{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hirono.senate.gov/news/press-releases/hirono-announces-137-million-usda-grant-to-combat-coffee-leaf-rust-in-hawaii", "Hirono Announces $1.37 Million USDA Grant to Combat Coffee Leaf Rust in Hawaii", "2022-10-21", "2022", "2022-10", "Democrat", "Senate", "HI", "Mazie K. Hirono", "H001042", "www.hirono.senate.gov", "hirono", "https://www.hirono.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awarded $1.37 million to the Hawaii Agriculture Research Center to support the Center\u2019s work to combat Coffee Leaf Rust (CLR) in Hawaii. The funding comes from NIFA\u2019s Specialty Crop Research Initiatives (SCRI) program, and will be used to revitalize the organization\u2019s coffee breeding program in an effort to produce coffee with CLR resistance.\n\n\u201cSince its discovery in Hawaii in 2020, Coffee Leaf Rust has been a threat to one of our most important local agricultural industries,\u201d said Senator Hirono. \u201cThis funding is crucial in supporting the work being done in Hawaii to combat Coffee Leaf Rust and save an industry that generates hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity each year. I am glad that the USDA is continuing to provide necessary resources to address CLR and I\u2019ll continue working to support farmers across our state.\u201d\n\nCoffee Leaf Rust (CLR) is considered the most devastating coffee disease in the world. According to the Hawaii Agriculture Research Center, coffee is one of the most economically valuable specialty crops in Hawaii\u2014the raw crop value of Hawaiian coffee is $62 million and generates approximately $500 million in economic activity each year. It is produced commercially on six islands by over 1,400 growers and has a cultural heritage dating back over 150 years.\n\nIn 2020, when CLR was first discovered in Hawaii, Senator Hirono urged the USDA to provide a swift response to contain and treat the fungus. Last year, Senator Hirono introduced the Coffee Plant Health Initiative Amendments Act that would expand research funding to address all current and emerging threats to coffee plant health, including CLR, and Hawaii was also awarded $6 million by NIFA to address CLR.\n\nNIFA\u2019s Specialty Crop Research Initiatives (SCRI) program awards grants to support research that addresses key challenges of national, regional, and multistate importance in sustaining food and agriculture, including conventional and organic food production systems.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:34:28Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.hirono.senate.gov/news/press-releases/hirono-announces-137-million-usda-grant-to-combat-coffee-leaf-rust-in-hawaii"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7672628853470087, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}