Yvette Rodriguez Stern and Sarah Yuan (both COF) led the project team for the Center’s recently published 2018 Community Profile Series, created in collaboration with the YMCA of Honolulu. The team also included COF members Javzandulam Azuma and Kathleen Gauci. The profile series presents measures of quality of life and well-being for 11 communities on O‘ahu.

CTAHR’s Agricultural Diagnostic Service Center (ADSC) is looking for a manager! The ADSC provides analytical and diagnostic services to Hawai‘i’s agricultural community through soil testing, plant tissue analysis, feed and forage analysis, plant disease identification, and insect pest identification. It also runs the popular UH Seed Program.

All are invited to attend the interview presentations of the candidates for junior/assistant Extension agent for the edible crop industry on Maui, a position that will be based in TPSS. Each candidate will speak on the topic of “Expanding the Edible Crop Extension Program on Maui.” 

All are invited to attend the interview presentations of the candidates for junior/assistant Extension agent for sustainable and organic agriculture on O‘ahu, a position that will be based in TPSS. Each candidate will speak their “Vision and Approach to Expand the Sustainable and Organic Agriculture Program on O‘ahu.” 

All are invited to attend the interview presentations of the candidates for junior/assistant Extension agent for sustainable and organic agriculture on Kaua‘i, a position that will be based in TPSS. Each candidate will speak on their “Vision and Approach to Expand the Sustainable and Organic Agriculture Program on Kaua‘i.” 

There will be a statewide training for growers on the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)’s Produce Safety Rule on Friday, December 14, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the UH Maui College’s Community Service Building #205. This training. especially timely in light of the recent warning against eating romaine, will help growers understand FSMA requirements and potential food safety risks on the farm. 

Celebrate the careers, contributions, and well-deserved retirement of HNFAS faculty Brent Buckley and Douglas Vincent and Extension agent Glen Fukumoto on December 17, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in Ag Sci 219. Attendees are requested to contribute either monetary donations or potluck foods. 

A laudatory article in the Maui News spotlights Extension agent Cynthia Nazario-Leary (TPSS). Cynthia is also a CTAHR alumna, with a master’s degree in horticulture and a doctorate in Natural Resources and Environmental Management. Now, as an agent in urban horticulture, she is trialing sunflower varieties, overseeing the Bee House, and coordinating the Maui Master Gardeners.

The first study to implicate ambrosia beetles in Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death (ROD) has been published by the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) at the University of Hawai‘i.

Feeling yellow? You may want to check out the Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus Field Screening Pop-In Field Day. The college has been screening new varieties of tomatoes for possible resistance to the Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus, and a field day of resistant varieties will be held on Saturday, November 24, at the Waimanalo Research Station to go over field screenings that have been conducted in 2018 in the certified organic and GoFarm field plots. 

The Cooperative Extension forestry team is teaming up with the island Invasive Species Committees, Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Forestry & Wildlife, Hawai‘i Tourism Authority, and Hawai‘i Ecotourism Association to offer a series of free workshops for eco-tour operators on how to avoid spreading the pathogen that causes Rapid ‘Ōhi‘a Death and other invasive species. 

All are invited to attend the interview presentations of the candidates for junior/assistant Extension agent for agricultural economics on Friday, November 30; Tuesday, December 4; and Wednesday, December 5. Each candidate will speak on the topic of “Developing an Extension Program in Agricultural Economics for Hawai‘i.” 

All are invited to attend the interview presentations of the candidates for junior/assistant Extension agent for livestock on Hawai‘i Island on Monday, December 10, and Wednesday, December 12. Each candidate will speak on the topic of “Developing a Livestock Extension Program in Hawai‘i County.” 

Troubled by wild beasts? Growers who are have requested assistance in managing the wild animals that enter farm areas and destroy edible crops. In response, Cooperative Extension will be holding a Wild Animal Deterrent: Electric Fence Field Day on December 8 at the Waimanalo Research Station to show how wild animals can be excluded from production areas using an electric fencing system. 

Want to be a Master Gardener volunteer or know someone who does? The East Hawai‘i Master Gardeners are now accepting applications for the 2019 Master Gardener Volunteer Training Program. The course begins January 23 and runs through April, from 9 a.m. to noon every Wednesday morning at the Komohana Research Center.

CTAHR celebrated 90 years of Cooperative Extension and 100 years of 4-H in Hawai'i on November 7. Attendees included current Extension faculty and staff, retirees, and stakeholders. US and local lawmakers, Dean Nicholas Comerford, interim associate dean for Extension Kelvin Sewake, and state 4-H  leader Jeff Goodwin spoke on the past, present, and future of Extension and 4-H in Hawai’i.

CTAHR was triumphantly represented at RCUH’s 2018 Awards Luncheon, with both first- and second-place awardees. COF’s Annalynn Macabantad and Dana Senaha took second place in the Team category, and GoFarm director Janel Yamamoto won first prize in the Researcher/Project Manager/Professional category!

Extension in Hawai‘i County was able to qualify for a grant to hire two agricultural technicians from among the many workers displaced by the recent eruptions. The new ag techs will work at Waiakea Station planting and cross-pollinating papaya plants to obtain seeds for commercial growers to start rebuilding the decimated papaya industry on that island.

The Hawaii Floriculture and Nursery Association (HFNA) presented CTAHR’s Waiakea Research Station with a $7,500 donation to support research benefiting the floriculture and nursery industries, such as development of new cultivars and control of pests and diseases. Mahalo to HFNA for their support of CTAHR research!

Although 4-H isn’t just about “cows and cooking,” as popular perception often has it, these are iconic activities for a reason! And while East Hawai‘i 4-H has cattle covered, there hasn’t been as much cooking going on in this chapter. So over the recent Fall break, organizers decided to hold a 4-H Cooking 101 Day Camp, and participants were glad they did!