Challenge - placing easements on farmland to keep it in farmer and rancher hands and agricultural in-perpetuity can be cost prohibitive for farmers. Few farmers in Hawaii have the $10,000 to pay for an appraisal and additional costs associated with placing agricultural easements on their land, e.g. EA, surveys...
Repayment - loans repaid from ag easement payment to farmer (farmer pays back loan) + 1% of easement monies to grow loan fund and cover administration costs. For example, if a farmer borrows $10,000 to cover the costs to secure an ag easement and the value of the easement payment is $400,000, the farmer would reimburse the fund $10,000 (repaying the borrowed amount) + $4,000. (1% of ag easement payment). So the loan fund would grow by $4,000...
Lender - A nonprofit with statewide presence and mission to support agriculture. The Kohala Center (TKC) and the Hawaii Farmers Union Foundation (HFUF) might be strong fits for administeringthis program.