Alumni News

A new report from the University of Hawaiʻi Economic Research Organization concludes that the economic value of Ag production has declined “more than the physical production of agricultural goods, because consumer prices have skyrocketed at a higher rate than wholesale agricultural prices.” According to the researchers, Hawaiʻi has more idle cropland than harvested cropland, which represents an economic opportunity, especially for high-value crops.

Read the full UH News story. Read the full UHERO brief, “The agricultural economic landscape in Hawaiʻi and the potential for future economic viability.

If anyone knows about diversified agricultural operations across the state, itʻs Dole Hawaiʻi. And now this mainstay of local farming has a need for an Agricultural Management Trainee to learn to oversee all phases of Dole Hawaiʻi agricultural operations. This includes field maintenance, land preparation, mulching, planting, harvesting, spray application, irrigation and transportation; and product processing, packing and shipping. The hiree will develop supervisory skills, acquire State of Hawaiʻi pesticide applicator certification, and become familiar with union contracts.

Apply online or email your resume and salary requirements.

Last month, approximately 60 volunteers entered the gates of the Oʻahu Urban Garden Center, via staggered entry times. The occasion was UGC Volunteer Orientation Day! Given a stressful year of COVID-19 precautions, our CTAHR Extension agents, faculty, and staff had many activities ready and waiting to welcome back the returning – and new – UGC volunteers. Maps and instructions were provided to orient the volunteers to sign-in areas and new locations for first-aid kits, hand sanitizer, tool sheds, gardens, and more. We hope you enjoy this short VIDEO of the revitalized grounds, which is looking better and better each day, thanks to the many, many hands making light work. Our heartfelt gratitude goes out to everyone who contributed and participated in the revitalization of this important community resource and its alignment with CTAHR’s mission. A special aloha to:

• UGC faculty, staff, students and volunteers who have beautified UGC in support of CTAHR’s educational mission
• Oahu County ag technicians, Steve and Lianne Nagano, Shirley Garcia, Keiki Garden volunteers, Fruit hui members, Peace Garden volunteers, Rose Garden volunteers, Christine Hanakawa of 4-H,
• Waterwise Garden volunteers, AAS garden volunteers, and more for preparing the grounds for this event
• Bea Aragon-Balgas and Heidy Uno for UGC volunteer registration and confirmation
• Jensen Uyeda and Lauren Baligad for the cover crop display and Brussel sprouts donation
• Kalani Matsumura for pollinator seed and sprout giveaway
• Destin and Jill Shigano for providing the refreshing shave ice
• Laura Mizumoto and Susie Ota for the ono spumoni ice cream donation
• Dale Sato, Tod Hale, and Austen Kaneshiro for raking the facility before the event and sign placement
• Honolulu Rose Society members for hosting the Rose Garden Tour
• Sensei Les for leading Tai Chi in the Peace Garden
• Loke Kouhou and ‘ohana for helping with parking lot security
• Amjad Ahmad for the mamaki tea demonstration and Shaka Tea giveaways
• Audrey Hirayama of UH Foundation for the hand sanitizer donations
• Bea Sailer for sharing plants cultivated by the Sprouts in the Upper Nursery
• Susie Ota for the succulent donations
• Fruit Hui members for hedge clearing, harvesting, and sharing UGC grown fruit
• Josh Silva for the wonderful live music! and event set-up (tents, chairs, tables, sign mounting, etc.).
• Private donors who provided funds to beautify the facility
• UGC volunteers who continue to support UGC educational gardens with upkeep, beautification and so much more

More than 1,250 students across the UHM system graduated May 13-16, including CTAHR students at the undergraduate, graduate, and PhD levels. The UH ITS team captured the whole weekend on video, adding the students' names to the lower third, along with the dissertation titles and sponsor names of the PhD students.

Watch the full CTAHR Commencement video, with an introduction by Dean Comerford. Also visit the UHM commencement site, which will be populated with videos and still shots in the coming week. Mahalo to the Mānoa Commencement Team for making Spring 2021 a successful and well-recorded event.

If you think woke is a joke, try this on for size: the pretty red bird known as Jameson’s Firefinch is named for John Sligo Jameson, who once purchased a young girl as “a joke” and drew sketches of the child being stabbed and dismembered. So begins the article, “The racist legacy many birds carry,” in a recent The Washington Post. Included in the story is commentary by Olivia Wang, a grad student in the Dept. of Natural Resources and Environmental Management. “They are a reminder that this field I work in was primarily developed and shaped by people not like me, who probably would have viewed me as lesser,” Olivia is quoted. “They are also a reminder of how Western ornithology, and natural exploration in general, was often tied to a colonialist mind-set of conquering and exploiting and claiming ownership of things, rather than learning from the humans who were already part of the ecosystem and had been living alongside these birds for lifetimes.”

Olivia goes on to discuss the proposed renaming of the Maui parrotbill to kiwikiu, which was initially refused and ridiculed by the American Ornithological Society.

 “I called out the AOS and [its North American Classification Committee] for censoring some racist and offensive comments the [committee] made when discussing the … proposal,” she is quoted.

Read the Full Article.