Maui farming company Mahi Pono is scaling up its avocado operation, a positive sign for local food production and farm jobs on the island.

• Mahi Pono is expanding its Maui-grown avocado plantings to about 1,000 acres.
• Early test plantings worked well, so the company now believes it can grow quality avocados on Maui commercially.
• Most of the new trees will go into fields below Pukalani, at elevations of 700 to 800 feet.
• A larger local avocado supply could mean more Hawaii-grown produce on store shelves instead of imports.

Outlook: Planting moves ahead on the Pukalani fields, with commercial-scale harvests still a few years out as the trees mature.