC coffee farm. With about 60 inches of rainfall per year at the farm, it is in the ideal range for growing the world-renowned and signature product of Kona, Hawai‘i, Kona Coffee. With the generous assistance of The Freeman Foundation of Honolulu, HILT secured a conservation easement on this ‘āina, in hopes of beginning a long-term effort to conserve coffee farms and other agricultural working lands in Hawai‘i. Aside from its agricultural value, the coffee farm consists of beautiful native ‘ōhi‘a trees. These forested areas on the property provide habitat for native birds including ‘apapane (Hawaiian honey creeper) and ‘io (Hawaiian hawk) which are known to nest on the property.
HCC Farms is bordered by the 11,000 acre Kealakekua Ranch on which a conservation easement is held by the State of Hawai‘i. The addition of this approximately 75 acres will make for a substantial area of conserved lands. Our Kīpuka Mosaic Project (green oases) on Hawai‘i Island demonstrates how piecing together various bordering properties can create large tracts of conserved ‘āina.
