The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa will receive up to $40 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for researchers to help local farmers, ranchers and foresters implement sustainable, climate-smart practices.
UH Mānoa’s College of Tropical Agriculture will get at least $10 million of that grant to accomplish four objectives.
"Some of those climate practices include things like large scale koa reforestation, inclusion of trees into some of our pasture lands, increased biodiversity of grazing areas, and redirecting waste streams into soil amendments such as compost," said Susan Crow, project lead and the principal investigator for the grant.
Crow says the project will provide millions of dollars in financial assistance to producers to improve their sustainability practices.
It will then identify, fund and implement an inclusive, community-based approach to support the needs of underserved producers.
