The Department of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences
A history of innovation, discovery, and serving the agriculture community in Hawai‘i
Aloha kākou
Welcome to the Department of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences (TPSS) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa!
The Department of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences engages in Research, Extension, and Instruction to address grand challenges facing agriculture today and in the future, discovering impactful solutions to problems facing Hawai‘i, the Pacific, and other areas of the world especially vulnerable to climate change. To achieve this, we train globally competitive students with state-of-the-art skills and competencies; we perform cutting-edge research to develop evidence-based solutions; and we disseminate these solutions broadly across communities and stakeholders. Our department emphasize systems-based approaches that integrate significant contributions from research, extension, and instruction to meeting these grand challenges and improve livelihoods in our communities.
mission
The Department of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences advances tropical agricultural systems by integrating
diverse, innovative, and adaptive approaches to cultivate resilience in communities and the environment.
Goals
Cultivate accomplished professionals and scholars who solve global challenges through transformative approaches.
Connect fundamental knowledge to solve challenges affecting plants, soil, people, and place.
Generate and transfer knowledge and technologies to advance success and sustainability of our communities, farmers, and agriculture systems.
A Message from the Chair
Aloha mai! Our department has a long tradition of leading efforts in building knowledge in Plant and Soil Sciences and extending that knowledge across broad boundaries in Hawaiʻi. As we tackle the Grand Challenges in Agriculture, including climate change, that face us in the next few decades, I am encouraged by our department’s increasing capacity to innovate and bring sustainable, climate-ready, and culturally appropriate agricultural solutions to Hawaiʻi and across the Pacific Islands.
The Grand Challenges in Agriculture
Our department has identified two grand challenges that face agriculture in Hawaiʻi today. Our faculty work diligently to discover solutions to these grand challenges. We do this through two disciplinary frameworks:
- Plant and Soil System Science (Genetics, genomics, molecular and cellular biology, physiology, and organismal biology)
- Agroecosystem Science (Production systems, ecosystems services, farm system management, and biocultural integration)
Grand Challenge 1
Improving food self-sufficiency and sustainability under a changing climate
Our Current & Future Approaches
TPSS research and extension faculty, using one or both of the described Disciplinary Frameworks, address these broad areas of need listed below:
- Crop Productivity & Resilience (biomass, yield, genotype x environment, organismal interactions)
- Crop and Environment System Interactions (soil & water health and quality, water use efficiency, carbon capture, systems management)
- Crop/germplasm Diversity (floriculture, ornamentals, domestication, nutritional value, underutilized crops)
- Diverse Agricultural Systems (urban ag, ornamental, landscaping, edible landscaping, green roof, living walls, xeriscaping)
- Protected and Predictive Agriculture (modeling, remote sensing, Smart Farms)
Grand Challenge 2
Strengthening the agriculture economy in Hawaiʻi
Our Current & Future Approaches
TPSS faculty engage in extension, instruction, and research that are essential to support and strengthen the agricultural economy in diverse ways. The collective effort from the TPSS Faculty produces impactful and positive outputs that improve theeconomy, sustainability and quality of life in our state.
- Science-Based Workforce Development (all levels: workshops/training programs; certificate, BS, MS and PhD degrees; continuing education programs)
- Cultivar Development and Marketing (resilient supply chain local to global)
- Sustainable Communities and Culture (viable, relevant, diverse, and scalable plant/soil/water solutions and agroecosystems)
- Integrative Sustainability (profitability, environmental protection, societal benefits)
The role of TPSS in solving the climate crisis
Modern agriculture contributes to approximately 24% of greenhouse gases that exacerbate climate change, but we can develop agricultural solutions that mitigate the impacts of climate change and remain resilient through adaptation to ensure food security for a growing population. Each point of our Current and Future Approaches above encapsulates how TPSS faculty incorporates these core
concepts into their work. Crop Productivity & Resilience directly provides ways in which crops may adapt to a changing climate. Diverse Agricultural Systems and Crop/germplasm Diversity ensures resiliency in our food supplies. Protected and Predictive Agriculture effectively controls growing environments that mitigates the many effects of climate change. And Crop and Environment Systems Interactions supports all of the points above, and provides strategies that directly reduces greenhouse gases. Together, our work ensures that agriculture becomes part of the solution to the climate crisis rather than a problem.