Helping Each Other With CBB

Cooperative Extension’s Alyssa Cho, Andrea Kawabata, Jen Burt, and Matt Miyahira (TPSS) organized the 2018 Coffee Berry Borer (CBB) Conference held last Wednesday in Kailua-Kona on the Big Island. It was an informative event where 115 farmers, researchers, Cooperative Extension faculty and staff, and other agricultural professionals gathered to learn about and share their latest CBB research and on-farm management experiences. CBB-related oral and poster presentations were provided by O‘ahu and Big Island coffee farmers; representatives from USDA, CTAHR, and HDOA; and visiting faculty from the University of Puerto Rico. Research and Extension projects from Hawai‘i and Puerto Rico included such topics as CBB reproduction, pruning, biocontrol, management cost analysis, and the impact of hurricanes on coffee production. Selected presentations can be viewed at the Hawaii Coffee website. The conference was sponsored by the Coffee Berry Borer Areawide Program and Crop Production Services. An article in West Hawaii Today also discusses one of the presentations at the conference.