import java.io.Serializable;
import org.joda.time.LocalDate;

public class App implements Serializable {

    private final static long serialVersionUID = 1L;
    private String id;
    private LocalDate relevanceStart;

    public String getId() {
        return id;
    }

    public void setId(String id) {
        this.id = id;
    }

    public LocalDate getRelevanceStart() {
        return relevanceStart;
    }

    public void setRelevanceStart(LocalDate relevanceStart) {
        this.relevanceStart = relevanceStart;
    }
}

<!--orm.xml-->
     <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<entity-mappings 
    xmlns="http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/persistence/orm"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"

    xsi:schemaLocation="http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/persistence/orm
          http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/persistence/orm_2_1.xsd"
    version="2.1">
    <description>Persistence for gov.ic.geoint.gets.document</description>
    <package>entity</package>
    <entity class="exceptionexample.hibernate.App" access="FIELD" name="App">  
        <table name="App"/>  
        <attributes>
            <id name="id"/>
            <basic name="id">
                <column name="id" />
            </basic>
            <basic name="relevanceStart" > 
                <column name="relevanceStart" column-definition="varChar" length="100" />  
            </basic>
        </attributes>
    </entity>
    <converter class="candlelight.joda.converters.JodaLocalDateConverter" auto-apply="true"/>
</entity-mappings>

import java.util.Date;
import javax.persistence.AttributeConverter;
import javax.persistence.Converter;
import org.joda.time.LocalDate;


@Converter(autoApply = true)
public class JodaLocalDateConverter implements AttributeConverter<LocalDate, Date> {

   
    public Date convertToDatabaseColumn(LocalDate localDate) {        
                
        return localDate.toDate();
        
        
    }

    public LocalDate convertToEntityAttribute(Date date) {
        return LocalDate.fromDateFields(date);
    }
}

//Test will be provided at your request.