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!

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.

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.

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.

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!

Big Island Extension’s Andrea Kawabata, Jen Burt, and Matthew Miyahira represented CTAHR at the 11th annual Kona Coffee Farmer’s Association Coffee and Small Farms Expo at the Old Kona Airport, where they discussed issues such as the coffee berry borer and root-knot nematode.

Pouring rain didn’t stop Kaua‘i islanders from pouring into the Garden Fair this year. Jointly hosted by CTAHR and the Kaua‘i County Farm Bureau, the 23rd Annual Garden Fair at the Kaua‘i Community College featured a series of CTAHR garden and agriculture presentations.

CTAHR students and other volunteers engaged 169 elementary first- and fourth-graders in garden activities over the spring semester, teaching them about nutrition for people and plants.

A Moloka‘i 4-H participant and his award winning animals were featured in a USDA Farm Service Agency Fencepost newsletter article on the FSA Youth Loan.

The highly popular and acclaimed Gene-ius Day program is the subject of a recent laudatory article on the UH Foundation website that describes how the original program has expanded into three complementary outreach efforts that are reaching and teaching more kids than ever before!

The Western Regional Center to Enhance Food Safety held its second annual meeting, and 10 members of the FSMA team of UH, University of Guam, and the American Samoa Community College, including Extension agents Kylie Wong and Joshua Silva, attended to deliver progress reports.

CTAHR wildfire researcher Clay Trauernicht recently joined other experts on disaster vulnerability and resilience in the Islands on Hawai‘i Public Radio program The Conversation.
 

Junior Extension Agent Emilie Kirk welcomed edible crop and flower farmers to a free spring workshop and tour of the Kaua‘i Agricultural Research Center.
 

Hawai‘i Island CTAHR Extension staff members teamed up with USDA to offer hands-on avocado-grafting workshops for 45 growers and promote their ‘Sharwil’ Avocado Project.

Rajesh Jha (HNFAS) recently offered a training course on “Feed and Nutrition Management” for a group of young ethnic-minority farmers in Nepal, in which he provided knowledge and hands-on skills on utilizing local feedstuffs and food waste as a sustainable source of feed for swine.

Research by Rajesh Jha and his Animal Sciences students focuses on locally grown feeds for chicken to lower costs, improve environmental sustainability and improve flavor of local fowl.

The Waimanalo Research Station will be the home base for the 3rd Annual Parade of Farms, presented by the O‘ahu Resource and Conservation Development Council, on Saturday, May 5, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. This year’s parade will be featuring farms in Waimanalo.

Former CHL trainee and now Guam EFNEP coordinator Tanisha Franquez Aflague was recently featured in Fresh From the Field, NIFA’s newsletter highlighting success stories of its grantees, about her work with the Children’s Healthy Living (CHL) Project. 

A Taro Field Day will be held at the Waimanalo Research Station on Saturday, March 17, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon.

Rich Criley (TPSS) participated in the Trees for Honolulu’s Future workshop on March 9 by showing the series of Extension publications he has written called Expanding Tree Diversity in Hawai‘i’s Landscapes that provide alternatives for landscapers and home growers to the most commonly used trees.