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Screened In

Screened In 10 May 2018

Screened In

A Protected Culture Field Day will be held at the Waimanalo Research Station on Wednesday, May 30, from 10:00 a.m. to noon, where Extension agent Jari Sugano and associate professor Koon Hui Wang (PEPS) will discuss the benefits and disadvantages of screen and high-tunnel systems.

A Flood of Help

A Flood of Help 10 May 2018

A Flood of Help

Emilie Kirk and Russell Messing represented CTAHR and the Kaua‘i Extension team, helping to provide information when hundreds of rural families and farmers showed up seeking answers and assistance at a flood-recovery community meeting on May 3 in Hanalei town.

Growing Giants

Growing Giants 10 May 2018

Growing Giants

Despite the earthquakes and volcanic activity, over 30 interested growers showed up at the Komohana Extension Office or participated online in the first-ever Giant Fruit & Vegetable Seminar, for contestants planning to enter the 2018 Hawaii 4-H Giant Fruit & Vegetable Contest.

Getting Trees in the Ground

Getting Trees in the Ground 10 May 2018

Getting Trees in the Ground

In honor of Arbor Day, Andy Kaufman (TPSS) assisted a class of first- and second-graders to plant a hala tree on the UH campus; then, in honor of ‘Ohi‘a Lehua Day, he assisted a class of third- and fourth-graders to plant ‘ohi‘a trees on the Mid-Pacific campus.

Wet in Waimanalo

Wet in Waimanalo 10 May 2018

Wet in Waimanalo

Cooperative Extension proudly supported O‘ahu RC&D’s Parade of Farms, held at the Waimanalo Research Station on May 5. Faculty and staff from CTAHR helped to coordinate the event, and many CTAHR programs were in attendance to sustain O‘ahu RC&D and the Waimanalo community.

Parade After the Storm

Parade After the Storm 2 May 2018

Parade After the Storm

The O‘ahu Research and Conservation Development Council’s third annual Parade of Farms, hosted at the Waimanalo Research Station, will showcase farms and agriculture-related businesses in Waimanalo this Saturday, but recent storms have necessitated some changes in the tours.

Extension Funding

Extension Funding 2 May 2018

Extension Funding

Andrea Kawabata, associate Extension agent for coffee and orchard crops, was awarded a $750 scholarship from the Roy A. Goff Memorial Endowment Fund to support her participation in the recent Specialty Coffee Association Expo in Seattle. Andrea presented an educational poster illustrating how a specialty coffee region is able to deal with a significant pest (coffee berry borer) in order to continue to provide high-quality coffee to the consumer. Andrea also learned about current research; new technologies, equipment, processing methods; new varieties, and marketing strategies that she will be able to share with Hawai‘i coffee producers. The Roy A. Goff Endowment supports professional development for CTAHR Extension faculty and staff. It’s managed by representatives of Epsilon Sigma Phi Extension fraternity, Hawaii Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences, Hawaii Association of Extension 4-H Agents, and the Hawaii Association of County Agricultural Agents. Applications for the next scholarship will be due July 31—for information about the scholarship, email Julia at zee@hawaii.edu.

Tea-Production Ceremony

Tea-Production Ceremony 2 May 2018

Tea-Production Ceremony

The 24th Tea 101 workshop, conducted by Randall Hamasaki and Stuart Nakamoto, was held at the Mealani Research Station on the Big Island. The seven-hour workshop was jam-packed with information and activity, including tea plant varieties, propagation, planting, shaping, pruning, irrigation, fertilization, pest management, and harvesting, as well as processing and marketing.

Help After the Flooding

Help After the Flooding 2 May 2018

Help After the Flooding

Cooperative Extension's Raymond Uchida, Jari Sugano, Jensen Uyeda, Joshua Silva, Kalani Matsumura, and Ted Radovich supported the O‘ahu City and County Disaster Recovery Centers to assist farmers, residents, and businesses affected by the recent severe weather and flooding, addressing questions on food safety, water quality, disaster-relief assistance, and debris removal.

Livestock Doubleheader

Livestock Doubleheader 2 May 2018

Livestock Doubleheader

Kyle Caires (HNFAS) was focused on kids and animals for the weekend when he recently hosted two events on Maui, a small ruminant workshop for over 50 4-H youth and adults in Kula and a beef fitting and showmanship workshop at a local ranch in Makawao.

North Shore Pesticide Safety

North Shore Pesticide Safety 2 May 2018

North Shore Pesticide Safety

Jensen Uyeda, Josh Silva, and Jari Sugano of O‘ahu County Cooperative Extension teamed up with Lisa Rhoden of the North Shore Economic Vitality Partnership to conduct a pesticide education workshop at Turtle Bay on April 25.

Helping Each Other With CBB

Helping Each Other With CBB 2 May 2018

Helping Each Other With CBB

Cooperative Extension’s Alyssa Cho, Andrea Kawabata, Jen Burt, and Matt Miyahira (TPSS) organized the 2018 Coffee Berry Borer Conference in Kailua-Kona, where 115 farmers, researchers, Extension faculty and staff, and other agricultural professionals gathered to learn about and share their latest CBB research and on-farm management experiences.


The Ewes Have It

The Ewes Have It 2 May 2018

The Ewes Have It

Kyle Caires’ (HNFAS) project entitled “Characterization of Vaginal Tract Microbiota in Ewes Synchronized With Intravaginal Progesterone Implants,” a result of collaborative research in Hawai‘i with partners in Brazil, has just been accepted for the the XXIV Annual Meeting of the Brazilian Society of Embryo Technology.

What’s Causing ROD

What’s Causing ROD 18 April 2018

What’s Causing ROD

Extension forester and winner of CTAHR’s 2018 Award for Excellence in Extension J.B. Friday (NREM) is quoted in a UH News story announcing that the two species of fungus that are causing Rapid ‘Ohi‘a Death, or ROD, have been described and named in a recently published paper.

Doing Right by the Animals

Doing Right by the Animals 18 April 2018

Doing Right by the Animals

Twenty-four 4-H students in Kaua‘i County participated in a food animal quality assurance training which focused on how to be good stewards of livestock raised as market projects for the county fair, under the guidance of Kaua‘i’s Livestock Extension agent Savannah Katulski.

Get the Slugs Out

Get the Slugs Out 18 April 2018

Get the Slugs Out

In the wake of the two new cases of rat lungworm disease confirmed in the state, O‘ahu Extension agent Josh Silva was interviewed on KHON for tips on how to deter and kill the slugs and snails that spread the disease, such as using copper tape or just picking them up by hand—using gloves and tongs, of course!

Land Values

Land Values 18 April 2018

Land Values

Wildfire expert Clay Trauernicht and Pua‘ala Pascua (both NREM) are co-authors of a paper, “Bringing Multiple Values to the Table: An Assessment of Future Land-Use and Climate Change in North Kona, Hawaiʻi,” that recommends a collaborative approach in working with stakeholders to assess the multiple values that different ecosystems in Hawaiʻi provide.

Strong Bones

Strong Bones 18 April 2018

Strong Bones

Heather Greenwood Junkermeier (FCS) recently published an article in Maui News entitled “Osteoporosis Affects Both Genders.” She explains what osteoporosis is and what the risk factors of the disease are, and then suggests ways to mitigate them.

Learn About the Lungworm

Learn About the Lungworm 11 April 2018

Learn About the Lungworm

The CTAHR Farm Food Safety Team, in collaboration with Hawai‘i State Departments of Health and Agriculture, has released a new video on Rat Lung Worm (RLW) disease prevention. It is a potentially scary disease, but this video offers practical and down-to-earth advice that can help.

Brian Bushe at the Banquet

Brian Bushe at the Banquet 11 April 2018

Brian Bushe at the Banquet

If you haven’t yet registered for the annual CTAHR Awards Banquet, now’s the time to secure your place! You’ll get a chance to celebrate the successes of students, faculty, staff, and friends, including Brian Bushe, winner of the award for Outstanding Service for an APT Employee!
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8 April 2020

Pigs and Papaya

CTAHR Extension is helping two industries save each other

Pigs and Papaya

The pig farmers had no feed for their pigs. The papaya farmers had no market for their papayas. But CTAHR brought them together.

Both local industries have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Some 75% of swine producers’ feed comes from food waste generated by schools, restaurants, and hotels. But this supply has dwindled radically since Hawai‘i residents began sheltering in place. Papaya growers have found their markets slashed since US Mainland distributors stopped buying papaya during the crisis, as consumers focus on canned and other long-keeping items they can stockpile.

Faced with the shortage, pig farmers quickly switched to purchasing Mainland grain. But this caused a shortage of pig pellets at local feed stores, leaving the Islands without feed until the next boat. It’s not a sustainable solution, either. Pig pellets are more costly and require more fossil fuel to transport, and local farmers have to rely on a supply chain that may break down at any stage. Transporting large amounts of feed might also strain a shipping industry struggling to keep Hawai‘i supplied with essentials for humans.

At the same time, papaya growers were in danger of going under. Approximately 50 families, independent growers and members of the non-profit Hawaii Papaya Industry Association (HIPA) are in desperate need of immediate assistance. They have no other income than selling papayas, and their market has crashed, yet they do not qualify for unemployment. 

CTAHR’s Role

CTAHR Extension livestock agent Mike DuPonte, a member of the Hawaii Island Pork Association, began coordinating with HIPA president Eric Weinert of the large Hilo packing plant and exporter Calavo Growers.

Together, they’ve created a short-term means to protect both industries and Hawai‘i’s precious food supply. Pigs readily eat papaya, and there’s plenty to be had. Mike is coordinating with the animal farmers needing a food source by providing an estimate of need. Papaya farmers will pick and supply the papaya to be used as feed. Eric Weinert will open the packing plant as a marshalling yard to receive and distribute the papaya. HPIA will provide forklifts, scales, and recordkeeping.

It’s not a complete solution—papaya doesn’t provide all the nutrients that pigs need over the long term, and swine producers can’t afford to pay the prices that papaya farmers usually command from human consumers. So CTAHR agents are also helping members of both organizations get financial funding and other emergency aid from the federal government and large corporations like Land O’ Lakes, which runs a feed and shipping program and will work with farmers to subsidize them.

But for now, this locally grown partnership is keeping both industries afloat while they explore other solutions, ensuring that essential elements of our Islands’ food sufficiency can survive.