HI SB719

Requires the Hawaii Department of Agriculture to establish an affordable farming land trust to provide affordable long-term, renewable leases to farmers.

The trust may hold title to land and lease it to farmers, with lease terms of up to ninety-nine years designed to promote sustainable family farms and allow farmers to build equity.

Primary land use must be for growing crops, with farm dwellings occupied exclusively by farmers and their immediate family members; the trust retains a first option to purchase any structural improvements placed on the land.

The trust must operate as a member-based nonprofit organization with a board of directors composed of equal numbers of lessees, non-lessee corporate members, and any other categories specified in bylaws, with a majority elected by corporate membership.

The trust may acquire property, buy and sell farm-related structures, adopt bylaws, and receive funding from donations, membership fees, state, county, or federal government sources.