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

11 talks on “economics”

Derek Kurisu ·USA (Hawaiʻi) ·18 min

How a Hilo Grocer Put Local Food and IMO on the Shelf

A KTA Super Stores executive explains how the store's Mountain Apple Brand grew to about 45 local partners and 210 products, and how KTA raised local leafy produce to 90–97% and local beef from about 5% to 45% of sales. He then tells how Dr. Hoon Park won him over to Korean Natural Farming, which led KTA to sell a bagged Microbes (IMO) product, IMOlizer, and to hope for natural-farming food on its shelves.

Found Mountain Apple Brand: about 45 business partners and about 210 products

beef economics health local food microbes retail

Dr. Hoon Park, John Caverly ·USA (Hawaiʻi) ·50 min

Microbes (IMO) by Hand: Squeeze Test, Keep It Under 120°F

Dr. Hoon Park and farmer John (very likely 'Ginger John' Caverly) teach the Microbes (IMO) method on the lawn: rice in a box, then rice plus brown sugar, then a pile of wheat mill run wetted with IMO-2 and Food (FPJ) water and checked with a squeeze test. A woman helper who is never named shows an IMO-1 box and talks about mill run supply. A second group gets the IMO-3 temperature rule and Master Cho's four jobs of IMO, Dr. Park tells how he drinks Protectors (LAB) for his stomach, and John says roots and microbes work together.

Found IMO-1 takes about three days here

economics food health microbes protectors soil

Ashley Lukens ·USA (Hawaiʻi) ·60 min

Hawaiʻi Hosted 1,141 GE Field Tests to California's 172

At the Thursday lunch, Dr. Ashley Lukens, director of the Hawaiʻi Center for Food Safety, walked through her group's report "Pesticides in Paradise" on the seed companies' genetic-engineering field tests and restricted-use pesticide spraying in Hawaiʻi. She drew on industry figures, USDA field-test permits, Kauaʻi spray records and about 150 medical studies, then argued for mandatory disclosure and buffer zones around schools. Short Q&A at the end.

Found Seed crop acreage grew 10x since 1982

economics health pesticides policy research scale

Drake Weinert ·USA (Hawaiʻi) ·86 min

Liquid Wood Chips and the 1:2:2 Maintenance Mix

Drake Weinert, introduced by Vincent Mina, shows how he combines the natural farming solutions into ready-to-use mixes: diluted seawater, a blended-weed "liquid green manure", an IMO-4 field treatment, a 1:2:2 maintenance spray of Medicine (OHN), Food (FPJ) and Cleanser (BRV), and one add-on per growth stage. The second half is a microbe primer built on his own microscope work, then photos from a 2008 or 2009 Korea tour, a downtown Hilo street planting and his Kalanianaʻole school garden. It is also an early public version of his idea to name the solutions by what they are used for.

Found Maintenance spraying: about $175 per acre per year for vegetables, $100 for orchards

cleanser economics food medicine microbes minerals

Jeff Melrose ·USA (Hawaiʻi) ·74 min

Hawaiʻi Cropland Shrank From 350,000 to 153,000 Acres

Jeff Melrose, a land-use planner, previews the 2015 statewide map of Hawaiʻi's farms, made with UH Hilo's SDAV lab for the state Department of Agriculture. He stands in for HDOA chair Scott Enright, who was ill. He compares the 1937 and 1980 maps with 2015: about 153,000 acres in crops and 763,000 in pasture, down from 350,000 and 1.1 million in 1980. Then he goes island by island, adds pig and bee maps, and takes questions. HFUU president Vincent Mina introduces him and closes with a pitch for HFUU chapters and membership.

Found 2015: about 153,000 acres in crops and 765,000 acres in pasture

bees coffee economics pigs policy research

Donna Mitts, Drake Weinert, Robert Kobayashi, ʻIwalani Haia, Keliʻi Akina, Jenny, Mark Fontaine, Lou ·USA (Hawaiʻi) ·89 min

From a 6×6 Bed to 8 Acres: Natural Farming in School Gardens

Donna Mitts of the Kohala Center's Hawaiʻi Island School Garden Network introduces staff from four schools: Kalanianaʻole (Drake Weinert), Waiākea High (Robert Kobayashi), Kamehameha Schools (ʻIwalani Haia, Keliʻi Akina) and Laupāhoehoe Community Public Charter School (Jenny, Mark Fontaine, Lou). They show their gardens, pig pens and animals, and talk about money, administrators and cafeteria rules. Natural farming comes up as Microbes (IMO), Protectors (LAB), bone-based calcium and natural-farming pig pens. Nobody gives a rate or a measured result.

Found More than 60 school garden programs on Hawaiʻi Island

culture economics health microbes pigs policy

Chris Trump, John Caverly, David Wong ·USA (Hawaiʻi) ·90 min

Mac Nuts, Kalo and 500 Pigs: Natural Farming at Scale

Three Hawaiʻi Island farmers tell how they run natural farming at scale: Chris Trump on his family's 750 acres of macadamia nuts in Kohala, John Caverly ("Ginger John") on 18 acres of kalo, sugar cane and vegetables, and David Wong on 10 acres of Asian vegetables and about 500 pigs. They give their application rates, how they make Microbes (IMO) by the ton with farm machinery, what weeds and mowing cost, and the permits a no-smell piggery needed. Moderated by Kyle, president of the HFUU East Hawaii chapter.

Found About 750 acres of mac nuts; about 300 in natural farming

economics macadamia microbes pigs scale soil

Adam Reed, Sally Bredeweg, Kori Hasashima ·USA (Hawaiʻi) ·39 min

How NRCS Sizes a Natural Farming Piggery

Three NRCS staff, introduced by HFUU's Vincent Mina. Agronomist Adam Reed gives four soil health principles and shows a slake test of tilled against no-till soil. Engineer Sally Bredeweg works through sizing a deep-litter (IDLS) piggery for 1 boar, 3 sows and 20 growers, from square feet per pig to an 18-inch covered ridge opening. Kori Hasashima then covers NRCS practices, EQIP and the other cost-share programs, and who was eligible in 2015.

Found NRCS spent its first 75 years focused on soil erosion; soil biology is 'our new mission'

economics microbes no-till pigs policy soil

Paul Tower, Vincent Mina, Dave Sansone, David Fuertes, Bob Shaffer ·USA (Hawaiʻi) ·90 min

Food Waste to Pig Feed, Taro by Hand, Soil from a Gulch

Bill Steiner, former UH Hilo dean of agriculture, opens with innovation in old Hawaiian farming (the Kohala field system) and his own oil palm trial, then hands off to five project leaders. Paul Tower pitches a planned Oʻahu plant turning food waste into pig feed, renewable natural gas, compost and hydroponic lettuce; Vincent Mina tells how a 2,000 sq ft greens farm on Maui led him to the Farmers Union; Dave Sansone shows low-effort agroforestry; David Fuertes shows a Kohala ʻohana taro, sweet potato and natural-farming livestock project that makes Microbes (IMO) a ton at a time; Bob Shaffer describes digging up a million cubic yards of buried bagasse and soil at the old Haina sugar mill for potting soil.

Found Steiner imported 10,000 oil palm seeds of three strains from Costa Rica, about six or seven years earlier

culture economics microbes pigs policy scale

Timothy Tweets, Drake Weinert, Vincent Mina, Gene Tamashiro, Stella, J.R. Waikiki, James Cipriciano, Keahi Tajon ·USA (Hawaiʻi) ·9 min

Why They Came: Seven Voices from the Symposium

Short phone-camera interviews with people at the symposium, opening with joking between Drake Weinert, an Australian visitor and a man in an HFUU shirt. Musician Gene Tamashiro speaks on natural law and protecting Hawaiʻi from GMO laws; visitors from Australia, Maui and another island say what they came for; a young farmer explains why small farms need retail prices; Keahi Tajon talks about growing food to feed people.

Found Hawaiʻi can protect itself from GMO laws through natural law and the Hawaiian Kingdom, which 'never ended'

community culture economics microbes policy scale

Russell Ruderman ·USA (Hawaiʻi) ·11 min

Move 10% to Local Food, Keep $300 Million in Hawaiʻi

State Senator Russell Ruderman, introduced by HFUU president Vincent Mina, speaks to the symposium on the last evening. He argues that local food pays off in money, health and soil, that farm-made solutions cut Hawaiʻi's high cost of imported fertilizer, and that farmers need to get into politics to crack open markets like school food.

Found Shifting the local-vs-imported food meter 10% is worth about $300 million to the state

economics health local food policy politics school gardens