Try Kaua‘i

Emilie Kirk of the Kaua‘i Extension team organized and hosted a free workshop for more than 20 edible crop and flower farmers at the Kaua‘i Agricultural Research Center on March 27. With financial support from the Western SARE program, the Sustainable and Organic Agricultural Production team of Jari Sugano and Koon-Hui Wang (Plant and Environmental Protection Program) and Ted Radovich (Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences) gave presentations to on pest-management approaches in tropical cropping systems. Kirk described the history and current uses of the Kaua‘i Research Station, followed by a summary of the protocols for conducting on-farm research trials. Other presentations covered topics including integrated pest management, organic production, and research findings from variety trials and screenhouse research conducted by O‘ahu CTAHR faculty. A short tour of the facility and its shadehouse plants followed the presentations. Feedback from the farm community was uniformly positive…and ideas are already percolating for additional workshops in the near future.