Hawaii Community College is offering a series of noncredit agriculture classes this summer that cover topics such as sustainable farming practices, pest and disease control, nursery management, irrigation, how to manage a farm business, and more.
Hawaii Community College is offering a series of noncredit agriculture classes this summer that cover topics such as sustainable farming practices, pest and disease control, nursery management, irrigation, how to manage a farm business, and more.
The classes will be at the Hawaii CC campus in Hilo, in Captain Cook and at the University of Hawaii experimental agriculture farm in Panaewa. Hawaii CC agriculture instructor Chris Jacobsen will teach the courses.
The following are the classes and fees:
• Home and Community Food Security, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. June 5 and July 24. Cost: $59.
• Farm Management, 6-8 p.m. Thursday and 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Saturday, June 11-27. Cost: $59.
• Integrated Pest Management, 6-8 p.m. Tuesday and 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Thursday, June 30-July 16. Cost: $59.
• Irrigation Repair and Theory, 6-8 p.m. Thursday and 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Saturday, July 23-Aug. 8. Cost: $59.
• Horticultural Operations, 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, July 27–Aug. 13. Cost: $67.
• Business Plan Development Training for Farmers, 4:30-8:30 p.m., Tuesday and Thursday, July 7-Aug. 27. Cost: $99
The classes are part of the C3T-1 program that Hawaii CC and other University of Hawaii community colleges are participating in. C3T Hawaii is a $24.6 million grant awarded to University of Hawaii community colleges through the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration.
The grant will fuel the development of education and training curriculum and student academic/career coaching, which targets certificate and degree programs specific to the needs of agriculture, energy and health industries.
The noncredit courses funded by the grant aim to provide training leading to jobs in agriculture for the unemployed, professional improvement for those already employed in agriculture, and instruction for those who want to work in the agriculture field.
For more information and to register, call Linda Burnham Larish, C3T-1 sustainable agriculture coordinator at HCC, at 934-2687 or email llarish@hawaii.edu, or call the Workforce Development Division Office at 981-2860, ext. 226.