Our People
GoFarm Hawai’i has had the good fortune of having a team of talented and dedicated professionals who share a vision of developing well-prepared commercial farmers for Hawai’i. Our current team members are:
GoFarm Hawai’i Director:
Janel Yamamoto, MA
Director of the GoFarm Hawai’i Program. Janel holds a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and a Master’s degree in Human Resource Management. She has been a VP of a large bank in Hawaii and has particular expertise in financial analysis, compliance, project management and human resource issues. Janel has consulted with farmers throughout the state for over 14 years.
Statewide Training Program Coordinator:
Laura Ediger, PhD
Laura has a background in botany, agroecology, and sustainability. After her PhD research in southwest China, she worked in Asia for 10 years as a consultant, and managed a farmer training program in China teaching sustainability practices to fruit and vegetable farmers. Now with roots in the soils of Oahu, she gets to grow native plants and fruit trees and keep bees.
Farm Coaches:
Jay Bost, MSc- Windward O’ahu
Jay is Farm Coach and site manager at GFH @ Windward Oahu program and also serves as Senior Farm Coach, working with all GFH sites to further develop their programs. He studied Agroecology at Prescott College and Interdisciplinary Ecology at the University of Florida. His career in agriculture and ethnobotany have taken him to New Mexico, North Carolina, St. Croix (USVI), Mexico, and Belize, where he has both worked and taught at numerous production, seed, and educational farms. Jay originally came to Hawaii to study at CTAHR, but jumped at the chance to combine his passions for food production, applied research, and teaching with GoFarm Hawaii. Besides helping train new farmers, Jay is an active amateur breeder and seedsman, working with the Hawaii Seed Growers Network and other variety trial networks. He is also involved with projects such as FarmLink Hawaii and the Waimanalo Co-op, working to directly link small growers and consumers.
Eric Hansen, MSc- Kaua’i
Eric is the Farm Coach and site manager for GFH @ Kaua`i. Eric has a M.S. in Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science and a B.S. in Environmental Science from UH Hilo. His work experiences include commercial taro farming, orchard production, sales at farmers’ markets, botanical inventories for EIS, an internship at NRCS, and managing the largest ex-situ collection of endangered flora for the National Tropical Botanical Garden. Eric sits on the Board of Directors for the East Kaua’i Soil Water Conservation District.
Ann Emmsley, BS – Maui
Ann is the Lead Instructor for GFH @ Maui. She is also the Assoc. Professor of Agriculture at UH Maui College. Ann, a recipient of the UH Regents’ Medal for Excellence in Teaching, has taught hundreds of Hawaii students in the science, production, and business aspects of agriculture.
Daniel Carroll, BS -North Shore, O’ahu
Daniel is the Farm Coach and site manager for GFH @ North Shore O’ahu. Graduate from The College of Agriculture at the University of Vermont. Daniel has been farming in Hawaii since 2011, including 3.5 years managing and leading education about an organic operation at a large Oahu farm. He also operates an Avocado farm in Waialua.
Pedro Oliveros Jr. “PJ”, AA – Maui
Farm Coach for GFH @ Maui. Graduate of UH Maui College in Sustainable Tropical Crop Production with Certificates in Pest and Soil Management. Has experience in educational and production farming. Studied Ethnobotany in Scammon Bay, a remote village in Alaska.
Britton Price – Hawai’i Island
Britton comes to GoFarm Hawai’i with close to 20 years of farming experience on the Big Island. He has managed and operated The Milk and Honey Farm 40 person CSA for 7 years, a dairy herd sharing program for 11 years, and a 4-acre organic wholesale vegetable production farm in Waimea for five years. He continues to homestead in Puna, raising a diverse collection of tropical fruit, canoe crops, and livestock. A member of Hawaii Seed Growers Network, he continues to practice seed saving, helping to develop locally adapted seed for Hawaii’s local growers. As a farmer dedicated to increasing local food production, Britton is excited to be a part of GoFarm Hawaii and the development of a fresh wave of local growers.
Ka’i Makaiau, BA – Waiawa Correctional Facility
Ka’i is a GoFarm Hawaii alumnus, having completed both AgSchool and AgPro. He has also spent years assisting with agricultural projects (agritourism, education) along North Shore/Windward O’ahu. He shares his enthusiasm for food security and his knowledge of culturally important crops with his students.
AgBusiness Consultants:
Erik Shimizu, BA
AgBusiness Consultant. Erik provides training and consulting for GFH AgPro students and farmers throughout the state. A graduate of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Erik has worked in large CPA firms and businesses specializing in accounting, and at a global professional services firm as a management consultant.
Pomai Weigert
AgBusiness Consultant. Pomai brings experience in marketing, community relations, agtourism, and social media. She has served as a consultant to the Hawaii AgriTourism Association and as Marketing and Community Relations Director for Ali`i Kula Lavender Farm.
Program Administrative Coordinator:
Vanessa Zimmermann, BA
Program Administrative Coordinator. Vanessa has been an administrative coordinator for 15 years and has worked on a diversity of programs and projects, including GoFarm, Hi!ag, Agricultural Development in the American Pacific (ADAP), On-Farm Food Safety Project and Children’s Healthy Living Program (CHIL). She has a degree from the University of Hawaii in Psychology, and deeply loves all sciences.
Assistant Farm Coaches:
Caleb Monroe – North Shore O’ahu
Caleb grew up on farmland in northern California. His participation in FFA, as well as working his first job at a rice mill, grew his interest in agriculture. Caleb has been cultivating food commercially on Oahu’s north shore since 2011. He’s established hydronic systems, grown diverse vegetables and organic lettuces, managed a CSA, and trained dozens of farmers.
Rick Lhamon – Kauai
Rick is a GoFarm Hawaii alumni and also runs a flower farm. Rick lends his strong construction, small engine and repair skills to the site and most of all he is known as the “Irrigation King”.
Matt McKinnon – Windward O’ahu
GoFarm Hawai’i program alumni and current co-owner of Ahiki Acres, a small farm in Waimanalo. Matt lends his farm skills and all around ingenious mechanical abilities to our program site: he finds a way to do just about anything.
Advisors:
Ted Radovich, PhD
Dr. Ted Radovich is the principal investigator of the sustainable and organic farming systems laboratory in the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at UH Mānoa. He is currently working with growers and other agriculturalists statewide to investigate links between ecological farming practices, yield, and crop quality. He is co-coordinator of the WSARE PDP and CTAHR Sustainable and Organic Agriculture programs and manages 3 acres of certified organic land at the Waimānalo Research Station. http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/radovichT
Jari Sugano
Jari S.K. Sugano is the O’ahu County Administrator with the University of Hawaii at Manoa, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (UH CTAHR). She was previously a UH CTAHR extension agent, served as the statewide coordinator of the Local & Immigrant Farmer Education Program (LIFE), and co-coordinator for the Western SARE Professional Development Program and Sustainable and Organic Agriculture Program (SOAP).
Dr. Koon-Hui Wang
Dr. Wang is an Associate Professor and Chair with the University of Hawaii at Manoa, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (UH CTAHR), Department of Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences (PEPS). Her specialties include cover cropping, Nematology, Natural farming, Soil health management, Sustainable pest management.
Glenn Teves
Glenn Teves has a B.S. in Horticulture from UH Manoa and has been an extension agent on the island of Molokai for 22 years. First hired to provide education and technical assistance to native Hawaiian farm families on Hawaiian Home Lands, he presently oversees ornamentals, livestock and forage, and community resource and economic development programs, including aquaculture and ag cooperative development. He has a strong interest in lei flowers, passed down from his mom who sews leis almost every day, and was one of the contributors to the recently released ‘Growing Plants for Hawaiian Lei’. Mr. Teves has provided technical assistance in the commercial production of pikake, tuberose, carnation, plumeria, and many of the lei flowers. He manages the CTAHR Molokai Extension Office and serves on many Molokai community advisories. He’s also a CTAHR member of the UH Manoa Faculty Senate.
We appreciate these former members too:
- Steven Chiang (Director of GFH & UH Agribusiness Incubator Program)
- Kelly Brennan (Farm Coach @ Leeward)
- Pam Caesar, (Farm Coach @ Leeward)
- Lynne Constantinides (Farm Coordinator @ Leeward)
- Steve Fukuda (Farm Coach @ Windward)
- Felicia Geronimo (Farm Coach @ Leeward)
- Leonard Hall (Farm Coach @ Windward)
- Alina Harris (Farm Coach @ Leeward)
- Derrick Kiyabu (Farm Coach @ Hawaii Island)
- Kathryn O’Brien (Farm Coach @ Leeward)
- Fred Reppun (Farm Coach @ Windward)
- David Ringuette (CoFounder of GFH)
- Nora Rodli (Statewide Program Coordinator of GFH)
- Dan Rudoy (Farm Coach @ Windward)