UH Mānoa secures $600K USDA grant for sustainable poultry production

The next generation of sustainable poultry production students at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience (CTAHR) got a big boost through a $600,000 grant from the US Department of Agriculture’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture. Undergraduate students from all UH campuses can qualify, including community college students. 

Trainees will receive a stipend between $2,800 and $3,000 per month, plus a $500 bonus after completing the program. The funding covers housing, food, and living costs. Grant funds will pay for flight travel for neighbor island students who travel to Oʻahu for summer training. 

The four-year project will strengthen food security across island communities by expanding local food production and reducing reliance on imports. Poultry and egg production account for roughly 2% of the total distribution of farms by industry type in the state, according to the Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity.

Eight-week training and research program

Associate Professor Birendra Mishra of CTAHR’s Department of Human Nutrition, Food, and Animal Science will lead the project. “For cattle you need large land, and for pigs you need big structures, but people can raise chickens on small patches of land,” said Mishra. “Our goal in four years is to train 32 undergraduate students who can start farms or support existing operations.”

The eight-week program will start in summer 2027, training eight undergraduates a year at the college’s Center for Applied Research and Extension Services in Waimānalo. Students will manage newly hatched chicks through a 35-day production cycle, learning bird husbandry, feed nutrition, and health management. They will also conduct lab research on alternative feed ingredients from local agricultural byproducts with the goal of reducing the need to import expensive feed.

Business leadership and community outreach

Trainees will also learn the business side of agriculture: marketing, leadership, and farm management with faculty mentors. They will attend the national Poultry Science Association conference to meet industry leaders and researchers. Mishra anticipates the students will host community workshops around the state to encourage engagement in poultry farming.

Student recruitment is underway this fall.