Honoka‘a High and Intermediate School

Honoka‘a High and Intermediate School's Ag program is a comprehensive Agriculture/Natural Resources Program. Manuel Jadulang is the current agriculture teacher. The program attributes a large part of its success to Mr. Nathan Kawashima, who worked at the school for over 25 year as the agriculture teacher. During that time the school developed an extensive program utilizing six greenhouses, an agriculture shop, a plant tissue culture lab, and an aquaculture area. Jadulang has been working at the school since July 2007, and teaches students in grades 9–12.


All Honoka‘a High School students are encouraged to take the first year Natural Resources class. Advanced classes include horticulture, agricultural technology, agricultural science, and aquaculture. All classes are electives. Projects that students work in the program include the following: maintaining the program's golf course and ag program grounds (use of lawn equipment), herb garden, vegetable field crops, native plants, circulating and non-circulating hydroponics, aquaponics, and working in the ag shop (maintaining farm equipment, and small farm woodworking).



The program currently sells its produce to faculty and staff on campus. Other entrepreneurial aspects the program hopes to venture into include: ornamental and native plants, aquaponic vegetables, and tropical freshwater aquarium fish.

Accomplishments during school year 2009-2010:
1) Implementation of cover cropping/composting
2) Construction of a fenced area for kalo and sweet potato
3) Construction of Chicken Tractor
4) Planted fruit trees on site
5) Addition of fence for vegetable trellis in two greenhouses
6) Added more "upside down" vegetable systems in another greenhouse
7) Expanded anthurium stock plants in greenhouse
8) Participated in Hamakua Alive
9) FFA students went on a Service learning trip to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Hakalau Refuge
10) FFA students attended the FFA State Conference at UH-Maui College
11) Ag program set up the eight 20 x 20 tents for the school's annual relay for life event in May

If you would like to volunteer for the program, contact teacher Manuel Jadulang at manuel_jadulang@yahoo.com or call 775-8800, ext. 289.