Kyusei Nature Farming

INTRODUCTION
Kyusei Nature Farming was developed in Japan with the objective of producing food that is safe and free of harmful chemicals and toxic materials. For many years the practitioners of Kyusei Nature Farming adopted the organic farming system, with little results to provide adequate food for the majority of the population.

In the 1980’s, Prof. Dr. Teruo Higa introduced the concept of Effective Micro-organisms (EM) to Kyusei Nature Farming. Thus, a group of beneficial micro organisms were cultured and used as a means of improving soil conditions, suppressing disease inducing microbes and improving the efficiency of organic matter utilisation by crops. This technology proved to be highly successful, and thus an international conference was organised in November 1989 in Thailand to introduce this technology to the Asia Pacific region. At this conference, the Asia Pacific Natural Agriculture Network (APNAN) was formed.

The primary aim of APNAN is to establish an international network of scientists in the Asia Pacific region, in order to promote research, education practices and technologies.
These activities will be based on the principles of Kyusei Nature Farming and the technology of Effective Micro-organisms (EM)

IDEAL AGRICULTURE
The main theme of Kyusei Nature Farming is to practice an IDEAL AGRICULTURE. The five principles of ideal agriculture as advocated by Kyusei Nature Farming are:

TAKE OF THE EARTH ONLY WHAT YOU CAN RETURN AGAIN!

1. It produces safe and nutritious food to enhance human health.
2. It is economically and spiritually beneficial to both producers (farmers) and consumers.
3. It is sustainable and easily practised by everyone.
4. It conserves our environment.
5. It produces sufficient food of high quality for an expanding world population

Essentially the Kyusei Nature Farming methodology is most similar to that which is commonly described as organic agriculture. Though of course those practicing Kyusei Nature Farming make a concerted effort to work with the technology of the Effective Microorganisms (EM)

There is no uniform instruction manual for the use of EM as there is for chemical fertilizers and pesticides. It is said that the only instruction manual for EM is that there is no manual. This is because the agroecosystems for crop production are different, and EM must be used in a way that is most suitable for each environment. Therefore, it is necessary to characterize the environment through careful observation and then establish the EM treatment. This approach is fundamental to agriculture. We believe that to strengthen the soil complex is to vitalize the earth and its harvest. The principle of Kyusei Nature Farming is to vitalize the earth, and its goal is to attain the health of mankind