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How to Grow Cacao from Seed – Video

How to Grow Cacao from Seed – Video

June 30, 2020July 13, 2020

This video provides key steps in starting cacao seedlings in Hawaii.

Read More How to Grow Cacao from Seed – VideoContinue

Cacao Orchard Establishment – Resource Guide

Cacao Orchard Establishment – Resource Guide

June 30, 2020June 30, 2020

This resource guide contains useful information for new and prospective cacao growers in Hawai’i.

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How to Establish a Cacao Orchard – Video

How to Establish a Cacao Orchard – Video

June 29, 2020July 12, 2020

This video provides key steps in planning, implementing, and maintaining a cacao orchard in Hawaii.

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Getting Started with Cacao – Webinar

Getting Started with Cacao – Webinar

June 15, 2020July 15, 2020

A “How To” and conversation with award-winning growers sharing some of their key lessons learned, as well as the trials, tribulations and pro tips for establishing cacao in diverse growing regions, from Hawaiʻi island to Kauaʻi.

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O’AHU RC&D
PO Box 209
92-1770 Kunia Road
Kunia, HI 96759
1-808-622-9026

© 2021 Oahu Resource Conservation and Development Council

Amjad AhmadAssistant Extension Agent, Department of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences

Aamjad has a BSc., Agricultural Sciences, Field Crops Sciences received from the College of Agriculture and Forestry, Mosul University, a MSc. in Agricultural Sciences, Legume crops production from the College of Agriculture and Forestry, Mosul University, and PhD. in Natural Resources and Environmental Management, Hydrology from CTAHR University of Hawaii at Manoa. You can view his projects and publications at: https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/site/Bio.aspx?ID=AHMADAMJ

Amy KochAssistant Director for Soil Science, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)

Amy Koch is the Assistant Director for Soil Science with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Pacific Islands Area.  She has worked with NRCS for over 15 years, with 13 years in Hawai`i. Amy earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science from Virginia Tech and master’s degree in Soil Science from Utah State University.  She currently oversees soil science and natural resource assessments for Hawai`i and islands of the Pacific.

Bianca Moebius-CluneSoil Health Division Director, NRCS

Dr. Bianca Moebius-Clune directs the USDA-NRCS Soil Health Division and works with staff of regional and national specialists who provide training, technical assistance, science and technology acquisition, and leadership to the soil health movement, across the country. The Soil Health Division incentivizes and facilitates producers in implementing science-based, effective, economically viable soil health management systems on the nation’s diverse agricultural lands, in collaboration with partner organizations. Bianca came to the agency from the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences at Cornell University, where she served on the faculty as a Senior Extension Associate and Lecturer with research and extension responsibilities in soil health assessment and management and in weather-based precision nitrogen management. She also taught a class in Sustainable Soil Management. She has authored numerous peer-reviewed and extension publications and provided workshops and training nationally and internationally. Bianca has conducted research on agricultural management impacts on soil health and N dynamics in the Northeast and Midwest, as well as in Kenya, and developed a new framework for Soil Health Management Planning. She holds PhD and Masters degrees from Cornell University and a Bachelor of Science from University of New Hampshire, all in soil science.

Brittany AndersonSugar Hill Farmstead
Elaine Vizka (Ph.D.)

Elaine's research aims to investigate the soil health status across the Hawaiian Islands, optimize soil health metrics for Hawaii by discerning which metrics are critical factors across its diverse landscapes, and understand which management practices are environmentally and economically viable for farmers. Sustainably managing soils while maintaining productivity in Hawaii is particularly challenging due to their diverse nature and use. Healthy soil is of the utmost importance as it can protect Hawaii’s limited resources, enhance ecosystem services, and mitigate climate change.

She received her M.S. degrees in Soil Science and Environmental Science with a certificate in Geographical Information Sciences (GIS). Her Master’s thesis investigated how soil health varied with differing management systems across landscapes in Iowa. I worked towards optimizing soil health metrics in Iowa by measuring how responsive metrics were to management differences, the quantity of soil samples needed to detect differences in soil health between management practices, and where on the landscape these differences were most easily observed.

Emma BelloSweetland Farm

Emma manages the 86 acres of Sweetland Farm with her family. As the only certified goat dairy on Oahu, their 300+ goats produce a variety of gourmet goat cheese products operating on a regenerative grazing system. Watch Emma’s video to learn how this system of grazing and best management practices cycles nutrients, increases biodiversity and contributes towards the health of both the on-farm ecosystem and the surrounding greater ecosystem.

Hannah HubanksConservation Planner, Oahu RC&D

Hannah works with farmers, land managers, and local stakeholders to improve soil and water resources through conservation planning. She also coordinates the Waimānalo Watershed Restoration Project, Co-managing Food Safety and Land Stewardship Project, and Carbon Farming Project. Originally from Wisconsin, she earned her B.S. degree from UW-Madison in Zoology. After time abroad and working in a variety of science disciplines and ecosystems, she arrived in Hawaiʻi and took interest in global and local challenges within food systems. She focused on soil health assessment in Hawaiʻi for her M.S. thesis work at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in Natural Resource and Environmental Management. Hannah looks forward to carrying out the mission of Oʻahu RC&D and promoting a more sustainable Hawaiʻi.

Dr. Jennifer MooreResearch Soil Scientist, USDA-ARS

Jennifer most recently directed AFT’s efforts helping states in the US Climate Alliance develop policies and programs to ensure agriculture realizes its potential to combat climate change. She also served as NRCS’s West Region Soil Health Team Leader and co-director/NRCS Liaison for USDA Northwest Climate Hub. Before that, she was an associate professor in the Plant and Soil Science Department at Texas Tech University. Jennifer is an adjunct faculty member for the Department of Crop and Soil Science at Oregon State University. She has co-authored many publications and press articles on soil health management, carbon cycling, and microbial ecology. She was elected the 2017 chair of the Soil Biology and Biochemistry Division for the Soil Science Society of America. Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Arts in biology and environmental studies from Binghamton University, a Master of Science in soil science from Iowa State University, and a Doctorate in soil science from Oregon State University.

Jonathan DeenikSpecialist, Department of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences

Dr. Jonathan Deenik is a Specialist with CTAHR's Department of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences. His program focuses on assisting farmers and land managers in Hawaii implement soil management practices that maintain good crop production, and more importantly, enhance soil quality and protect the soil for future generations. He also teaches a course at the university, Fundamentals of Soil Science, and mentors a number of students in his lab.

Josh SilvaAssistant Extension Agent, Department of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences

Josh has Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in natural resources and soil science, respectively, from UH Manoa. Working in Jonathan Deenik’s lab, he was instrumental in helping to develop the online Hawai‘i Soil Atlas. He is very familiar with the diverse soil types throughout Hawai‘i, and the practices to properly manage them for crop production. His most recent position (with the UH-CTAHR Human Nutrition, Food, and Animal Sciences Dept. Children’s Healthy Living Program) was to manage research activities for an agro-ecologically-based project on the Pacific Island of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia - to improve the health, food security, and livelihood of indigenous and minority groups around the Pacific Region through community participatory research. Josh is well versed in all aspects of farming in the Hawaiian Islands, with a good understanding of both traditional Hawaiian agriculture and the range of contemporary cropping systems found around the islands.

Koon-Hui WangAssociate Professor & Chair, Department of Plant & Environmental Protection Sciences

Koon-Hui holds a B.S. from the National Taiwan University, M.S. in Horticulture from the University of Hawaii, and Ph.D. Plant Pathology, University of Hawaii. She specializes in cover cropping, nematology, natural farming, soil health management, sustainable pest management. You can access her publications by visiting: https://cms.ctahr.hawaii.edu/wangkh/Home.aspx

Michelle GalimbaCattle Rancher, Kuahiwi Ranch

Michelle Galimba is a cattle rancher in Ka’u on Hawaiʻi Island where she runs Kuahiwi Ranch with her brother, Guy Galimba. Their family ranch provides locally grown beef to supermarkets, farmer’s markets, and restaurants on O‘ahu and Hawaiiʻi Island. She grew up on dairy farms in Hawaiʻi and has been involved with her family’s ranch since it started on abandoned sugar-cane acreage in the early 1990’s. Having grown up in agriculture in Hawaiʻi, she has seen first hand the stresses and constraints which make farming and ranching particularly challenging in Hawaiʻi. She is interested in the key role that agriculture in general, and small farms in particular, has to play in addressing the big challenges of our time: economic inequity, political dis-enfranchisement, biodiversity loss, and climate change. Michelle received a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from UC, Berkeley. You can find some of her agriculture-related writing at Resilience.org.

Michelle GorhamExecutive Director, Oahu West SWCD

Michelle enjoys the opportunity to leverage community assets by developing targeted training, strategic partnerships, and comprehensive educational initiatives that advance agriculture and conservation in Hawaii. With more 15 year’s experience advancing Hawaii’s conservation and agriculture fields, she encourages innovation and collaboration.

Winsome WilliamsProject Director, La Kahea, Waikapu, Maui

Winsome Williams works as the project director for La Kahea. La Kahea is the education and research facet of Bobby Pahia’s 310-acre mixed-agriculture farm in Waikapu, Maui. The farm produces dozens of kalo varietals, a myriad of crops, pigs mixed-crop taro farm. Formerly used for monocropping that stripped the earth of nutrients and left it dead, the swath of land is undergoing soil remediation efforts to restore health. Winsome manages onsite projects, including a mycoremediation, cover cropping systems, organic amendments (ie. vermiculture, JADAM, biodynamic composting) and other practices to improve soil and fertility.

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  • News & Events
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  • Resources
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    • Agroforestry
    • Cacao
    • Cesspool Replacement
    • Conservation Planning
    • Cover Crops
    • Funding Opportunities
    • Hawaiʻi Guide for New Farmers
    • Hawaiʻi Women Farmers Network (WFN)
      • WFN Directory
    • Organic Farming & Soil Health Resources
    • Pest Management
    • Soil Health
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    • Meet Oʻahu RC&D
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