The Dean’s Award for Excellence in Extension distinguishes an exceptional Extension faculty member or team whose work has demonstrated outstanding performance and significant results. The application for this award is the submission of an Extension Impact Statement. This year’s winning Impact Statement can be found on the CTAHR homepage.
The 2022 recipients of this award represent a team effort of CTAHR faculty and staff, USDA Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center (PBARC), Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture (HDOA), and the Hawaiʻi coffee industry to address the serious issue of the Coffee Berry Borer (CBB) for more than 10 years. The CTAHR faculty and staff being recognized for their accomplishments on CBB management include:
- Alyssa Cho, Past Extension Agent, Hilo (1st PI)
- Susan Miyasaka, Retired Extension Specialist (2nd PI)
- Kelvin Sewake, Retired Hawaii County Administrator (3rd PI)
- Mark Wright, Professor and Extension Entomologist (4th PI)
- H.C. Bittenbender, Retired Extension Specialist
- Raymond Carruthers, CBB Research Support Associate
- Catherine Chan, Professor, Natural Resources and Environmental Management
- Andrea Kawabata, Extension Agent for Coffee and Orchard Crops
- Nicole Konanui, Plant Research Technician
- Ping Sun Leung, Emeritus, Natural Resources and Environmental Management
- Stuart T. Nakamoto, Extension Specialist
- Russell Messing, Retired Kauai County Administrator
- Marc Meisner, Kona Research Station Manager
- Roseann Leiner, CBB Research Support Associate
- Matthew Miyahira, Educational Support Associate
- Nicholas Yamauchi, Kona Research Station Manager
- And many more key collaborators at CTAHR, PBARC, HDOA, USDA Agricultural Research Service, and the coffee industry.
Research and Extension’s outreach efforts stopped the spread of CBB in nearly half of Hawaiʻi’s coffee acreage for more 10 years. More than 80% of growers surveyed have now adopted and implemented major CBB integrated pest management (IPM) recommendations, with great success.
The standout impact from this effort is the fact that over the last four years, the estimated economic benefit to Hawaiʻi coffee growers who adopted these IPM practices to control this beetle pest was $132 million dollars. That’s $33 million per year in economic benefit, and more than a four-fold return on investment over the annual budget of CTAHR Extension.