October 26, 2012 (Hawaii 24/7)—U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently announced $18 million in federal funding to support new farmer training and education programs in 27 states. The Kohala Center received a $562,000 grant to create and deliver Kū I Ka Māna, a beginning farmer training initiative. The County of Hawaii is providing the necessary matching funds to secure the USDA grant. » Read more
https://kohalacenter.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/TKC_logo_1.png00adminhttps://kohalacenter.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/TKC_logo_1.pngadmin2012-10-26 10:25:512014-05-24 23:01:49USDA grants to train, support next generation of farmers
October 21, 2012 (West Hawaii Today)—With pests cutting into profits on single-crop farms, many farmers are starting to diversify. By growing a variety of crops, farmers can harvest throughout the year and, if pests get one crop, they’ll have others to rely on. Diversifying may require new skills and tasks, but the results benefit farmers and consumers. Crop diversity gives farmers a chance to try new crops and get creative with value-added products. For customers who want to buy local, this diversity increases choices. » Read more
https://kohalacenter.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/TKC_logo_1.png00adminhttps://kohalacenter.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/TKC_logo_1.pngadmin2012-10-21 10:24:372014-05-24 23:03:15Farm diversity offers more choices at local markets
September 30, 2012 (West Hawaii Today)—It doesn’t matter if you “eat to live” or “live to eat,” plants make up one of the three or four essential parts of our existence. Over millennia of civilization, we have learned to nurture plants in order that we may have some control over our destiny. Seeds, whether for vegetables, ornamentals or fruits provide ways to restart our garden plantings season after season. And if “seeds” is loosely defined, we can include cuttings and other forms of vegetative planting material. Seeds form a chain from the past to the present and a link into the future providing a path and a sense of security as we venture forward. They are the starting point of many good things. Without seeds, the world we know would not exist. » Read more
https://kohalacenter.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/TKC_logo_1.png00adminhttps://kohalacenter.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/TKC_logo_1.pngadmin2012-09-30 10:22:342014-05-24 23:04:19Seed basics for life
September 5, 2012 (Big Island Weekly)—Locally grown food has just gotten more affordable and accessible on Hawai‘i Island with seven farmers markets now accepting EBT. EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer) it is what SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly called food stamps) recipients use to buy food. » Read more
https://kohalacenter.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/TKC_logo_1.png00adminhttps://kohalacenter.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/TKC_logo_1.pngadmin2012-09-05 10:21:222014-05-24 23:06:36Seven Big Island Farmer’s Markets Now Accepting EBT
August 25, 2012 (West Hawaii Today)—Knowledge will be key if Kona coffee farmers are to survive the pesky coffee berry borer, a scientist who has experience with the pest said Friday. Understanding the insect will be the best means for coffee farmers in Kona to continue producing a high quality product, said Luis Aristizabal, a specialist in tropical-agro ecology with the University of Florida’s Mid-Florida Research and Education Center. Aristizabal is a scientist from Colombia, a country that has learned to live with the coffee berry borer that arrived in the late 1980s. » Read more
https://kohalacenter.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/TKC_logo_1.png00adminhttps://kohalacenter.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/TKC_logo_1.pngadmin2012-08-25 10:19:452014-05-24 23:05:34Knowledge is power when fighting coffee berry borer
August 22, 2012 (Big Island Weekly)—Just 30 individuals of a rare native bellflower once thought extinct were rediscovered on Parker Ranch lands in North Kohala in the summer of 2010. A year later, seeds that had been collected from those plants were germinating and growing at the Rare Plant Facility in Volcano. And just nine months after that, 169 keiki plants are now residing back in their home range on Kohala Mountain, effectively multiplying the wild population by about seven times. » Read more
https://kohalacenter.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/TKC_logo_1.png00adminhttps://kohalacenter.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/TKC_logo_1.pngadmin2012-08-22 10:18:362014-05-24 23:12:47Reversing extinction, one plant at a time
August 21, 2012 (Hawaii Tribune Herald)—A two-day workshop, “Integrated Pest Management of the Coffee Berry Borer,” will bring pest expert Luis Aristizabal to West Hawaii to share his expertise with local coffee producers. The workshop will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Aug. 24-25, at the Kona Hongwanji Mission in Kealakekua. Hawaii’s coffee farmers are facing a very large threat from a very tiny enemy: the coffee berry borer (CBB). A beetle native to central Africa, CBB is considered the coffee industry’s most harmful pest. Some Kona farms reported losses of over 25 percent last year and there are concerns for this year’s crop. » Read more
https://kohalacenter.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/TKC_logo_1.png00adminhttps://kohalacenter.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/TKC_logo_1.pngadmin2012-08-21 10:17:092014-05-24 23:11:59Workshop aimed at coffee berry borer
August 20, 2012 (West Hawaii Today)—Luis Aristizabal, a coffee berry borer expert from Colombia, is the featured speaker for a CBB integrated pest management workshop planned from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Kona Hongwanji Mission in Kealakekua. Attendees will learn about successful borer management techniques. They will also learn about the pest’s behaviors — when it swarms, when it moves into the trees — and the proper times to spray and trap the beetle, as well as effective harvest techniques. Two days of classroom and field lectures will cover effective control of the coffee berry borer. » Read more
August 18, 2012 (Hawaii 24/7)—A female Hawaiian monk seal apparently decided to observe Friday’s state holiday and rest up at Kahaluu Beach Park. The seal, which experts on the scene said may be pregnant, spent most of Statehood Day napping on the shoreline to the north end of the park along Alii Drive. Park visitors were kept at a distance by ReefTeach and Marine Mammal Response Network personnel, but were able to shoot as many photos as their cameras could handle. » Read more
https://kohalacenter.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/TKC_logo_1.png00adminhttps://kohalacenter.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/TKC_logo_1.pngadmin2012-08-18 10:13:582014-05-24 23:10:13Monk seal takes a snooze at Kahaluu
August 17, 2012 (West Hawaii Today)—Lend me your ears: There’s a corny new attraction opening this fall at the Kohala Mountain Farm. With flags, paint and grass killer in hand, Braden Bair began mapping out and creating passageways for a giant labyrinth Thursday in a roughly 3-acre cornfield at the picturesque farm, located makai of Kahua Ranch on Kohala Mountain Road between Hawi and Waimea. » Read more
USDA grants to train, support next generation of farmers
/in News /by adminOctober 26, 2012 (Hawaii 24/7)—U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently announced $18 million in federal funding to support new farmer training and education programs in 27 states. The Kohala Center received a $562,000 grant to create and deliver Kū I Ka Māna, a beginning farmer training initiative. The County of Hawaii is providing the necessary matching funds to secure the USDA grant.
» Read more
Click here to view the article online.
Farm diversity offers more choices at local markets
/in News /by adminOctober 21, 2012 (West Hawaii Today)—With pests cutting into profits on single-crop farms, many farmers are starting to diversify. By growing a variety of crops, farmers can harvest throughout the year and, if pests get one crop, they’ll have others to rely on. Diversifying may require new skills and tasks, but the results benefit farmers and consumers. Crop diversity gives farmers a chance to try new crops and get creative with value-added products. For customers who want to buy local, this diversity increases choices.
» Read more
Seed basics for life
/in News /by adminSeptember 30, 2012 (West Hawaii Today)—It doesn’t matter if you “eat to live” or “live to eat,” plants make up one of the three or four essential parts of our existence. Over millennia of civilization, we have learned to nurture plants in order that we may have some control over our destiny. Seeds, whether for vegetables, ornamentals or fruits provide ways to restart our garden plantings season after season. And if “seeds” is loosely defined, we can include cuttings and other forms of vegetative planting material. Seeds form a chain from the past to the present and a link into the future providing a path and a sense of security as we venture forward. They are the starting point of many good things. Without seeds, the world we know would not exist.
» Read more
Seven Big Island Farmer’s Markets Now Accepting EBT
/in News /by adminSeptember 5, 2012 (Big Island Weekly)—Locally grown food has just gotten more affordable and accessible on Hawai‘i Island with seven farmers markets now accepting EBT. EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer) it is what SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly called food stamps) recipients use to buy food.
» Read more
Click here to view the article online.
Knowledge is power when fighting coffee berry borer
/in News /by adminAugust 25, 2012 (West Hawaii Today)—Knowledge will be key if Kona coffee farmers are to survive the pesky coffee berry borer, a scientist who has experience with the pest said Friday. Understanding the insect will be the best means for coffee farmers in Kona to continue producing a high quality product, said Luis Aristizabal, a specialist in tropical-agro ecology with the University of Florida’s Mid-Florida Research and Education Center. Aristizabal is a scientist from Colombia, a country that has learned to live with the coffee berry borer that arrived in the late 1980s.
» Read more
Reversing extinction, one plant at a time
/in News /by adminAugust 22, 2012 (Big Island Weekly)—Just 30 individuals of a rare native bellflower once thought extinct were rediscovered on Parker Ranch lands in North Kohala in the summer of 2010. A year later, seeds that had been collected from those plants were germinating and growing at the Rare Plant Facility in Volcano. And just nine months after that, 169 keiki plants are now residing back in their home range on Kohala Mountain, effectively multiplying the wild population by about seven times.
» Read more
Workshop aimed at coffee berry borer
/in News /by adminAugust 21, 2012 (Hawaii Tribune Herald)—A two-day workshop, “Integrated Pest Management of the Coffee Berry Borer,” will bring pest expert Luis Aristizabal to West Hawaii to share his expertise with local coffee producers. The workshop will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Aug. 24-25, at the Kona Hongwanji Mission in Kealakekua. Hawaii’s coffee farmers are facing a very large threat from a very tiny enemy: the coffee berry borer (CBB). A beetle native to central Africa, CBB is considered the coffee industry’s most harmful pest. Some Kona farms reported losses of over 25 percent last year and there are concerns for this year’s crop.
» Read more
Coffee berry borer workshop slated
/in News /by adminAugust 20, 2012 (West Hawaii Today)—Luis Aristizabal, a coffee berry borer expert from Colombia, is the featured speaker for a CBB integrated pest management workshop planned from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Kona Hongwanji Mission in Kealakekua. Attendees will learn about successful borer management techniques. They will also learn about the pest’s behaviors — when it swarms, when it moves into the trees — and the proper times to spray and trap the beetle, as well as effective harvest techniques. Two days of classroom and field lectures will cover effective control of the coffee berry borer.
» Read more
Monk seal takes a snooze at Kahaluu
/in News /by adminAugust 18, 2012 (Hawaii 24/7)—A female Hawaiian monk seal apparently decided to observe Friday’s state holiday and rest up at Kahaluu Beach Park. The seal, which experts on the scene said may be pregnant, spent most of Statehood Day napping on the shoreline to the north end of the park along Alii Drive. Park visitors were kept at a distance by ReefTeach and Marine Mammal Response Network personnel, but were able to shoot as many photos as their cameras could handle.
» Read more
Click here to view the article online.
A-maize-ing: Kohala Mountain Farm creates island’s first corn maze
/in News /by adminAugust 17, 2012 (West Hawaii Today)—Lend me your ears: There’s a corny new attraction opening this fall at the Kohala Mountain Farm. With flags, paint and grass killer in hand, Braden Bair began mapping out and creating passageways for a giant labyrinth Thursday in a roughly 3-acre cornfield at the picturesque farm, located makai of Kahua Ranch on Kohala Mountain Road between Hawi and Waimea.
» Read more