#College of Tropical Agriculture

Hawaiʻi residents with hypertension (high blood pressure) who struggle to afford healthy food will soon receive a powerful new prescription from their doctors: fresh, local produce. A new program will provide patients with $100 a month in vouchers to buy fruits, vegetables and poi at local farmers’ markets and grocery stores.

In 2018, an invertebrate biologist discovered an unfamiliar black caterpillar feeding on a māmaki plant in Olowalu Valley. Experts confirmed the caterpillar was ramie moth, a species native to Southeast Asia that aggressively feeds on plants in the nettle family, like māmaki. The biologist’s sighting marked the first confirmation of ramie moth in Hawaiʻi and the US.

Due to high rates of stress, depression and suicide among this demographic, CTAHR developed Seeds of Wellbeing (SOW) with original funding support from the Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture/USDA-NIFA in fall 2021 to promote better mental health for those who work in the agriculture industry.

For the first time, researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi Health and Stranding Lab have successfully detected Fraser’s morbillivirus, which can cause respiratory and neurological disease, in the feces of a dolphin. The findings published in Marine Mammal Science provide a new tool to identify and monitor threats faced by Hawaiʻi’s marine mammals.

Mahi Pono will lease 15 acres of its West Maui agricultural land to GoFarm Hawai‘i for its successful statewide farmer-development training program aimed at increasing the state’s agricultural workforce.

Two new viruses are infecting hibiscus plants in Hawaiʻi and they could pose a threat to the state flower, the yellow hibiscus, according to researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

To support beginning and small farmers, American AgCredit and CoBank increased their investment in the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s farmer training program GoFarm Hawaiʻi with a $1 million gift.

Maui County Mayor Michael Victorino announced the award of three County of Maui grants totaling $545,000 to three nonprofits to support kalo farmers, agriculture, youth development, family services and food security.

Beginning on Monday, Sept. 14, the program received Maui County approval to expand the ground beef purchase program to the island of Molokaʻi to support their ranchers and local harvest facility.

Keiki participants are asked to create a recipe highlighting a local vegetable, fruit, or protein and submit a cooking video with details on the local farmer.

The Agriculture in the Classroom program devoted two days of education for second graders representing 15 schools and nearly 1,000 students.

Congresswoman Mazie K. Hirono voted in support of a federal appropriations act that helped to secure $3,065,000 in funding for Hawaii. Maui’s ‘Iao Flood Control Project is one of six projects included in the request, which passed with a favorable 307-97 vote in the House.  The $250,000 ‘Iao allocation is expected to provide better protection […]