At Komohana Research and Extension Center there’s been a lot of cacao excitement! PIs Eli Isele and Alyssa Cho (both TPSS) have received an Applied Grafting Techniques grant from the County of Hawai‘i Department of Research and Development for a project comparing two hand-held machine-grafting tools with traditional grafting by hand using a knife to determine which are most efficient and cost-effective for avocado, cacao, and macadamia.

Congratulations to all CTAHR faculty who were successful in the recent Maui County FY20 grant competition! Nine proposals were submitted, requesting a total of nearly $133,000; since only $100,000 was available, support was provided for the seven top proposals. Researchers are encouraged to try for funding next year—it’s a great way to get some important projects up and running!

It’s a bitter irony that in a country of such potential prosperity, where so many citizens seek to curb their caloric intake, the concurrent threat of hunger hangs over a large segment of the population. To hear more about hunger in the US, ways that the corporate infrastructure fosters it, and initiatives to combat it, save the date and plan come to the presentation sponsored by UH’s American Studies department by anti-hunger activist Andy Fisher.

Ted Radovich (TPSS) and his family are featured in a recent article in HMSA’s Island Scene newsletter about a new item that select public libraries are lending out: ukulele! Ted is an ukulele player, and when he found out that the Waimanalo Library was lending out the instruments, he jumped on the opportunity to introduce them to three of his kids…who are now happily strumming away as well. Dust off your library card and borrow an ukulele today, so you can jam with Ted at the next CTAHR pa‘ina! 

CTAHR played tour guide for the Hawai‘i Floriculture and Nursery Association’s first-ever “Wedding Celebrations: Floral Design Workshop and Nursery Tour.” Attendees, some from as far away as Canada and Pennsylvania, attended Wedding Floral Design Workshops on four Hawaiian Islands, led by famed floral designer Hitomi Gilliam (center, in black) and funded by the USDA and Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture.