About the Ranch
Hāna Ranch is dedicated to serving as responsible stewards of the land, weaving together the resources of the ranch and community to nurture a thriving economy that will benefit Hāna for generations.
Who We Are
Hāna Ranch is a working cattle ranch on 3,600 acres in Hāna, Hawaiʻi that has a diverse business model. We want to be more than a sustainable business, we want to be a regenerative one, actively working to make the land and our community better each day.
Grass-Fed Beef
The centerpiece of Hāna Ranch is our grass-fed herd with 1,100 cattle. Our cattle spend their entire lives on grass, which is healthier for them, our soil, and our customers. Their presence helps control invasive species, improves soil fertility, and keeps our grasslands healthy. Look for our grass-fed beef under the Maui Cattle Company label, a local co-op with five other Maui ranches.
Diverse Orchard Management
We have over 20 acres of breadfruit, banana, and citrus orchards. The breadfruit orchard is a partnership with the National Breadfruit Institute. Our orchards are pollinated with beehives managed by Hive Mind Maui.
Giving Back
The ranch maintains a giving program with the goal of helping communities re-invest in themselves by providing financial and in-kind support for East Maui programs and activities that are consistent with our values. Please contact us at info@hanaranch.com if you have any questions about this program or requests for a donation.
Ranch Manager
Hāna Ranch Manager Duane Lammers grew up on a farm and ranch near Polo, South Dakota and has Bachelor of Science degrees in Animal Science and Economics with a Masters Degree in Nature Resource Management. A lifelong Animal Behaviorist, Lammers has over 20,000 hours of herding and handling cattle and bison, with thousands of those hours on horseback. He has served as a consultant on bison behavior and husbandry for Yellowstone National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, the US Forest Service, the USDA Wildlife Veterinary Services and Native American tribes in the northern Great Plains.
His land management experience encompasses large landscapes of 20,000 – 100,000 acres and includes semi-arid short grass and tall grass prairies, mountain and boreal forests of North America with limited tropical management in Hawaii, prior to arrival in Hana in 2017. His farming experience includes large-scale growing of organic alfalfa, oats, wheat, and hemp. For thirty years, Duane and his wife Rose leased and lived on a 25,000-acre South Dakota ranch where they ran over 2,000 head of bison. There they also raised three sons. The management of Hāna Ranch has been a new challenge for Lammers with the additional regional challenges of marketing, transportation and controlling the vigorous growth of invasive plants and feral animals, while protecting native plants, animals and heritage sites of Hawaiʻi.
History of the Ranch
According to Hawaiian legend, the god Maui discovered the region of Hāna, and he was so enchanted with its beauty that he named his beloved daughter Noenoe Ua Kea O Hāna, meaning “the misty, light rain of Hāna.” As anyone who has ever traveled the road to Hāna can attest, the stories of the region’s pristine and beautiful landscape are no myth. This unique community boasts a rich history, and yet has managed to remain largely untouched by modern development.
Early settlement
It is believed that early Polynesians first arrived in Hawaiʻi sometime between 500-800 AD and established a thriving agrarian society based on the ahupuaʻa system of land management. Under this system, there is no private property and instead, aliʻi (chiefs) managed wedge-shaped watersheds, each containing enough resources to support its community. Hāna, with its abundant water resources, was a prosperous district and home to many high chiefs. The nearby Piʻilani Heiau is the largest known temple in the state.
Western influence and the sugar and tourism industries
The ahupuaʻa system continued until the 18th century when European and American immigrants arrived in Hawaiʻi and began to introduce their own systems of land ownership. George Wilfong opened the first sugar cane mill in Hāna in 1849, and by 1883 there were six different sugar plantations operating in the region. Despite the burgeoning sugar industry, Hāna remained fairly isolated until the completion of the Hāna Highway in 1926, which created a direct connection to the nearest major city—Kahului. The sugar industry gave way to the tourist industry in 1946, as the closing of the last sugar plantation coincided with the opening of the Kaʻuiki Inn by Paul Fagan (later called the Hotel Hāna-Maui).
Cattle ranching
In 1944, Mr. Fagan acquired 14,000 acres of land in Hāna. He used this land to open the hotel and he brought cattle from Molokaʻi to start Hāna Ranch. Of course, cattle ranching on Maui had begun long before, dating back to 1830 when King Kamehameha I brought cowboys from the mainland to help control the herds of cattle that had been running wild since they were gifted to him from Captain George Vancouver in 1793. Many of those ranches, including Hāna Ranch, are still in operation today.
Stewardship for future generations
In January 2014, Hāna Ranch Stewards, LLC purchased the main mauka portion of the ranch—roughly 3,600 acres above the Hāna Highway—as well as its associated cattle operations and water utilities. Bio-Logical Capital, LLC, who manages the ranch on behalf of Hāna Ranch Stewards, is honored to be a part of the Hāna community and to take on the kuleana of this remarkable ranch; it is at once a privilege and a great responsibility. Our focus is on sustainable agriculture that enriches the land and that will provide healthy, fresh food for the people of Hāna, Maui, and Hawaiʻi to enjoy. As stewards of the land, we aim to weave together the resources of the ranch and community to nurture a thriving economy that will benefit the community of Hāna for generations.
To learn more about Bio-Logical Capital, please visit our website.