Maui Land and Pineapple Co., Inc. announced on Tuesday that it will restructure its company, including ending pineapple growing in the Valley Isle and laying off nearly 300 workers.

ML&P's Maui Pineapple Co. will stop planting pineapples immediately and end production by the end of 2009 after 97 years of farming, officials said.

"Unfortunately, despite our exhaustive efforts to revitalize the pineapple business over the last few years and efforts to keep agriculture jobs on Maui, market conditions have not improved and pineapple operations at MPC are not financially sustainable," MLP interim Chief Executive Officer Warren H. Haruki said.

ML&P's Kapalua Land Co. has been managing Kapalua Resort and an organic farm. Kapalua Land Co. will now focus on managing the resort by hiring vendors to help with operations.

"We are hopeful that many employees at the affected resort divisions will be hired by the new management companies and owners," Haruki said. "We express our deep respect and profound appreciation to our employees for their many contributions to the company over the years."

ML&P officials said they expect that vendors will hire up to 133 workers, leaving about 285 workers laid off. Earlier this year, the company announced it would lay off 100 workers and last year the company announced it would cut 274 jobs.

"This is very sad news for our community, especially for the employees and their families who will be affected. Agricultural fields are part of our heritage and have been a foundation of our island’s history," Maui Mayor Charmaine Tavares said in a written statement. "For nearly a hundred years the company’s pineapple operations have made our community’s character unique. Working in our pineapple fields has been the source of income for many families, where high school teenagers spent their summers and where multiple members of a family worked in different parts of the operations."

Right now, the company has 624 workers. Last year, the company had about 1,100 employees.