Providing science-based information to serve Hawaii's Farming Community
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September | October | November 2009
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Heirloom vegetable varieties: a promising future for past treasures?
Dr. Ted Radovich
University of Hawai'i at Manoa, CTAHR
Heirloom vegetable varieties may sell for significant price premiums in the market place, but poor agronomic performance may offset the premiums growers receive. This article briefly reviews the pros and cons of commercial production of heirloom varieties. It also highlights the important contributions farmers and gardeners have made in developing vegetable varieties. Non-hybrid vegetables developed by Hawaii farmers and researchers available are described, and are available from the UH seed program. READ the full article here.
Links:
Also in this issue: 'Kalakoa': 'Kalakoa': Hawaiian Indian Corn Indian Corn
FMI email: theodore@hawaii.edu@hawaii.edu
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Growing Your Business
by Dr. Linda J. Cox
Building a More Sustainable Food System in Hawaii
Communities across Hawaii and the American Pacific, just like communities on the US mainland, want to increase the local food supply in order to be less reliant on imports. “Scaling Up” local food refers to the process of building the system necessary to make local food available to a wider segment of the population by getting local food into the places where most residents purchase their food. This article discusses a framework developed by researchers in Wisconsin that identifies five different levels of relationships in the food supply chain and strategies for moving these relationships in a more sustainable direction.
READ the full article here.
FMI: Linda Cox, email: lcox@hawaii.edu
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Sustainable & Organic Research &
Outreach News
News from Hawai'i's Researchers and Extension
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The Kulanui Project
by Jennifer Shido
The Kulanui program is a University of Hawai’i project that helps students learn and practice the process of manufacturing and marketing various value-added agricultural products. The products currently marketed are produced by students from UH Hilo and UH Mānoa, and is rapidly expanding to include products from Kaua’i Community College. This article describes the program.
READ the full article here.
Email: jshido@hawaii.edu
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Focus on Value Added Food Products At Maui Culinary Academy Research & Development Center
by Chris Speere
Over the past seven and a half years since the center’s inception, nine value added food products have been developed and successfully brought to market by students and chefs. This article describes the work done by the Maui Culinary Academy Research and Development Center.
READ the full article here.
Email: speere@hawaii.edu
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Youth Gardening Program Overview
Anne Gachuhi,
University of Hawai'i at Manoa, CTAHR
- Youth gardening has been shown to help young people increase their self esteem, have better nutritional habits (Best Practices in classroom management, 2004), develop leadership skills, positive relationships with elders (Journal of Extension 2002), increase their awareness and appreciation for nature and the environment, gain a sense of community service and increase their fitness levels and increase their understanding of science. This article describes CTAHR’s youth and school gardening programs on Maui.
READ the full article here.
Email: GachuhiA@ctahr.hawaii.edu
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Hawaiʻi School Garden Hui
Koon-Hui Wang
University of Hawai'i at Manoa, CTAHR
Hawai'i has a School Garden Network on every island with Network Coordinators are working together at both the state and local levels. The State School Garden Hui weaves together these programs and this article describes this effort to support the growing interest in a local food movement in communities across the State.
READ the full article here.
Teacher Resources
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Funding and Technical Assistance Available from USDA NRCS for Cover Crops and other Conservation Practices
Ben Vinhateiro, Soil Conservationist
Cover Cropping is an inexpensive and simple way to address many resource concerns on the farm while improving soil quality. In Hawaii, several species of grasses, legumes, and forbs can be used as Cover Crops and this article describes how NRCS works with producers to assist them in adopting various conservation practices, including cover crops.
READ the full article here.
Email: ben.vinhateiro@hi.usda.gov
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Vetiver – A Valuable Grass for Erosion Control
Jean Brokish, O'ahu Resource Conservation & Development Council
Reducing soil erosion has long been a priority for Hawaii’s farmers and people engaged in conservation. Planting vetiver grass is a relatively low cost method of erosion control, making it a promising alternative to the conventional method of berm construction. This article presents information about using Vetiver grass (Chrysopogon zizanioides, formerly known as Vetiveria zizanioides) to control erosion.
READ the full article here.
Email: jean.brokish@oahurcd.org
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Composting: Some Basic Requirements
Nguyen Hue
University of Hawai'i at Manoa, CTAHR
Hawaii, especially Oahu, has limited land-fill space. Composting our organic waste, therefore, is of interest to many. The specific requirements for compost address temperature, moisture, oxygen, pH, and C/N ratio of the feed stock and are discussed in this article.
READ the full article here.
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Challenges and Opportunities for Aquaponics in CTAHR
Clyde S. Tamaru, Aquaculture Specialist
University of Hawai'i at Manoa, CTAHR
In 2009, CTAHR’s aquaculture research and extension program began to include aquaponic technologies, which integrate aquaculture and hydroponic food production methods. A working model based at Windward Community College, also known as the Waimanalo Prototype allows researchers, extension professionals and educators a means to identify the various inputs (e.g., energy, feed, micro-nutrients) and to define ways in which these can all be produced locally and renewably. This article describes the work that is now being done in this exciting program.
READ the full article here.
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‘Kalakoa’ – Hawaiian-Indian Corn
James Brewbaker,
University of Hawai'i at Manoa, CTAHR
‘Kalakoa’ is a Hawaii-bred “Indian” corn of many colors that is an open-pollinated and grows well throughout Hawaii. This article describe the history of ‘Kalakoa’ and how you can obtain seeds.
READ the full article here.
Email: brewbake@hawaii.edu
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Banana Bunchy Top Virus and Nematode Management on Banana
Koon-Hui Wang
University of Hawai'i at Manoa, CTAHR
Banana bunchy top virus (BBTV) causes one of the most economically important diseases of bananas in the Pacific islands. A banana tissue culture facility was established at the UH-CTAHR Seed Lab to make available a variety of disease-free tissue culture banana for banana growers in Hawaii. This article provides information on how to obtain disease-free tissue culture banana from UH Seed Lab, and various other methods to reduce the spread of BBTV and banana nematodes.
READ the full article here.
For more information about CTAHR's research, see our monthly CTAHR Research News Magazine.
Email: koonhui@hawaii.edu and Cerruti R.R. Hooks
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FMI/FYI
Hawaii Organic Farmer appointed to National Organic Standards Board
Mr. Colehour J. Bondera, an organic producer from Honaunau, Hawaii, was appointed to the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) on September 29, 2010. Mr. Bondera farms at Kanalani Ohana Farm and produces organic coffee, vegetables, avocados, fruit and cacao. He is a board member of the Kona Coffee Farmers Association and has spoken at many workshops on organic agriculture.
Colehour comes into this position with his small-farm background, but represents all farms in Hawaii (be they small, large, or in between, on Hawaii island or on any of the other islands as well) in his five-year placement. He is both willing and able to hear many voices in terms of providing good representation at this national level, so feel free to contact him with questions and suggestions. Colehour Bondera,
Email: colemel@efn.org
READ the full article here.
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Western Region Sustainable Agriculture and Education Program (WSARE)
Learn more about WSARE’s activities in their quarterly newsletter Simply Sustainable. Their lead article, “Farm to Fork: Connecting Youth with Sustainable Agriculture,” highlights a youth education project in Colorado. This issue also features an article about effective systems research and a column by Dr. Phil Rasmussen about the foundation of SARE.
Since 1988, the WSARE program has been supporting agricultural profitability, environmental integrity and community strength through grants that enable cutting-edge research and education to open windows on sustainability across the West, including Hawaii. The goals of WSARE are:
- Promote good stewardship of our natural resources.
- Enhance the quality of life of farmers and ranchers and ensure the viability of rural communities.
- Protect the health and safety of those involved in food and farm systems.
- Promote crop, livestock and enterprise diversification.
- Examine the regional, economic, social and environmental implications of adopting sustainable agriculture practices and systems.
For more information, please see: https://wsare.usu.edu/ or contact Hawaii WSARE coordinator Dr. Ted Radovich at theodore@hawaii.edu.
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This e-publication has been prepared by CTAHR research scientists and extension staff to deliver science-based information about sustainable and organic production systems to serve Hawaii's farming community.
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Mahalo nui loa,
Eric Collier, Education Specialist and Managing Editor
Dr. Linda Cox and Dr. Ted Radovich
Jody Smith, e-Extension Manager
Sustainable and Organic Agriculture Program
Cooperative Extension Service
College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources
The University of Hawai‘i is an equal opportunity/affirmative action institution.
Jody Smith | Web Manager | smithjos@hawaii.edu
Copyright ©2013 University of Hawai‘i - College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources. Updated 6 January, 2013
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