Dr. Diane Ragone has been named the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources 2015 Outstanding Alumna for her work to understand, conserve and promote breadfruit as a valuable tropical crop, and Big Island farmer Richard Ha will receive the Ka Lei Hano Heritage Award for his advocacy on behalf of local agriculture, business development and the college.
“The work of both Dr. Ragone and Richard Ha contribute greatly toward achieving food security and sustainable agriculture production in Hawai‘i,” said Dr. Maria Gallo, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) dean and director for research and Cooperative Extension. “Both are visionary leaders who find solutions that tap the wisdom of the past in meeting the needs of the future.”
Diane Ragone, the 2015 CTAHR Outstanding Alumna, has been director of the Breadfruit Institute at the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG) since it was founded in 2003. She has combined multidisciplinary scholarly work with outreach initiatives to increase awareness of the once venerated canoe plant while building the world’s largest and most comprehensive breadfruit germplasm collection. Since spearheading the effort to revolutionize propagation techniques, Ragone has overseen distribution of thousands of highly nutritious, superior varieties of breadfruit trees throughout the Pacific. She also co-directs the Ho‘oulu ka ‘Ulu project with the Hawai‘i Homegrown Food Network to revitalize ‘ulu in Hawai‘i as a culturally appropriate staple for sustainable food production and a nutritious diet. Ragone’s interest in breadfruit dates to her CTAHR doctoral work on ‘ulu. She has also contributed to conservation of other Native Hawaiian plants as director of horticulture and conservation and director of science as well as other positions at NTBG since joining the congressionally chartered organization in 1989. She also serves as a research associate or affiliated faculty member with the Chicago Botanic Garden, New York Botanical Garden, Bishop Museum and University of Hawai‘i.