Komohana Research and Extension Center, Hilo, Hawaiʻi · October 1–3, 2015

Natural Farming Symposium 2015

A day of talks and hands-on skill shares in Hilo, a day of panels, then farm tours and a film. 25 recordings: nine talks including Drake Weinert's keynote, six demonstrations on the lawn, eight panels, a short ceremony and hallway interviews. Every one is checked line by line and boiled down to what was made, what was measured and what was only told.

Read what it all adds up to →

Also on the record: Konkuk 2016

Topics microbes soil economics policy health taro culture food pigs scale protectors research biochar fermentation minerals school gardens Clear

3 talks on “biochar”

Vincent Mina ·USA (Hawaiʻi) ·36 min

A Sewer-Pipe Worm Trough That Eats 100 lb of Pulp a Week

Vincent Mina, state president of Hawaii Farmers Union United, opened the symposium hall talks with the story of his 2,000-square-foot greens farm and the union's policy work, then walked through slides of his backyard worm system: half-pipe troughs cut from 2-foot sewer pipe and fed health-food-store juice pulp, mineral powder, biochar and Microbes (IMO-3). He also showed how he makes IMO-3 by the ton on wheat mill run and biochar, his compost screener, a hau-flower Food (FPJ), and a taro planting on old cane land mulched with sun hemp.

Found His farm makes a living on 2,000 sq ft, producing about 400 lb of greens a week

biochar food microbes policy soil taro

Dr. Hoon Park ·USA (Hawaiʻi) ·13 min

Four Jobs Microbes Do in Soil, and Why Local Ones Win

Dr. Hoon Park, under a tent on the skill-share lawn, explains why Microbes (IMO) matter in soil. He says your own local microbes outlast lab-made ones like EM, and goes through four jobs they do: decomposition, catalysis, revitalization (bringing earthworms) and disease suppression. He ends with charcoal as a home for IMO-4, Master Cho's tree seedlings in the Mongolian desert, and his main point: look at the roots and revive the soil.

Found Basil to first harvest in 3–4 months instead of about 6

basil biochar disease earthworms microbes soil

Ted Radovich, James Rushing, Josiah Hunt, Jana Bogs ·USA (Hawaiʻi) ·67 min

Four Scientists on Natural Farming: Proof, Biochar, Minerals

Four short research talks that followed Drake Weinert's keynote. Ted Radovich (UH Mānoa CTAHR) showed his lab's work on Hawaiʻi soils, cover crops, compost and compost tea; James Rushing (UH Hilo) listed what science does and does not yet know about natural farming, and said no top-tier peer-reviewed paper showed it working; Josiah Hunt (Pacific Biochar) explained biochar and read results from published studies; Jana Bogs, a nutritionist and soil consultant, argued for testing soil minerals and microbes, and warned about the sodium in seawater. Each talk got a few questions from the floor.

Found Weathered soil vs fertile soil: P 0.9 vs 480 ppm, Ca 38 vs 4,524, Al 142 vs 15

biochar compost cover crops microbes minerals research