The Hawaii Coffee Association recently hosted their 24th Annual Conference & 11th Annual State of Hawaii Cupping Competition from July 25 to 27 at the Ala Moana Hotel. The statewide annual conference invites coffee educators, industry professionals, and enthusiasts to network and attend sessions and events. It hosted a variety of workshops on topics such as soil health, fermentation with yeasts, roasting, and cupping, with the goal of educating, sustaining, and boosting the profitability of the Hawai‘i coffee industry.

Kona Extension agent Andrea Kawabata, who manages the Hawaii Coffee Education website, presented the 2019 CTAHR Annual Update at the conference, highlighting the past year’s progress of eight coffee research and outreach projects being conducted by CTAHR faculty and staff. The research projects range from field trials for pesticide residues of products used for CBB control to improve the marketability of Hawai’i coffee to use of resistant rootstock against coffee root-knot nematode and the advancement of CBB detection. One thing is clear: the CTAHR community continues to play a critical role in helping Hawai‘i coffee growers.

Funding for the ongoing projects is provided by the USDA Areawide CBB Project, UH CTAHR, IR-4 Program, Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture, County of Maui, County of Hawaii, and USDA Technical Assistance for Specialty Crops.