Tropical Agriculture

GoFarm Hawaiʻi receives funding to continue training future farmers

GoFarm participants plant greens at the program’s Waialua site.

The University of Hawaiʻi’s successful farmer-training program GoFarm Hawaiʻi has received $600,000 from the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program. The additional funding will allow GoFarm Hawaiʻi to continue training aspiring farmers to increase local agricultural production. GoFarm Hawaiʻi has five program sites across four islands, making it one of the largest beginning-farmer training programs in the nation. …

Mealani Research Station is breeding success

Mealani Research Station on Hawaiʻi Island, an agricultural experiment station of the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, is the “perfect living lab for researching cattle production in the tropics and subtropics,” said Kyle Caires, assistant extension agent in the college’s Department of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences. In this field, genetics is key, and the station’s breeding program is thriving. Mealani’s Angus bulls …

Critical shortage of care found in Hawaiʻi’s early learning system

Cover of "Hawaiʻi Early Learning Need Assessment" report

A new report from the University of Hawaiʻi Center on the Family finds that Hawaiʻi lacks sufficient childcare and preschool seats to meet the community’s needs, and has some of the nation’s least-affordable care. The report provides a statewide assessment of the early learning system for children from birth through age five and focuses on child care and preschool centers, family child care homes and …

National video competition a buzz with two UH wins

A University of Hawaiʻi team created quite the buzz with two videos developed to raise public awareness about bees. Ethel M. Villalobos, director of the UH Honeybee Project; Jonathan Koch, a UH Hilo conservation entomologist specializing in bees and Jonathan Wright, a graphic designer with Hazard Design, won awards from the Entomological Society of America (ESA) for their videos, The Life History of Bees and The Odd Couples. The Life History of …

University of Hawaiʻi cacao among world’s best

Three varieties of cacao from the 10 selections growing at 6 sites in UH’s Hawaiʻi State Cacao Trial

Beans from a University of Hawaiʻi cacao trial begun in 2005 were among the 18 International Cocoa Awards winners announced at the Salon du Chocolat in Paris in November. The cacao from three locations in the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) field trial were selected as best in the Asia, Pacific and Australia category, along with an entry from Jeanne Bennet and Bruce Clements’ …

Researchers hope to boost local breadfruit through citizen project

Got ʻulu Noa Lincoln, an assistant researcher in the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, has launched a new citizen science project asking volunteers to help build knowledge about breadfruit. Coordinated by graduate student Blaire Langston, the campaign invites members of the community to “adopt” a local ʻulu tree and observe its lifecycle events. Learning more about this under-studied tree will help localize food production by supporting breadfruit as …

Technology showcase highlights UH researchers

Wei-Kung Wang of JABSOM presents his development

Potential game-changing research from three University of Hawaiʻi professors were highlighted at the UH Tech Showcase held on October 18 at the Bankers’ Club at First Hawaiian Center. Presentations from the fields of oceanography, tropical medicine and tropical agriculture were made to an invitation-only audience of more than 30 local investors, entrepreneurs and business leaders. “These are three examples of the world-class research being continuously …

Soil holds potential to slow global warming

Want to do something about global warming? Start by looking at the ground. Managed well, soil has an ability to trap carbon dioxide that is potentially much greater than previously estimated, according to a recent University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa study that claims the resource could significantly offset increasing global emissions. The authors call for a reversal of federal cutbacks to related research programs …

Lyon Arboretum leads Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death Seed Banking Initiative

The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Lyon Arboretum will be leading efforts to expand capacity for collection and banking of ʻōhiʻa seeds across all islands in response to the Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death (ROD) crisis. With funding from the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority (HTA), Lyon Arboretum is spearheading the Rapid ʻŌhiʻaDeath Seed Banking Initiative, a new project that builds on the momentum of #OhiaLove. Related UH News stories: Seeding the future of the ʻōhiʻa tree, February 7, 2016 Campaign to conserve ʻōhiʻa trees finds …

Sugarcane is not dead, just different

Sugarcane, also known as kō, may not be king anymore in Hawaiʻi, but University of Hawaiʻi researchers see a sweet future ahead for the traditional plant, which the Hawaiians first brought to the islands via canoe. UH Mānoa Assistant Researcher Noa Lincoln is working on a book and website that catalogs many varieties of native sugarcane and discusses their cultural significance. “Sugarcane is likely the single most important crop in …