Thieves and vandals cost Hawaiʻi food producers almost $3.3 million in 2024, up about $150,000 in the past four years, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest report.

Concern about agricultural crime across the island chain was heightened last year by the slaying of Leeward Oʻahu rancher Cranston “Duke” Pia, who was shot by a trespassing hunter. The killing became a focal point for public outcry about the often hidden theft, vandalism and violent threats farmers and ranchers say they continually face — outcry that ultimately prompted legislative action.

The USDA report on agricultural crimes, released late in the 2025 legislative session, gives the most detailed look at the true cost of crime for food producers. Yet the new data also shows a 15% drop between 2019 and 2024 in their investments in security measures such as fencing, guards and surveillance cameras, from $11.2 million to $9.5 million.

Much of county-level data gathered did not meet the USDA National Agriculture Statistics Services’ standards, leaving some gaps in the 2024 analysis. And agricultural leaders, such as state agriculture director Sharon Hurd and Sen. Tim Richards, a Big Island rancher and livestock veterinarian, believe the data only scratches the surface.

The numbers are “totally underreported,” Richards said. “I know agriculture has oftentimes given up reporting because it doesn’t mean anything. Nothing happens. I think the numbers are artificially low … I think at least 30% would be fair.”

But “some data is better than no data,” Richards added, especially because there has been such little information for the public — and law enforcement — to better understand the problem.

Theft cost Hawaiʻi County the most of all the counties last year. More than $550,000 worth of crops and $279,000 in machinery was stolen last year, contributing to a total of almost $1.3 million in stolen goods on the island. That made up the lion’s share of the $2.3 million in stolen property statewide.

The most common victim? Fruit and vegetable producers.

Of the 644 agricultural crimes reported to the police in 2024, 47 resulted in an arrest.

The perception of crime, meanwhile, holds steady among the USDA’s 2024 survey respondents: 78% believed crime levels had not changed since 2019, when they were last surveyed. Just 14% believed crime was increasing.

Ranchers are most prone to trespassing, with 4,042 of 9,224 cases reported by livestock operations. A majority of all trespassing incidents reported occurred on the Big Island, but threats of violence occurred in only 145 trespassing cases statewide.

Trespassing also was one area where cases have actually dropped from 2019 — by more than a third.

Ag Crime Crackdown

Trespassing is among the crimes most likely to remain unreported in the agricultural community. Many have become cynical, the Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture director says, having repeatedly reported trespass cases without recourse or, even when something is stolen, recovery.

The belief, Hurd said, is, “Why report it? Nothing is going to happen.”

But the murder of 39-year-old Pia in February last year — shot and killed while protecting his cattle from pig-hunting dogs, whose owners were trespassing on his ranch — resonated with lawmakers. His death prompted a year of official briefings and meetings between lawmakers, state officials and the agricultural community throughout 2024.

Those meetings informed Senate Bill 1249, which lawmakers have dubbed “Duke’s Law,” which toughens penalties for trespassers and establishes an agricultural enforcement pilot program under the Department of Law Enforcement, among other things.

If the governor signs the bill, an additional nine positions would be created to run the program, stationed on Oʻahu and the Big Island, funded by $1.9 million over the next two fiscal years.

Hurd said the bill will make the state’s intentions clear for would-be trespassers.

It includes an increase in fines for trespassing, which for first-time offenders include a minimum $500 fine and up to three days in jail, with successive penalties for repeat offenders of up to 90 days in prison and a $2,000 fine.

And poachers face far higher penalties: a minimum $10,000 fine and up to five years in prison for their first offense.

“The real message,” Hurd said, “is trespassing is a crime. And that will discourage the rest of it — the vandalism, the theft.”

The bill’s long list of potential fixes to help stem agricultural crime’s impacts on the industry includes a provision for the state to better measure impacts and keep data to report on its progress.

“We should see a change. We may actually see an increase in the amount of crime that’s reported,” Richards of Big Island said. “What could happen is people are going to start to actually believe things are changing. People are going to start participating.”

“Hawai‘i Grown” is funded in part by grants from the Stupski Foundation, Ulupono Fund at the Hawai‘i Community Foundation and the Frost Family Foundation and its community health coverage is supported in part by the Atherton Family Foundation.