News and Events


«December 2024»
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun
2526272829301
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
303112345

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!

Root and Berry

Root and Berry 11 April 2018

Root and Berry

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.

Fair Without Fair Weather

Fair Without Fair Weather 11 April 2018

Fair Without Fair Weather

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.

Learning to Grow

Learning to Grow 11 April 2018

Learning to Grow

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.

Steering in the Right Direction

Steering in the Right Direction 11 April 2018

Steering in the Right Direction

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.

It’s Gene-ius!

It’s Gene-ius! 11 April 2018

It’s Gene-ius!

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!

Food Safety in the Pacific

Food Safety in the Pacific 11 April 2018

Food Safety in the Pacific

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.

Hot Conversation

Hot Conversation 4 April 2018

Hot Conversation

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.
 

Try Kaua‘i

Try Kaua‘i 4 April 2018

Try Kaua‘i

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.
 

A Graftin’ Good Time

A Graftin’ Good Time 4 April 2018

A Graftin’ Good Time

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.

Sustainable Swine

Sustainable Swine 4 April 2018

Sustainable Swine

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.

Feeding Greatness

Feeding Greatness 28 March 2018

Feeding Greatness

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.

On Parade

On Parade 21 March 2018

On Parade

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.

Healthy in Guam

Healthy in Guam 21 March 2018

Healthy in Guam

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. 

Heritage Roots

Heritage Roots 14 March 2018

Heritage Roots

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.

More Trees, Please

More Trees, Please 14 March 2018

More Trees, Please

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.

RSS
First1718192021232526
12 July 2018

Dealing With Climate Change in Samoa

Dealing With Climate Change in Samoa
Clay Trauernicht and Patricia Fifita (both NREM) organized the American Samoa Extension Climate Forum with partners at American Samoa Community College (ASCC), similar to the climate forum for Extension personnel that they organized last year at UH. Jonathan Deenik and Jensen Uyeda (both TPSS) also presented and attended, drawing on their prior experiences working on the island. Both of these forums explored Cooperative Extension’s role in helping farmers and landowners better prepare for natural disasters and other climate-related hazards. Held in Pago Pago on June 20th and 21st, the Forum was a collaboration between the ASCC and CTAHR to communicate the best available climate science and identify adaptation strategies within the local food production and forestry sectors. Hurricane Gita hit American Samoa hard in March 2018, destroying homes and wiping out most of the commercial taro crops on island but also generating wide interest the Climate Forum. The event drew over 65 participants, including ASCC Extension faculty; representatives from the National Weather Service, NOAA, National Parks, American Samoa EPA, and the Coral Reef Advisory Group; and approximately ten farmers, who were also high-ranking matai (or titled chiefs) representing the districts and villages they oversee. The first day of the Climate Forum began with presentations by content experts on local weather and climate, current work in community and farm resilience, and the latest downscaled climate projections. The second half of the day consisted of a panel discussion by Extension faculty from Hawai‘i and American Samoa addressing how Extension programs and clients use climate information and can better respond to climate-related threats. This was followed by an overview of locally relevant climate-related tools and resources and a facilitated group activity and discussion of the threat posed by climate and weather events to valued resources and the actions available to increase the resilience of those resources. The second day, Jonathan and Jensen provided an interactive workshop on the role of soil health in long-term farm productivity and climate-impact mitigation and the application of novel and low-cost technologies to respond to climate variability and increase efficiency in crop-production systems. After the workshop, participants toured the Extension facilities at ASCC, with guided demonstrations of farm practices including irrigation management, agroforestry, aquaculture, and deep-litter pig farming (the outcome of a prior project by Glen Fukumoto, HNFAS). Clay and Patricia are preparing a summary of the information presented at the Forum and the opportunities and challenges identified by participants for Extension to support climate adaptation in American Samoa. Short videos clips highlighting the perspective and experience of local Extension professionals and farmers are also currently under production. The event in American Samoa is a continuation of a project that has delivered parallel Climate Forums for Extension faculty in Hawai‘i, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in 2017 with funding from the Pacific Island Climate Change Cooperative, the USDA SW Climate Hub, and the USDOI Office of Insular Affairs.