News and Events


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Celebrate Extension!

Celebrate Extension! 18 October 2018

Celebrate Extension!

If you haven’t yet registered for the celebration marking two important events in Cooperative Extension in Hawai‘i, now’s the time to do it—the deadline is October 26! There will be a celebration luncheon in honor of these historic milestones, and the CTAHR ‘ohana is invited to participate in commemorating Hawai’i’s past while looking toward the future!

Counting What We’ve Lost

Counting What We’ve Lost 18 October 2018

Counting What We’ve Lost

Ag economist Matthew Loke (NREM) conducted a Survey on Farm Disasters caused by Kilauea’s recent eruptions. Results indicated a $27.9 million loss by 46 affected farmers and a displacement of 1,337 acres of arable land. The survey results will be used to seek federal, state, and county government assistance for  affected farmers.

Connecting Kids to Food

Connecting Kids to Food 18 October 2018

Connecting Kids to Food

In a column in the Star-Advertiser, junior Extension agent Emilie Kirk details how the “Farm-to-School Program Connects Kids to Food.” October is national Farm to School month, and it’s a great initiative. If you’re a parent, teacher, or school administrator, or know someone who is, you’ll find something of interest in this helpful article, so take a look!

Honoring Our Past, Growing Our Future

Honoring Our Past, Growing Our Future 11 October 2018

Honoring Our Past, Growing Our Future

The year 2018 marks a special time for Hawai‘i Cooperative Extension and the Hawai‘i 4-H Program! There will be a celebration luncheon on Wednesday, November 7, in honor of two important Extension milestones, and the CTAHR ‘ohana is invited to participate in commemorating Hawai’i’s past while looking toward the future!

Documents to download

Be an AgPro!

Be an AgPro! 11 October 2018

Be an AgPro!

Registration is now open for the AgPro professional-development training on October 23 and 24 on Maui. The two-day event, with the theme of “Extending Our Reach: Technology Use in Cooperative Extension,” will offer Extension agents and specialists the latest updates relating to the use of technology in agriculture, livestock, and Extension education.

In Their Own Words

In Their Own Words 11 October 2018

In Their Own Words

Through collaboration with community partners, CTAHR Cooperative Extension was able to reach 14 Thai farmers on Kaua‘i and 10 Thai farmers on O‘ahu last week by providing bilingual workshops. Farmers noted that both workshops were very informative and that they are interested in attending additional workshops in the future.

They’re into Growing in a BIG Way!

They’re into Growing in a BIG Way! 28 September 2018

They’re into Growing in a BIG Way!

East Hawai‘i 4-H had a record year at their recent Hawai‘i County Giant Fruit & Vegetable Contest, adding six new contest records, including a 2.37-pound giant tomato, a 16.74-pound coconut, a 2.02-pound lemon, a giant 7.47-pound sweet potato, a 14.5-inch sunflower head, and, astonishingly, an 84.5-inch-long gourd!

Healthy Facts About Social Media

Healthy Facts About Social Media 28 September 2018

Healthy Facts About Social Media

In a recent Star-Advertiser column, HNFAS nutritionists Joannie Dobbs and Alan Titchenal discuss the role that social media can play in affecting and maintaining people’s health. They point out that a lot of what we read on social media about food and diet can be “biased and misleading,” especially if it’s disseminated by special interest groups with their own agendas.

Fire Fighter

Fire Fighter 20 September 2018

Fire Fighter

Clay Trauernicht (NREM) recently published an article in Civil Beat’s “Community Voices” forum entitled “Fire Is the One Hawaii Disaster We Can Avoid.” As he explains, there’s nothing people can do to prevent many of the natural disasters that have hit our state in the past few months. But one natural crisis that we can prevent is wildfire.

 

Bunch Back Against Bunchy Top

Bunch Back Against Bunchy Top 12 September 2018

Bunch Back Against Bunchy Top

Attend a Banana Macropropagation Workshop to learn how to propagate healthy, disease-free banana plants using macropropagation techniques! This field day will cover management of Banana Bunchy Top Virus (BBTV), a demonstration of rapid BBTV detection, and propagation of clean banana plants through macropropagation.

Catch the New Wave on Catfish

Catch the New Wave on Catfish 12 September 2018

Catch the New Wave on Catfish

There’s an exciting new technique in town for catfish producers: the use of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG)! Find out more at the Chinese Catfish Hatchery and Spawning Workshop, which will be held at the Waimanalo Research Station’s Aquaponics Lab on Saturday, September 15, from 9:00 a.m. to 12 noon.

Feeling Seedy?

Feeling Seedy? 12 September 2018

Feeling Seedy?

Come to the Hawai‘i Seed Fest, providing “Local Seeds for Local Needs,” on Saturday, September 22, from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Waimanalo Research Station. There you can join local community conversations on the hows and whys of growing seeds specifically adapted for Hawai’i. Attendance is free, but advance registration is required.

Get Pepped Up

Get Pepped Up 12 September 2018

Get Pepped Up

Need a little spice in your life? Come to the Jalapeño Pepper Field Day at the Poamoho Research Station on Tuesday, October 9, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. This field day will provide field observations of 20 commercially available mild and regular-heat jalapeño pepper varieties, including gorgeous purple peppers!

 

Go Pro—AgPro!

Go Pro—AgPro! 12 September 2018

Go Pro—AgPro!

Extension agents and specialists are invited to the AgPro professional-development training on October 23 and 24 on Maui. The two-day event, with the theme of “Extending Our Reach: Technology Use in Cooperative Extension,” will offer the latest updates relating to the use of technology in architecture, livestock, and Extension education.

Healthy Eating with the Kaleiopu‘u Keiki

Healthy Eating with the Kaleiopu‘u Keiki 12 September 2018

Healthy Eating with the Kaleiopu‘u Keiki

Monica Esquivel (HNFAS) took a visit to the Kaleiopu‘u Elementary kindergarten classrooms to share information about nutrition, physical activity, and community resources for healthy eating and food. The presentation was a part of a project to help the 135 kindergarteners at Kaleiopu‘u learn about healthy food choices and exercise.

 

A Century of Extension Excellence

A Century of Extension Excellence 6 September 2018

A Century of Extension Excellence

CTAHR’s Cooperative Extension will be celebrating its 90th year with UH, along with its 4-H program’s 100-year anniversary. A celebration luncheon will be held on November 7 at the Ala Moana Hotel’s Hibiscus Ballroom, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Don't miss it!
 

Documents to download

How Risky Is Your Food?

How Risky Is Your Food? 6 September 2018

How Risky Is Your Food?

Junior Extension agent Kylie Wong Tavares has been awarded a Roy A. Goff Memorial Endowment Fund scholarship of $750 in support of her coursework on “Quantifying Food Risk” and “Foodborne Disease Epidemiology,” funding that will allow her to better serve her clientele.
 

Composting Helps Water Quality

Composting Helps Water Quality 6 September 2018

Composting Helps Water Quality

Extension agent Glen Fukumoto (HNFAS) recently returned from the island of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia, where he was doing work on water quality and piggery systems as part of his MultiState Extension project with the college’s Pacific Island land-grant partners. 

Get Your Spray On

Get Your Spray On 30 August 2018

Get Your Spray On

A Small-Scale Pesticide Application Demonstration is being held at the Poamoho Research Station on Saturday, September 22, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. This field day will cover small-scale pesticide-application equipment, sprayer calibration techniques, selecting the right application equipment for the job, and much more.

Go the Course

Go the Course 30 August 2018

Go the Course

Cooperative Extension will be offering a Pesticide Reduced-Risk Education Short Course on O‘ahu on October 16–17. This in-depth two-day short course will educate participants about handling pesticides, including herbicides, in ways that will reduce risks to people and our environment.

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11 September 2019

Getting Some Buzz

Video on bee virus is going viral

Getting Some Buzz

Bee health researcher Ethel Villalobos (PEPS) is featured in a recent episode of the video series How Close Are We, which looks at possible solutions to some of the world’s major problems and questions. It asks, “How Close Are We to solving some of humanity’s biggest challenges? We go in search of experts, dive into the facts, and comb through the research to find out just how close we are to changing the world.” 

Executive producer Anna Campbell, who was interested in Ethel’s work, contacted her to speak about just that for the episode “How Close Are We to Saving the Bees?” Filmed by local videographer Jonathan Keao, Ethel discusses Colony Collapse Disorder, a mysterious phenomenon in which whole bee colonies disappear for reasons that are still unclear. Ethel explains that beekeepers lose 40 percent or more of their bee colonies each year during the winter, and, as she vividly describes it, discovering what is going wrong is like “trying to do an autopsy without a body.” It is known, however, that it has something to do with the “four P’s”: parasites, pathogens, pesticides, and poor nutrition. 

An important parasite Ethel describes is the varroa mite, on which she’s an expert. It’s a vector of Deformed wing virus (DWV), which leads to shriveled, unusable wings that make foraging and other essential activities difficult, if not impossible.

One way to counteract Colony Collapse Disorder, Ethel says, is to enrich the bees’ diet with supplements that can give them “superhero strength,” so they will be better able to fight off parasites and pathogens. A vitamin-rich fungal extract from polypore mushrooms has exciting potential, lowering the rate of DWV by 79 percent. Formic acid and menthol have also been used to deter the mites, and bee queens that are especially fastidious about hive cleanliness—“neurotic,” as Ethel says—can also help to reduce the incidence of disease. Most important, however, is good nutrition, and this can be boosted by growing a variety of crops and plants for the bees to forage in, not huge swaths of monocrops.

Since bees provide an estimated $15 billion in services to agriculture, it pays to listen to bee experts about what to do to keep them healthy. And people are listening: the video has gotten almost 100,000 views in just two weeks!