U.S. Department of Agriculture

The U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded over $5.5 million in conservation grants to Hawaiʻi-based projects.

The state Department of Agriculture is now accepting applications for its Micro-Grant for Food Security Program, which supports small-scale agriculture projects. The department received $3.5 million from the federal government for the program.

Last week the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that its Pasture, Rangeland, and Forage rainfall index insurance program will include Hawai'i in 2025. The insurance is meant to protect ranchers who lose foraging grass because of a lack of expected rainfall.

Over half a million dollars in federal funding is coming to Hawaiʻi to promote clean energy in the agricultural sector. Four Hawaiʻi businesses and farms will receive money from the USDA through the Rural Energy For American Program.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service collected data from more than 700 local producers to estimate the damages and economic losses caused by the fires and high winds.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will update the way it distributes Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits to low-income residents in Hawaiʻi. The federal program gives money to families across the nation to use to buy food.

More trees will be coming to various parts of the islands. It’s part of a federal program that will also bring millions of dollars to Hawaiʻi. Pacific Business News editor-in-chief A. Kam Napier has more.

Hawaiʻi is approaching four years since its first COVID-19 case, and food insecurity among residents continues to be a lingering problem. Soon after the start of the pandemic in 2020, unemployment in the state spiked to record levels before falling back below the U.S. average.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will replace benefits that were used to purchase food in August for eligible Maui residents.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development has partnered with Hawaiʻi Community Lending to expand its home loan program. The agencies signed an agreement to open financing to the USDA’s Section 502 Direct Loan Program.