Gay & Robinson Inc., Kauai’s lone remaining sugar company, is seeking to expand onto 4,300 acres of former Kekaha Sugar land owned by the state. Alan Kennett, G&R president, said he will seek company board approval to grow sugar on
Gay & Robinson Inc., Kauai’s lone remaining sugar company, is seeking to expand onto 4,300 acres of former Kekaha Sugar land owned by the state.
Alan Kennett, G&R president, said he will seek company board approval to grow sugar on land that’s been fallow since Amfac Sugar Kaua’i ended agricultural operations at Lihu’e Plantation and Kekaha Sugar near the end of last year.
There are 7,700 acres of land suitable for sugar cultivation at Kekaha, he said. Some of that acreage was at one time among the most fertile in the world in terms of tons of sugar produced per acre.
At the recent auction of Amfac Sugar Kaua’i equipment, G&R acquired all the vehicles it needs to be able to farm the Kekaha acreage, Kennett said Wednesday.
G&R is still in negotiations with Amfac over the use and disposition of the Nawiliwili bulk sugar terminal which weighs and stores raw sugar until it is loaded onto ships and sailed to the C&H (California & Hawai’i) sugar refinery in California.
Trucks are rolling between Kaumakani and Lihu’e, with some carrying sugar to Nawiliwili and others carrying bagasse to the former Lihu’e Plantation power plant.
Bagasse, a byproduct of sugar cane processing, is burned in the power plant to generate electricity. Amfac sells electricity to Kaua’i Electric and pays G&R for its bagasse.
The power plant produces around 14 percent of the island’s electricity.
Staff writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) and mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net
