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

15 talks on “microbes”

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

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

John Caverly ("Ginger John") ·USA (Hawaiʻi) ·6 min

How Microbes Brought the Worms Back to Old Cane Land

A Hilo-side farmer opens the Microbes (IMO) skill share on the lawn with his own story. His old cane land at Onomea had no earthworms and nothing would grow; after he began making Microbes with Dr. Park, seedlings given Microbes outgrew his organic mix, and 500 lb of IMO-4 laid under a diseased kalo field was followed two weeks later by worms everywhere. He says he has bought no organic fertilizer in seven years and that it takes about 40 days to go from rice to bagged IMO-4.

Found Seedlings given Microbes were plainly bigger in two weeks

bananas earthworms microbes mulch soil taro

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

Richard Perea ·USA (Hawaiʻi) ·38 min

Fermenting the Weeds Bugs Won't Eat

Richard Perea, a farmer from Ocean View, Kaʻū, runs an outdoor skill share on fermenting plants from his land that bugs won't eat. He shows a Christmas berry ferment of rehydrated leaves, brown sugar and water that he drinks and sprays (the 'Biome Rejuvenation Juice' of the YouTube title; it is neither Cleanser (BRV) nor Cho's Food (FPJ)), plus a hydrosol and a vodka bark extract. Then he builds a 'wild grass fertilizer' from guinea grass, forest mulch, Protectors (LAB) and water, used at a cup and a half per 55 gallons.

Found Guinea grass stopped at the line where he sprayed guinea grass fertilizer

christmas berry food guinea grass health microbes pests

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

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

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

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

Dana Keawe, Ala Jellings, Gene Tamashiro, Alika Atay, Chris Chang ·USA (Hawaiʻi) ·81 min

Kanaka Farmers: Our Tūtū Already Farmed This Way

Five Kanaka farmers and cultural practitioners from Hawaiʻi Island, Oʻahu, Maui and Molokaʻi talk about how natural farming fits old Hawaiian practice, ʻāina, health and sovereignty. Alika Atay gives the most practice: the Hawaiian moon calendar, calcium phosphate at flowering, moving the Microbes (IMO) pile, mountain and ocean water, and keeping Protectors (LAB) off fruit. Dana Keawe describes IMO made at 9,000 feet on Mauna Kea for a native-plant nursery and IMO-infused biochar in a native forest restoration.

Found Hugelkultur beds sprayed with natural farming solutions broke down faster

culture health microbes minerals policy protectors

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

Dr. Koon-Hui Wang ·USA (Hawaiʻi) ·34 min

Microbes Need Mulch That Rots: CTAHR's Field Trials

Dr. Koon-Hui Wang, a UH plant pathologist and nematologist, reports on her natural farming field trials in Hawaiʻi since 2010, using soil nematodes as her measure of soil health. Microbes (IMO-4) helped soil tilth and the soil food web on most farms, but yields matched or beat fertilizer only where there was crop residue or a mulch that rots easily; on a long-fallow Maui field with bamboo-leaf mulch and no seedling treatment, the natural farming plots yielded far less. Her conclusion: the Microbes need something to recycle, and they don't replace pest management.

Found Farm 1 soybean: KNF plots darker green, more biomass, higher chlorophyll and leaf nitrogen

cover crops microbes mulch nematodes pests research

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