A Family Brew – Celebrating Mother-Daughter Coffee Farmers on International Women’s Day

When people think of farmers or ranchers in rural America, what image comes to mind? It probably isn’t a mother-daughter duo in Hawaii. Lorie and Joan Obra exhibit the essence of women in agriculture. Together, they are continuing the dream of Rusty Obra, the late founder of Rusty’s Hawaiian — a specialty coffee farm, mill, and roastery in the Ka’u District of Hawaii Island.

Their uniqueness in the world of American agriculture and exports is why the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) is happy to celebrate Lorie and Joan on this year’s International Women’s Day. Celebrated on March 8th, International Women’s Day is dedicated to celebrating women’s global achievements, impacts, and contributions.

Women in agriculture is a mainstay as old as agriculture itself. “I’m proud to be a female farmer around men,” responds Lorie when Joan asks her mom about an old photo. “Mom, whenever people ask you what it’s like to be a woman in agriculture, you show them this photograph of you from 2010 — the only woman among men,” said Joan. And Lorie responds, “Well, it validates the fact that I made it in agriculture, and I get emotional.”

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