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The Agribusiness Development Corp. will soon deliberate on whether drag racing is an appropriate way to till soil and rejuvenate former plantation lands.

That’s because one of its Whitmore Village tenants hosted a “mud drag” event Saturday, which attracted a crowd of about 1,000 to watch souped-up pickups and home-built dragsters churn down a track on state-owned farmland on Oahu. 

Tenant Scott Wong of Ohana Hui Ventures said the dragsters were tilling the soil in an “unconventional, fun way.”

But some community members saw it as a flagrant misuse of state agricultural land and alerted the state agency ahead of time. ADC Executive Director Wendy Gady acknowledged that drag racing falls “pretty far outside the scope” of Wong’s license agreement with the state.

The ADC tried — and failed — to stop the event from happening.

The Agribusiness Development Corp. is charged with reinvigorating Hawaii’s agricultural economy after the downfall of plantation agriculture. The agency has been chastised in state audits for mismanaging thousands of acres of land since its inception 30 years ago, leaving parcels to be overrun by squatters, filled with trash and overgrown, including with invasive plants. 

That’s one reason the event was organized, Wong said. The hemp farmer cleared and leveled about 25 acres of land previously laden with albizia trees and debris, including abandoned vehicles. 

The Built From Scratch Mud Drag offered a way for Wong’s contractors, their families and friends to “help us and be part of the soil tilling,” he said.

A stage, bleachers, food trucks and merchants’ stalls were set up, and admission cost $25.

In agriculture, tilling prepares land for planting crops. The practice typically involves loosening and aerating soil by dragging a cultivator — a metal frame with hooked teeth — behind a tractor. 

The ADC should not accept “bizarre” claims that dragsters benefit the land, said Rep. Amy Perruso, whose district includes the site of the event.

On the evening before the event, the ADC asked Wong to cancel it, saying it would have required the board’s advance approval.

But Wong said he decided to proceed because “it would have done more damage to stop it that morning, or that night, than to let us continue.”

Gady and her staff gathered at the Whitmore Village property early Saturday to attempt again to stop the event until it appeared “it was going to be a riot,” she said. 

“We couldn’t stop the traffic, couldn’t stop people coming in,” Gady said. “It was not for lack of trying. But it was something that could not get controlled.”

Wong maintains that ADC staff members actually were impressed by the work to clear the land.

“Most of their land was unmanaged and overgrown,” he said. “They were really impressed with what it looked like. They were just surprised with the amount of people that showed up.” 

The Honolulu Police Department said it is assessing whether it will allow Wong to hire special duty officers in the future. HPD reported that officers had to use pepper ball guns to break up a fight involving up to 10 people just before 3 p.m.

At least two people were treated for minor injuries shortly before the event ended — but not before the Honolulu Fire Department was called to extricate someone from a vehicle.

‘We’re Trying to Make The ADC Look Good’

The ADC has license agreements with agricultural businesses on Oahu and Kauai. Those licenses dictate what can be done on the land and are intended to ensure that any production benefits the state’s agricultural economy.

Wong said the Saturday event was intended for 500-600 people, but a flyer leaked on social media almost doubled the expected attendance. As for his connections with the racing enthusiasts, Wong said motocross riders who drive across the land help identify trash sites that need clearing.

Since the event, Wong said he has dropped about 30,000 gallons of organic fertilizer on the property and plans to maintain it as grassland, with the potential to grow hemp.

“We’re trying to make the ADC look good rather than have bad news about the ADC,” said Wong, who as of 2022 was leasing the land for just over $1,600 a month.

Gady said “the land looks beautiful cleared,” but holding a drag racing event is “not at all in line with our policy and not at all in line with our statute.” 

The Hawaii State Auditor’s Office said in 2021 that the ADC “has done little — if anything — toward .” Part of that criticism was related to setting aside former plantation lands rather than opening them up to farmers.

Under Gady, who took the role after James Nakatani died last year, the ADC has opened a portfolio of more than 3,000 acres to potential farming licenses. And agency staff spent the past six months moving 44 homeless people off an ADC parcel near Whitmore Avenue to shelter elsewhere.

“She is doing what we were asking, which is to bring those lands back into production,” said Perruso, who represents Whitmore Village and Wahiawa.

But the agency must limit what happens on ADC land to agriculture to show that it is willing to hold its tenants accountable across Hawaii, she said.

“That’s really critical because they are only operating these lands in the public trust,” Perruso said.

The ADC board will consider what to do about Wong’s event at its next meeting.

“I’m not going to make guesses on what the board’s going to do,” Gady said. “But this is not something where it just gets pushed under the carpet.”

“Hawaii Grown” is funded in part by grants from the Stupski Foundation, Ulupono Fund at the Hawaii Community Foundation and the Frost Family Foundation.