News and Events


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CTAHR & City Mill

CTAHR & City Mill 21 April 2023

CTAHR & City Mill

Extension’s garden education is a hit with the community

“Basic Planting Guidelines” was anything but academic for the packed house of community members at City Mill’s recent garden education program. Led by Extension’s Tina Lau and the Master Gardeners, it encouraged home gardeners to be plant detectives, able to observe and diagnose their plant problems and to introduce the Oahu Master Gardener Helpline as a resource online, via the telephone, or in-person. It was the latest example of CTAHR and City Mill working together to promote more food production in the state, as well as raise awareness and heighten the availability of garden products locally. 

Honorary Outstanding Alumnus

Honorary Outstanding Alumnus 29 March 2023

Honorary Outstanding Alumnus

The Dean’s Award goes to Fred Lau

After graduating from Kalani High School in 1972 and matriculating to CTAHR, Fred Lau couldn’t wait to start his own business. So in his last year of college, he and a friend left UH to start their own business. Their plan was to look through the Yellow Pages for a nursery-related business with the least amount of competition. The plant rental section had only two businesses listed, so the partners walked into hotels and businesses in Waikiki offering these services to any manager who would meet with them. 

Gone to the Birds

Gone to the Birds 29 March 2023

Gone to the Birds

Extension on the Ground focuses on rose-ringed parakeets

Commercial and backyard gardeners alike will tell you the same thing: fruit is on the tree one day, and gone the next. The culprit? In addition to the local bulbul, doves, cardinals, and myna birds, the rose-ringed parakeet is now a known culprit. These beautiful but voracious invasive pests have been on Oʻahu since the 1930’s, but are quickly growing in population numbers. 

Excellence in Extension

Excellence in Extension 17 March 2023

Excellence in Extension

The Dean’s Award goes to the Banana Bunchy Top Virus Team

The Dean’s Award for Excellence in Extension distinguishes an exceptional Extension faculty member or team whose work has demonstrated outstanding performance and significant results. This year, the award goes to the team who have worked to revitalize the Hawaiʻi banana industry with clean, virus-free planting materials in a statewide Extension outreach program.

Outstanding Volunteer

Outstanding Volunteer 17 March 2023

Outstanding Volunteer

The Dean’s Award goes to Beatrice Sailer

Volunteers are the lifeblood for Extension programs such as 4-H and Master Gardener. The recipient of the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Extension Volunteer goes to Beatrice Sailer, Master Gardener volunteer.

CTAHR Represents

CTAHR Represents 17 March 2023

CTAHR Represents

Grow Hawaiian Festival at Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden makes a return

On the misty morning of Saturday, February 25th, hundreds of people gathered at the Amy B.H Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden to celebrate Hawaiian culture and natural history at the 2023 Grow Hawaiian Festival. Hosted by the Friends of Amy B.H Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, the festival was the garden’s first event in over 3 years.

On the Air

On the Air 28 February 2023

On the Air

Extension’s Amjad Ahmad is interviewed on Hawai'i Public Radio

Rotting and leafless avocado trees are spreading nationwide due to lace bugs. With the trees in jeopardy, Extension agents in the Dept. Of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences are doing extensive research to determine the most effective courses of action to get rid of these pests. Their research thus far has determined some strategies that could help avocado tree owners decrease their chances of attaining lace bugs and even exterminating them.

Taking on Atlanta

Taking on Atlanta 28 February 2023

Taking on Atlanta

12 Maui 4-H youths attended the national 4-H congress

For many 4-H youths, the National 4-H Congress is a highly anticipated annual event that celebrates the culmination of a year’s worth of personal growth, hard work, and service-learning. Hundreds of 4-H delegates gather every year in Atlanta, Georgia to network with other 4-H peers from around the nation, participate in community service events, and attend workshops about leadership, volunteering, global awareness, and inclusion.

Irrigation Systems

Irrigation Systems 28 February 2023

Irrigation Systems

Extension hosts a workshop for the community

With seasonal rains coming down seemingly nonstop, the topic of irrigation was front and center as Oʻahu County Extension hosted a workshop for backyard and Master Gardeners. Guests welcomed the opportunity to get out of the rains to attend the educational workshop as Extension agents explained measures that CTAHR has taken to reduce potable water use at the Urban Garden Center, and the role of Cooperative Extension in fulfilling CTAHR’s land grant college mission.

Horsin’ Around

Horsin’ Around 10 February 2023

Horsin’ Around

Oʻahu County 4-H shines at National Western Stock Show

Every year, nearly 700,000 ranchers, farmers, and rodeo enthusiasts from around the country make the pilgrimage to Denver to watch and participate in the world’s largest stock show and celebration of Old Western culture and heritage. The National Western Stock Show is a 16-day-long fair featuring rodeo shows, hundreds of food and livestock vendors, barbeque competitions, fiddling contests –  and everything in between.

One Health Hawai‘i

One Health Hawai‘i 30 January 2023

One Health Hawai‘i

CTAHR supports Gov. Green’s proclamation

Did you know that 75% of new human pathogens over the past three decades have originated from animals? What’s more, many common causes of human infection, such as E. coli and Salmonella, are shared with animals and readily found within the environment.

Happy Plantsgiving

Happy Plantsgiving 9 December 2022

Happy Plantsgiving

Community garden event pairs FCS with FETCH

Bringing families together is a concept that dates back to the very first Thanksgiving. This past Nov. 23, an inaugural community garden event, “Plantsgiving Thanksgiving,” was co-hosted by the Dept. of Family and Consumer Affairs and CTAHR’s Family Education Centers of Hawaii, Inc.

Global Interest

Global Interest 18 November 2022

Global Interest

HNFAS Extension is recognized by NIFA

Congrats to Mark Thorne on a Partnership Award for Multistate Efforts! His National Connections Teams for Forest & Rangeland Resources team was recognized by the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture for developing the web-based conference series, “Strengthening RREA programing Through Enhanced Connections.”

Life Skills

Life Skills 18 November 2022

Life Skills

4-H creates a youth entrepreneurship pilot program

Imagine a club where youths meet weekly, participate in hands-on activities that spark creativity and innovation, and learn business components such as customer service and marketing. Throw in a food safety course from the state Dept. of Health and ways to incorporate Hawaiian values, agriculture, and local value-added product innovations into their business strategy. Top it off with a capstone project, a Keiki Open Market, where the youths showcase their vegetables, value-added products, and other inventions.

Zero Dark Twolined

Zero Dark Twolined 3 November 2022

Zero Dark Twolined

Extension develops an app to manage the Twolined Spittlebug

By the time it was discovered in Hawaiʻi in 2016, this invasive pest had already damaged 2,000 acres of rangeland. A scant eight generations later, the Twolined Spittlebug (TLSB) had expanded its range to more than 176,000 acres. In highly infested areas where nymph density exceeded 50/m2, the result was nearly 100% die back of key range forages, including Kikuyu and pangola grasses – and their loss exposed the land to invasive plants like Pamakani, wild blackberry, and fireweed. Livestock producers faced devastating economic losses.

Hands-On Inspiration

Hands-On Inspiration 3 November 2022

Hands-On Inspiration

UGC distributes 100s of seedlings and seeds to the community

In trick-

In trick-

In trick-or-treat like fashion, home gardeners from all corners of the community made their rounds at the Urban Garden Center’s recent “Extension in the Garden Day.” Visiting Extension faculty and Master Gardener educational booths, the excited participants filled their recycled containers with a diversity of locally adapted crops that had been field tested by Extension agents around the state.

Well Deserved, Jari

Well Deserved, Jari 14 October 2022

Well Deserved, Jari

Extension director is honored by Oʻahu RC&D

A very sincere congrats to Jari Sugano, Oʻahu County Administrator for Extension, who was honored by the Oʻahu Resource Conservation and Development Council. Jari was the honored speaker at the event “Celebrating Women Who Help Shape Local Agriculture in Hawaiʻi,” where the statewide membership of Oʻahu RC&D’s Hawaiʻi Women Farmers Network recognized her professional excellence, dedication, and leadership; she serves as an inspiration to many throughout Hawai’i's agricultural sector.

Hawaiʻi Nutrition Center

Hawaiʻi Nutrition Center 5 October 2022

Hawaiʻi Nutrition Center

CTAHR launches a new website

We are excited to announce the launch of the new Hawaiʻi Nutrition Center (HNC) website! HNC is a partnership between the University of Hawaiʻi - College of Tropical Agriculture & Human Resources (CTAHR), Cooperative Extension, Hawaiʻi Foods, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program - Education (SNAP-Ed), and Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP).

Bulletin 84

Bulletin 84 5 October 2022

Bulletin 84

The classic treatise on taro is newly reprinted

Sporting a new cover and artsy photos throughout – but leaving the time-honored text inside completely intact – the classic “Taro Varieties in Hawaiʻi” is reprinted and available for purchase. Originally published in 1939 by L.D. Whitney, F.A.I. Bowers, and M. Takahashi, it is available for $15 from UH Press and CTAHR’s Urban Garden Center.

Locally Adapted Crops

Locally Adapted Crops 5 October 2022

Locally Adapted Crops

UGC’s next ‘Extension in the Garden’ workshop set for Oct. 20

Free events for public benefit aren’t only for the community, you know. CTAHR faculty, staff, alumni, and students are welcome, too! On Thursday, Oct. 20, starting at 3:00 p.m. at the Urban Garden Center, join Extension as they host visitors for an afternoon of sharing and networking as they discuss gardening in the islands.

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14 February 2020

Ag Women Unite

Conference at Komohana helps women growers to grow a network

Ag Women Unite

Ag finance agent Shannon Sand recently conducted a regional Women in Ag conference at the Komohana Research and Extension Center. It focused on creating and maintaining healthy farms, cultivating resiliency through learning, and fostering the opportunity for women farmers to connect with one other. A panel of local women farmers from the Big Island—Brittany Anderson, Maddy Smith, and Sarah Freeman—discussed how they got into farming and how they dealt with things in their day-to-day lives and maintained a healthy work–life balance.

This was Hawai‘i’s first year participating in this regional conference, which drew a group of 33 engaged participants. Shannon hopes to present it in more locations on other islands next year. The conference was conducted simultaneously in six states in the region for a total of 680 attendees.

Shannon says, “I think for our first time it was a great success! There was a lot of interest from the women in wanting to continue to meet and learn.”