Month: October 2010

October 20, 2010 Agriculture Grants, General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

State gets $2.1M in federal funding for renewable energy

The federal government has awarded $2.1 million to the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism to build energy storage systems that can be used to increase the capacity of electric utilities to accept more renewable energy.

DBEDT said it will allocate $1.2 million of the total to Maui Electric Co. and $900,000 to Hawaii Electric Light Co. on the Big Island. The funding will be used to build energy storage systems that would help smooth out the ebbs and flows of electricity to the grid from renewable sources, such as wind and solar. Interconnection costs will be paid by the utilities.

Battery technology is the primary method for storing electricity generated by renewable sources, but other options are available, including compressed air, pumped hydro, and flywheels.

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October 20, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Kalo connections

TARO FEST

    » Where: Haleiwa Farmers Market, at Kamehameha Highway and Leong Bypass near Haleiwa Beach Park
    » When: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday
    » Call: 388-9696 or e-mail HaleiwaFarmersMarket@gmail.com
    EVENTS
    Recipe contest (call or e-mail for details), poi-pounding demonstration, talk story with North Shore kupuna, taro farm tours, dishes by Hawaii chefs, makahiki activities and entertainment. Plus, taro submissions to break the Guinness world record (call or e-mail for details).”

In a Hawaiian genesis story, a stillborn baby’s grave site grows the first taro plant, which feeds his younger brother, the first Hawaiian. The tale is at the root of the culture’s reverence for taro, called kalo in Hawaiian.

“Poi and family are one and the same,” says Aunty Betty Jenkins, a North Shore kupuna who is one of the guiding forces behind Haleiwa Farmers Market’s taro festival on Sunday. “Kalo connects us to all Hawaiians, to all of our neighborhood, to all community. It’s very spiritual.”

A new generation is now standing alongside elders like Jenkins to perpetuate taro’s cultural relevance. For Daniel Anthony of the organization Mana Ai, that effort centers on eating. “First and foremost, Mana Ai promotes the eating of taro in any way, shape or form,”

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October 19, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Pick of the patch

St. Anthony School kindergartner Kulia Kaufman, 5, browses through the selection of pumpkins while visiting the University of Hawaii Maui College’s Pumpkin Patch on Monday. St. Anthony preschool, kindergarten and 3rd-grade pupils visited and each child was able to take home a pumpkin. The keiki had a chance to hear stories and learn about pumpkins. Members of the public will also have a chance to choose among seven pumpkin varieties during a harvest event from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday. Visitors then can also take part in craft sales, face painting and dental hygiene demonstrations, and savor a sample of soup.

Pick of the patch – Mauinews.com | News, Sports, Jobs, Visitor’s Information – The Maui News

October 19, 2010 General Ag News and Notes, Globel Warming Post a Comment

Research suggests climate change could alter El Nino cycle in the Pacific

Climate change could alter the El Nino cycle in the Pacific, affecting fish stocks and the distribution of nutrients in the ocean, new research suggests.

Scientists recently noticed that El Nino warming is stronger in the Central Pacific than the Eastern Pacific, a phenomenon they call El Nino Modoki, after the Japanese term for “similar, but different.”

Last year, the journal Nature published a paper that found climate change is behind this shift from El Nino to El Nino Modoki.

While the findings of that paper are still subject to debate, a new paper in the journal Nature Geoscience presents evidence that El Nino Modoki affects long-term changes in currents in the North Pacific Ocean.

The research was done by Emanuele Di Lorenzo, associate professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Research suggests climate change could alter El Nino cycle in the Pacific – Hawaii News – Staradvertiser.com

October 19, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Golf subsidy begins at 2 West Hawaii courses

HILO — A county subsidy allowing Big Island golfers to pay just $25 greens fees at two West Hawaii golf courses began Friday, but it could be the last year for the popular program.

The county started providing subsidies in 2006 in an attempt to make recreational opportunities more equitable for West Hawaii residents, who pay more than 76 percent of property taxes, but have just a fraction of the parks and other recreational amenities enjoyed by East Hawaii residents.

Mayor Billy Kenoi said in early 2009 that although the economic slowdown is tightening the county’s spending for new projects, West Hawaii should see a more equal share of the Parks and Recreation budget. He appointed West Hawaii resident Bob Fitzgerald to head the sprawling agency.

But Fitzgerald told West Hawaii Today last week that trying to make the two sides of the island more equitable is hindered by history itself. East Hawaii has more facilities, he said, because the county received most of them from the former plantations. Large landowners in West Hawaii, in contrast, have been less generous with contributions of park land, gymnasiums and other amenities, he said.

The West Hawaii golf subsidy is meant to offset subsidies at the only county-owned golf course, Hilo Municipal Golf Course.

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October 18, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Health Care and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Welcome to Fixes.

This is a series about solutions, or potential solutions, to real world problems. It focuses on the line between failure and success, drawing on the stories of people who have crossed it.

Most of us tend to be better informed about problems than solutions. This presents two challenges: if we rarely hear about success when it occurs, it’s hard to believe that problems can, in fact, be solved. Also, knowledge about how to solve problems ends up being concentrated in too few hands. It needs to circulate more broadly so that it can be applied where needed.

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October 18, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

The perfect place to pick a pumpkin

by Carolyn Lucas-Zenk
Stephens Media

Excited shrieks, laughter and the patter of little feet could be heard Sunday morning at the Kohala Mountain Farm Pumpkin Patch.

Children ran through rows, often with family members or friends, in search of the perfect pumpkin.

For Shaynee Akina, the hardest decision was not deciding between the perfectly rotund or the delightfully deformed. Instead, the 8-year-old Kohala resident was stuck on what to do with the big, bumpy pumpkin she spied all alone in a corner of the patch.

“I can carve it, put in front of our house or bake into a pie,” she said. “It’s kind of crooked so it be hard to carve because it will fall over. But I like it. So I can eat it.”

Seven-year-old Kayli Wilson said she’s tired of traditional looking jack-o’-lanterns with triangular eyes and jagged, toothy grin. This year, she planned to get the skinniest pumpkin available and carve a long, silly face on it.

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October 18, 2010 General Ag News and Notes, Globel Warming Post a Comment

Killer of Aspen Slows, but Worries About a Beloved Tree Remain – NYTimes.com

GUNNISON, Colo. — Aspen trees, with their quivering, delicate foliage and the warm glow of color they spread across the high country of the Rocky Mountains this time of year, have an emotional appeal that their stolid, prickly evergreen cousins do not.

So tree lovers and scientists alike felt the impact when the aspen in the West started dying around 2004 — withering away in a broad band from here in southwest Colorado through the mountains of Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico and into Wyoming.

“There’s definitely something powerful about these trees,” said James Worrall, a forest pathologist for the United States Forest Service, gazing at a brilliant yellow swath of healthy aspen in a stand in the mountains here, about four hours southeast of Denver.

“It’s partly, I think, an emotional impression,” he said. “Partly a very real impression that the aspen is very important in our forests — hydrologically, biologically, to wildlife, every kind of way you can imagine.”

The good news is that the phenomenon known as sudden aspen decline, or SAD, appears to have stabilized, Dr. Worrall and other researchers say. Individual trees are still dying, since the process can take years to unfold, but many stands of trees are holding their ground against any new onset.

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October 18, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Native plant trip planned for Saturday

ULUPALAKUA – The next native plant restoration trip to Auwahi on the southern flank of Haleakala will be on Saturday.

Volunteers need to RSVP as soon as possible to reserve a seat.

Hiking boots that cover the ankle are required, along with layered clothing, rain gear, two liters of water, lunch, sunscreen and a hat.

Gear including backpacks and boots should be cleaned to prevent the spread of weeds in the restoration site.

High-clearance four-wheeled drive vehicles are also needed.

For information or to reserve a spot, send e-mail to volunteer@lhwrp.org, or call 573-8989.

Native plant trip planned for Saturday – Mauinews.com | News, Sports, Jobs, Visitor’s Information – The Maui News