Issue 62   |   August 03, 2017   |   Archive   |   Subscribe

News & Events

We Have a Dean!

Welcome to Nicholas Comerford, who will begin as dean of CTAHR and director for research and Cooperative Extension on September 1. Currently director of North Florida Research and Education Center at the University of Florida, Dean Comerford has research expertise in the area of forest soils, with an emphasis on those in tropical and subtropical regions. His work has concentrated on soil–tree root interactions, the measurement and modeling of soil nutrient bioavailability, and general aspects of forest soil management. He also served as president of the Soil Science Society of America society in 2010. He earned his PhD in silviculture and forest influences from the State University of New York and Syracuse University, his master’s degree in forestry from the University of Maine, and his bachelor’s degree in forestry from the University of Illinois. Welcome, Dean Comerford!

Administrating the Big Island

Susan Miyasaka (TPSS) will be serving in the role of Interim County Administrator for Hawai‘i County, from August 1, 2017, to July 31, 2018. Susan will be responsible for administering CTAHR’s research, instruction, and Extension programs on the Big Island. An agronomist located on Hawai‘i Island, she will doubtless do an excellent job in her new role!

Get Your Garden On

Want to get your hands dirty, make some food and have some fun? Come to the Student Organic Farm Training volunteer days at the SOFT Farm! The Saturday Garden Party takes place every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., but volunteers are invited to come by for any part of that time. The opportunity is open to the college and the community—and all ages are welcome. Activities may include planting, weeding, mulching, composting, harvesting, pruning, painting, cleaning, organizing, and more. Participants should wear closed-toed shoes and bring a refillable water bottle. You may also want to bring a mug for free coffee or tea, a hat, sunscreen, bug spray, snacks, and a family-friendly playlist on a Bluetooth-capable device. The SOFT Farm is located on Woodlawn Drive across from the Manoa Public Library, next to Noelani Elementary School. Check out SOFT’s Facebook page or email soft@hawaii.edu. If you can RSVP via email, please do—if you can’t, just show up anyway!

Grants & Awards

Excellent Enzymes

Congratulations to Amit Singh (right), the doctoral student of Rajesh Jha (HNFAS, left), who won the Certificate of Excellence for the best project and presentation in the Metabolism and Nutrition section, as well as a PSA Graduate Student Travel Award, at the Annual Poultry Science Association meeting in Orlando, Florida. Amit’s presentation was titled “Effect of xylanase on growth performance and cecal short chain fatty acid production in broilers fed different levels of fiber.” The study evaluated how the xylanase enzyme, added to fibrous diets, can improve feed utilization, growth, and gut health of poultry. It is expected that research into feed enzymes will contribute to profitable production of poultry worldwide and strengthen self-reliance and sustainable poultry production locally. This is the second year in a row that a student from Rajesh’s lab has won this national award!

Virtual Coffee

Congratulations to Andrea Kawabata, who was one of only three National Finalists for the NACAA Communications Award in Website and Online Content at the National Association of County Agricultural Agents’ national conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. She received a plaque and cash award with the honor. The website she created, Hawaii Coffee, is maintained by Extension agents and staff, including Andrea herself, and provides coffee producers with crucial science-based information about the coffee berry borer and other insect pests and diseases of coffee. Of course, the site is extensively supplemented by the real-time, boots-on-the-ground help that Andrea and the rest of the coffee team offer to the coffee producers: workshops, conferences, site visits, and more!

Bioethics From the Beginning

Lena Diaz (MBBE) won 1st place for her poster presentation in the Engineering, Technology and Applied Science section at the American Association for the Advancement of Science Pacific Division’s (AAASPD) 98th annual meeting, which was held in Waimea on the Big Island. She will be receiving a cash prize and honorary induction into the honor society Sigma Xi. The conference included symposia on Galapagos and Hawai‘i, coral bleaching, and recent advances in turbulence research. Lena participated in the symposium on Social Responsibility of Scientists in the Technological Age, and based on her participation, she was asked to submit a proposal on introducing guidelines for bioethical responsibility early on during a graduate student’s scientific career. She is considering that this may best be achieved by working with offices of research compliance to generate an optional training course. It sounds like an idea whose time has come!

Spotlight on Our Community

A Waimanalo Welcome

The Waimanalo Research Station hosted UH President/UH Manoa Chancellor David Lassner on July 28. He was greeted with chants by Malama Honua Charter School students, who use the site, and with a welcome from from Interim Dean Rachel Novotny and Malama Honua Executive Director Herb Lee. The tour included stops at GoFarm plots, demonstration screenhouses, the Station’s extensive taro collection, the corn-breeding project that is the source of so much delightful sweet corn (as well as much useful research), and aquaponics activities. The visit ended with a pau hana dinner under the tent and, certainly, gave Dr. Lassner lots of food for thought!

AgDiscovery and the Alumni

For the seventh year in a row, the college’s alumni association contributed to the Hawai‘i AgDiscovery program for local teens. CTAHRAA participated in the opening and closing ceremonies, the Ala Moana beach barbecue, and song and hula lessons. TPSS grad student and former CTAHRAA president Kauahi Perez taught a hula to the 10 AgDiscovery participants, which they performed dressed in sarongs at the closing ceremony. The hula was simple and upbeat, and the performance was excellent—they even sang while dancing! The beach barbecue is a popular event, at which the high school students get to meet various CTAHR alumni. Much appreciation goes to board members Steve Sato, Linda Ogata, and Susan Yasuda for their donation of food, desserts, and supplies, and for setting up and cleaning up. A big mahalo to the CTAHR alumni for making Hawai‘i’s AgDiscovery Program one of the best in the nation, year after year!

Hot, Spicy, and Educational!

Ten Hawai‘i AgDiscovery kids joined distance education specialist Kellie Taguchi and TPSS grad student Mitchell Loo for a hot session of kimchee making last week. Mitchell grew won bok at the Poamoho Station as part of his master’s research on the effects of nitrogen fertilizer on crop production, and now that the project is over the Horticulture Society and TPSS GSO have been helping him harvest the produce and selling it at local farmer’s markets as a fundraiser for the clubs. The AgDiscovery students visited the station to learn about his research and other projects that are housed there, and they helped to harvest some of the won bok. Then Kellie, joined by her assistant Ya-Yun Yang and OCS’s Cheryl Ernst, helped the students to turn the frilly cabbages into some 40 jars of kimchee. This activity taught the students about farm-to-table practices, value-added products, and Extension research. They got to take home some of the spicy condiment at the end of the program, while the rest went to APHIS, the sponsors of AgDiscovery, as thank-you gifts.

Fashion at the Free

Andy Reilly recently took nine students to Berlin, Germany, through the UHM Study Abroad Program to study at the Free University. Two students were from FDM and the remaining seven were from the German language program. Students took courses taught in either English or German. Andy taught “Fashion in 20th Century Germany,” an examination of the history and societies of Germany and how they used dress and clothing for different political purposes. While there, FDM student Kanako Lorenzana entered this vertiginous photo of students in the class as well as from other universities in the Free University’s program photo contest and, not surprisingly, won first place!

Poster Presenters

The American Society of Plant Biologists met at the Honolulu Convention Center at the end of June, when hundreds of scientists and students from around the world shared their research on plant growth, genetics, ecology, plant–animal interactions, plant nutrition, and molecular biology. Mike Muszynski (TPSS), along with his student Aimee Uyehara, presented a poster on effect of plant hormones on leaf growth of corn. Chris Yuen of David Christopher’s group in MBBE, along with Kristie Matsumoto and Peng-Fei Wang (both MBBE) and Byung-Ho Kang (faculty at the Chinese University of Hong Kong) presented a poster on discovering a new pathway for protein folding, transport, and packaging in plant cells that is relevant to seed protein content and nutrition. Other presenters included Michael Kantar and Susan Miyasaka (both TPSS). Here Aimee Uyehara is pictured in front of her poster at a previous maize genetics conference.

Bee Local

Scott Nikaido (PEPS) is featured in a video produced by UH Foundation, discussing the necessity for pollination of many food crops in the Islands and how the UH Honeybee Project works with farmers to start their own beekeeping ventures. He explains that without bees and other pollinators, local food production would go down and prices for local food would rise. That’s why the Honeybee Project educates schoolchildren as young as five about bees’ health and the important role they play. A longer version of the video will be posted on the alumni website soon.

Harvesting Goodwill

The Kaua‘i Master Gardeners’ Village Harvest project is the subject of the cover story for HMSA’s Island Scene summer issue. The project, a collaboration between the MGs and Malama Kaua‘i, started with a grant from HMSA, and the organization is justifiably proud of its success. Village Harvest gleans unused fruit from CTAHR’s orchards, Malama Kauai’s Community Farm, and donors in the community to give to Kaua‘i food banks and schools. To date, they’ve harvested and distributed almost two tons of fruit, in less than three years!

Intern Incredible

FSHN student Rihui Yuan has just finished a “life-changing” four-month internship in Sen. Brian Schatz’s office, doing research, writing, and analysis to help maintain and further protections for the most vulnerable and the public at large. Much of her work was in response to the American Health Care Act (“Trumpcare”) and the programs it seeks to abolish. As she explains, much of the funding that the AHCA seeks to pull is from programs specifically addressed toward women and preventive care. With her help, Sen. Schatz’s office made important strides: they secured marked increases in core funding for the CDC and other associated programs and recently introduced a bill on Women’s Preventive Health Services in the Senate. She thanks CTAHR for helping to make this opportunity possible and encourages other CTAHR students, “Don’t underestimate how valuable your contributions can be in fostering diversity of thought in the fomenting marketplace of ideals that is DC. I can’t stress how much I hope more CTAHR students apply next semester and the semesters after that!” She’s definitely found her calling; as she concludes, “I can only hope that the work I did during those four months is the beginning of a long and fruitful career in health policy.”

It Wouldn’t Be the Farm Fair Without 4-H

Brent Buckley (HNFAS) and the youthful participants of 4-H get a shout-out in KITV’s enthusiastic coverage of the recent Farm Fair. Brent points out that raising, showing, and judging livestock such as goats, sheep, pigs, chickens, and cattle is a great youth development project, and a 4-H student agrees, saying that the best part is showcasing how hard they work on their projects.

Keep It in the Ground

Rebecca Ryals (NREM) is quoted in an EcoWatch article on the benefits of carbon farming, a practice that helps to fight global warming by sequestering carbon in the soil. This is accomplished by growing trees and using agricultural techniques such as cover cropping and low-till farming. Rebecca explains that the creation of the Carbon Farming Task Force, one of two pieces of legislation enacted to confirm Hawai‘i’s commitment to the Paris Accord, is “a critically important first step toward finding local solutions to global climate change…soil carbon farming strategies should be emphasized in its incentive programs.” The task force will create incentives for local farmers to increase carbon content in their soils.

A Change Is Coming

A recent UH News story on the Hawai‘i Extension Climate Forum organized last month by Clay Trauernicht and Patricia Fifita (both NREM) highlights the important work done by the conveners and participants. The forum, sponsored by CTAHR, brought together other university and community partners to address how Extension professionals can help their clientele deal with the potential effects of climate change in Hawai‘i and other Pacific Islands. Participants worked to develop a foundational knowledge of the Pacific climate system and longer-term climate projections, identify relevant climate-related tools, and outline approaches to integrate climate science and climate change communication into existing Extension programs. An assessment of existing climate-related tools will be organized on a CTAHR website to facilitate access by Extension faculty, and participants are working to develop a strategy, based on participant feedback, to support Extension faculty and their clientele through the development of new climate-related tools and informational products.

Plant Propagation Aplenty

Got grafts? CTAHR’s Cooperative Extension held a Plant Propagation Outdoor Expo last week at the Urban Garden Center in Pearl City. CTAHR researchers, Extension agents, students, and Master Gardeners used a hands-on demonstration approach and a number of visual aids to help new and emerging food producers understand and gain technical skills in propagating crops via seeds, cuttings, air layering, and grafting. Cooperating organizations included the Hawaii Department of Agriculture, USDA Farm Services Agency, Oahu RC&D, West Oahu Soil and Water Conservation District, Hawaii Farm Bureau, Hawaiian Earth Products, Smart Yields, EM Hawaii, and the Hawaii Agricultural Research Center.

Community Benefactors

Family and Community Education volunteers recently held their annual rummage sale at the YMCA in Hilo, and it was a success, the Hawaii Tribune Herald reported. Proceeds go to benefit the Trimble Scholarship Fund, which provides Hawai‘i high school seniors with scholarships to pursue degrees in health, safety and public welfare. UH’s Cooperative Extension Service has helped to organize and advise FCE groups throughout Hawai‘i since the 1930s. The clubs teach research-based information to their members and others, explained member Lee Watanabe; they also engage in community service. Some of the Hilo FCE’s beneficiaries include the Hilo Medical Center, hospices, the American Cancer Society, the Alzheimer’s Association, the American Lung Association, Puna Neighborhood Place, and they Salvation Army. They make quilts for foster care children and nursing homes and dresses for girls in emerging countries, do beach cleanups, and sponsor an essay and art contest for all fourth-graders as part of the Character Counts! Coalition. Here, from left, Lori Kashiwa of Hanalike Kakou and Marie Vierra, Lana Paiva, and Elaine Fukui of Hoike are pictured setting up the sale.

Hokkaido to Hawai‘i

Students from Iwamizawa High School in Hokkaido, Japan, presented their research projects on pest control in onion plants and the composition of pasture grass in dung patches before an audience of CTAHR faculty and students. During their visit to Hawai‘i organized by junior Extension agent Jensen Uyeda, the students also toured Waimanalo Research Station and visited Mari’s Garden, Kahuku Farms, and a coffee operation. Several of the students come from farm families, and most plan to pursue agriculture studies in college, following their interest in soils, insects, tropical plants, and economics. After asking the students about their methods and results, Bob Paull (TPSS) complimented them on a job done so well that undergraduates could learn some things from them.

Time for Tea

Randy Hamasaki (PEPS) recently curated a tea-tasting event, offering a variety of teas grown and processed at the Mealani Station. One of the teas sampled was the appropriately named ‘Mealani’, a new variety bred at the station that is particularly suited for processing as green tea. As Randy explains, any tea plant can be turned into black, green, or oolong tea; it’s just a matter of how the leaves are fermented or otherwise processed. But each tastes better with a particular treatment. Teas with lower tannin content, like ‘Mealani’, are particularly appropriate for making into the less-processed green teas, while highly tannic varieties might be too astringent without the extra fermentation that turns them into black teas. Oolong teas fall somewhere in the middle and may have floral or even chocolatey notes. Just as certain teas taste better processed in certain ways, different tea plants grow better under different conditions, and Mealani is working to discover which respond best to particular growing conditions—important information for the Islands’ rapidly expanding tea-growing industry.

Future Generations

The Mealani Research Station has recently completed the latest round of artificial insemination on its Angus and Hereford cows, an integral step in the process of building up its prizewinning herds. Careful selection from an extensive catalogue of sires allows Extension agent Mike Duponte, farm manager Marla Fergerstrom, and the rest of the crew to bring a variety of traits, from optimal birthweight and docile temperament to fitness for weather conditions and feed availability, to Mealani’s cattle. In turn, local producers can buy Mealani’s extra bulls, with their prime genetic traits, at a fraction of the cost of importing them from the Mainland. The Station also periodically offers “AI School,” which draws students from UH Manoa, UH Hilo, and further afield to learn the technique; here, Animal Sciences student Keala Cowell is getting hands-on experience with the masters of the process.

Summertime With the GENE-iuses

The GENE-ius Day Program led by Associate Dean Ania Wieczorek (TPSS) held its second STEM summer enrichment program for O‘ahu’s middle-school students. Over 150 students from Dole Middle, Kalakaua Middle, Jarrett Middle, Washington Middle, and Waipahu Intermediate School attended the UHM campus this past month to participate in week-long STEM education courses filled with engaging hands-on science activities ranging from building a model of DNA, to learning about effects of climate change on agriculture, to observing mutations in fruit flies under the microscope. The classes all encourage group collaboration and discussion. More than 30 were returning students from the 2016 summer program, participating in the brand-new Level 2 class! A highlight of the summer program is the family days held at the end of each weeklong session, where parents and family members get to participate in an activity with the students, extracting DNA from papaya. Students present all they’ve learned to their families and teachers, and awards are given to groups with the best presentations. The goal of the GENE-ius Day STEM Summer Program is to increase the interest of Hawai‘i’s middle-school students in agriculture- and science-related fields by making science and learning fun, and it sounds like they’re succeeding!

With Dignity and Honor

Emeritus entomologist Minoru Tamashiro, who was a member of the highly decorated 442 division in World War II, is featured in KIKU-TV’s monthly vignette series The Wisdom of Hawaii’s Elders, which highlights the lives of Hawai‘i’s exceptional kupuna. The vignette shares Minoru’s accomplishments, contributions, and words of wisdom for his peers and successors within the community. You can use this link and the password 442 to view the video. It will be archived later on this page.

Chocolate Love

Alyssa Cho and Andrea Kawabata organized a hands-on chocolate-making workshop in Hilo, assisted by graduate research assistant Colin Hart. Since it’s less lucrative to sell raw beans than more processed products, the workshop aimed to offer value-adding options for the Big Island’s growing number of cacao farmers. Participants learned about roasting, winnowing, mixing, grinding, and tempering, moving from a dried, fermented cacao bean to a final chocolate bar. They even got to take home their own chocolate, molded in CTAHR molds! Read all about the helpful and delicious event in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald.

Welcoming the Voyagers Home

Sweetie Kuehu (MBBE, pictured) and Kauahi Perez (TPSS) represented CTAHR at Hui Malama Honua’s exhibition at the Malama Honua Fair and Summit held at the Hawai’i Convention Center to celebrate Hokule’a’s Worldwide Voyage Homecoming. There was a live display of canoe plants, donated by KCC’s Mala Maunuunu Garden, and small animals such as those brought by the first Hawaiians, including piglets and chicks. The Aquaponics Place LLC in Waimanalo donated a small sustainable aquaponics system, which was given away on Sunday in honor of Father’s Day. Those interested in getting involved with future Hui Malama Honua events can contact hmhatuhm@hawaii.edu.

Digging In in Nepal

Tiare Silvasy (TPSS) participated in an international aid Trellis Fund project to Nepal through the Horticulture Innovation Lab at UC Davis, funded by US AID. Now back from her trip, where she taught farmers how to take and interpret soil tests and discussed the importance of crop rotation for soil fertility and pest management, Tia is completing her service by writing a manual and creating a poster about the project. CARD-Nepal, the NGO she’s working with, has published an interview with Tia on their website—check it out!

Sorry to See Him Go: Steven Chiang

Steven Chiang, director of the Agribusiness Incubator Program and GoFarm Hawai‘i, left CTAHR on July 1 for Redhammer, a local construction accounting management firm. In his 12 years with CTAHR, Steve mentored more than 250 local agribusinesses. He also co-founded Hawai‘i’s premier beginning farmer-training program, GoFarm Hawai‘i, which now has five training locations on four islands and has trained more than 200 aspiring local farmers. Eight UH campuses, which Steve has supported for more than a decade, thank him for his extraordinary service and leadership. CTAHR has initiated a search for a new AIP director, but in the meantime, Janel Yamamoto, AIP program specialist, will serve as acting AIP director.

Giving Back to the Community

FamR alumna Sheri Daniels has taken the position of executive director of Papa Ola Lokahi, an organization dedicated to improving the health status and well-being of Native Hawaiians and their families through advocacy and the development of culturally appropriate strategic actions. After receiving her BS in 1996, Sheri worked in the fields of substance abuse, mental health, child welfare, trauma and violence, behavioral health, and criminal justice. These jobs, in both government and non-profit sectors, were across Hawai’i but mostly on Maui, where she was born and raised. She also earned an MS degree in Counseling Psychology from Chaminade University and then a PhD in Education from Argosy University. She says, “The BS degree in FamR was critical in shaping my abilities to organize and develop time management skills that have been invaluable over the years. Without the experiences I gained in my undergraduate program, I would not have been so willing or excited to continue to strive forward.” Sheri was recognized in 2014 with the Maui County Women of Excellence award; she was also chosen as one of the Pacific Business News – 40 under 40 (2010) and as a Ka Ipu Kukui Fellow (2008). Papa Ola Lokahi is lucky to have her!

New Publications

Hot Tomatoes

The Molokai Native Hawaiian Beginning Farmers quarterly newsletter for Summer 2017 focuses on one of the most popular and iconic vegetables, the tomato. It includes historical background on the crop in Hawai‘i: UH tomato breeders were strong forces in the development of disease-resistant tomatoes, and their story has never been fully told…until now. New varieties and techniques keep the production of this luscious fruit rewarding today. For back issues of this newsletter, you can visit the CTAHR Sustainable and Organic Agriculture website, Hanai ‘Ai.

Endangered Species Act in Danger

Helen Spafford (PEPS) is the co-author of the Entomological Society of America’s recently released position statement on the importance of the U.S. Endangered Species Act of 1973, in particular as it relates to insects. This position statement was produced in response to recent discussions about amendments to or repeal of the Act. Spoiler alert: it definitely shouldn’t be repealed! (Its importance to Hawai‘i was recently made clear, with the historic placement of seven species of the native yellow-faced bee on the Endangered list.) She worked with entomologists from Dow AgroSciences, Oklahoma State University, State University of New York at Oswego, and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Job Opportunities

Promote 4-H

There’s a position open in academic support in FCS for the management of the 4-H member/volunteer enrollment system and a variety of forms of 4-H outreach, promotion, and community involvement. The closing date is August 8. Learn more here.

If you would like to modify or end your subscription to CTAHR Alumni & Friends, please click here.