News and Events


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Building an Ag Workforce

Building an Ag Workforce 6 July 2023

Building an Ag Workforce

UGC partners with Waipahu H.S. on workforce development

In line with CTAHR’s grand challenge to advance workforce and economic development, Extensionʻs Urban Garden Center is proud to partner with Waipahu High School and its ʻOhana of Excellence Academy (OEA), a pilot program funded by the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR). 

Language-Appropriate Outreach

Language-Appropriate Outreach 6 July 2023

Language-Appropriate Outreach

Extension will use USDA grant to help immigrant farmers

Immigrant farmers in Hawaiʻi whose native tongues include Thai, Lao, Ilocano, Chinese and other languages often find it difficult to access new safety guidelines and other important agricultural information.

Fast Forward

Fast Forward 12 May 2023

Fast Forward

Youths aren’t forgotten in Urban Garden Center’s many interactions with the public

As more than 250 students from 24 high schools across the state gathered to participate in this year’s Future Farmers of America convention on Oʻahu, the Urban Garden Center proved a key resource in the event. The youths visited UGC and took part in fast-paced educational activities around the facility. With their teachers, the students got their hands dirty restarting a static hydroponic system, harvesting locally grown fruits and veggies in raised beds, and transplanting succulents.

What’s All the Buzz About?

What’s All the Buzz About? 12 May 2023

What’s All the Buzz About?

Maui 4-H bee house reopens after pandemic

The Bee House at the CTAHR Maui Extension Office is making a triumphant return after a three-year-long hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Led by 4-H Youth Development Agent Nancy Ooki and Master Gardener Coordinator and Beekeeper Eric Demaria, the project seeks to teach youths about the importance of bees to Hawaiʻi’s ecosystems. 

The Potential for Sweet Onions

The Potential for Sweet Onions 21 April 2023

The Potential for Sweet Onions

Extension’s field day draws a large, interested crowd

The length of the day plays a large role in the development of sweet onion bulbs, thus farmers in Hawaiʻi have historically been limited to growing only “short-day” onions, especially during the winter when days are shorter. However, there are options for growing intermediate-day varieties in the summer months, and this potential opportunity drew more than 30 growers and community members to Extension’s recent field day at Poamoho Experiment Station.

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.

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20 July 2021

National Clean Plant Network

Extension will use a new APHIS grant to study sweet potato

National Clean Plant Network

When a virus or virus-like agent infects a vegetatively propagated crop, the negative consequences can go far beyond a disappointing yield, appearance, taste, and plant longevity. If the difficult-to-find disease goes undetected inside the propagation material, the problem could be passed on to a new farm, establish itself, and spread even further.

Since 2008, the National Clean Plant Network has brought together growers, scientists, and government agencies with the shared goal of safeguarding clean plants and ensuring a sustainable source of disease-free, vegetative propagation materials (such as cuttings, slips, scionwood, etc.). No less than the long-term viability of farmers and feeding a hungry planet are at stake.

With a new grant from the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, a group of CTAHR Extension agents and researchers on Oʻahu, Kauaʻi, Maui, and the Big Island have joined the network’s sweet potato group. For their first project, Amjad Ahmad, Rosemary Gutierrez, Roshan Manandhar, Susan Miyasaka, Sharon Motomura-Wages, and Jensen Uyeda, along with Dr. Jon Suzuki from the USDA ARS, DKI US Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center (PBARC) in Hilo, will focus on ‘Okinawan,’ the purple-fleshed sweet potato variety that is a primary commercial cultivar in Hawaiʻi.

“During the first year, we hope to produce a total of 100 virus-tested ‘Okinawan’ plantlets in the tissue-culture laboratory of the Komohana Research and Extension Center, then distribute to Extension agents across the state,” Susan says.

The plan calls for these Extension agents to multiply the clean material to produce 500 cuttings, and distribute them to growers. The agents will use either pot or hydroponic cultures under conditions that will minimize any re-introduction of disease, while Dr. Suzuki will test for major sweet potato viruses in order to ensure that the propagating materials are clean. If all goes well, by the second year of funding, the agents will be able to ramp up production to distribute 2,500 clean cuttings to growers.

Read more about the National Clean Plant Network.