Project Grant 20215118135900

THE OCTOBER 2020 DISCOVERY OF COFFEE LEAF RUST (CLR), HEMILEIA VASTATRIX, ON BOTH MAUI AND HAWAII ISLANDS BROUGHT THE MOST DEVASTATING COFFEE DISEASE IN THE WORLD TO THE STATE. PRESENT IN PUERTO RICO SINCE 1989, THE FUNGUS ATTACKS THE LEAVES OF COFFEE TREES CAUSING SEVERE DEFOLIATION, YIELD LOSSES OF 70% OR GREATER, AND POSSIBLE TREE DEATH. THE DISEASE IS ESPECIALLY CHALLENGING TO CONTROL, AND IS A SIGNIFICANT THREAT TO THE 1,470 GROWERS IN HAWAII AND THE 2,300 PUERTO RICAN GROWERS. COFFEE IS RANKED AS A TOP COMMODITY IN IN BOTH REGIONS, BUT INDIVIDUAL FARMS ARE SMALL AND CLASSIFY AS SOCIALLY DISADVANTAGED. IN KONA ALONE, THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF COFFEE FARMS THAT CONTRIBUTE NOT ONLY TO THE ECONOMIC VIABILITY OF HAWAII, BUT TO THE PRESERVATION OF A CULTURAL HERITAGE DATING BACK 150 YEARS. HAWAII COFFEE HAS DOWNSTREAM BENEFITS OF VALUE-ADDED ROASTING, FARM JOBS, ECOTOURISM, AND ANCILLARY INDUSTRIES CALCULATED AT OVER $500 MILLION ANNUALLY. DATA FOR PUERTO RICO IS NOT RELIABLE POST-HURRICANE MARIA, BUT SIMILAR TO HAWAII, THE MAJORITY OF GROWERS ARE SOCIALLY DISADVANTAGED GROWERS, AND PROVIDE A STRONG ECONOMIC BENEFIT TO THEIR COMMUNITIES.RESEARCH FROM THIS GRANT WILL PROVIDE QUANTIFIABLE BENEFITS TO THE US COFFEE INDUSTRY AND BEYOND, INCLUDING A WIDE RANGE OF AGRONOMIC, ECONOMIC, AND GENOMIC ASSISTANCE. BENEFITS INCLUDE FIELD TRIALS OF NEW RUST-RESISTANT COFFEE TREE VARIETIES THAT MEET THE EXACTING STANDARDS OF THE HIGH-VALUE HAWAII INDUSTRY AND MAY INCREASE THE QUALITY OF COFFEE ORIGINATING FROM PUERTO RICO, THUS RAISING THE STANDARD OF LIVING FOR GROWERS.UNTIL THE NEW VARIETIES ARE READY FOR PROPAGATION, FIELD RESEARCH AND EXTENSION WILL PROVIDE IMMEDIATE SOLUTIONS TO MAINTAIN THE TREE HEALTH OF CURRENT, SUSCEPTIBLE VARIETIES.ECONOMIC ANALYSES WILL PROVIDE A DEEP LOOK AT US-GROWN COFFEE FROM BOTH A GROWING AND A SELLING PERSPECTIVE; THIS EVALUATION HAS NOT BEEN DONE IN THE MODERN SPECIALTY COFFEE ERA. FINALLY, ANALYSIS OF CLR AND COFFEE GENOMICS WILL PROVIDE A CLOSER LOOK AT A PATHOGEN THAT IS NOT YET UNDERSTOOD ON A GENETIC BASIS AND IDENTIFY THE HOST/PATHOGEN INTERACTION THAT COULD LEAD TO A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF HOW THE DISEASE SPREADS AND METHODS FOR HOW GROWERS CAN CONTROL THE FUNGUS IN THEIR FIELDS.