Japanese Shumei Natural Farming farmer comes to Taiwan to share the heart of a farmer

"For a farmer, leaving your own farmland is harder than leaving your family. Being able to invite a senior figure in Japanese natural farming to Taiwan is a rare opportunity!" Last night (1/23) at the Tianmu Shumei Natural Farming Market, Chen Hui-wen, chairwoman of the Shumei Natural Farming Association, said this to an audience of nearly forty people concerned about farming methods.

This discussion was organized by Chen Hui-wen, who has long promoted Shumei farming in Taiwan. With one arm around her small daughter and a microphone in the other hand, she served as the on-site interpreter, translating the Japanese farmers' experience sharing.

Shumei Natural Farming, which originated in Japan, was proposed by Mokichi Okada in the 1930s as a cultivation method that uses no pesticides, applies no fertilizer, and continuously grows the same crops. This discussion invited four Shumei producers from Japan, and rather than talking much about the technical side of cultivation, they mainly shared their inner journey and shifts in mindset as they practiced Shumei farming.

Devoting Himself to Shumei Farming, Feeling Refreshment and Joy

Kenichi Tamaki from Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture, has six years of experience with Shumei farming and cultivates 0.3 hectares, including rice, soybeans, watermelon, tomatoes, broccoli and other crops. The reason he switched from conventional farming to natural farming was that his wife became ill, which prompted him to take up Shumei farming. When he previously practiced conventional farming, he felt that farming was labor, and he single-mindedly pursued efficiency. But after switching to Shumei farming, he slowed down. Although farm work is still tiring, "there is a feeling of refreshment."

Ms. Kikuya from Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, has only two years of Shumei farming experience, but she is a veteran consumer of natural farming food. Ms. Kikuya's starting point for coming into contact with natural farming was health reasons. She had atopic dermatitis and asthma from childhood, took medicine for years, and when her condition was severe she went to the hospital emergency room every day. This situation prompted her to come into contact with natural farming, and for a long time she ate only natural farming food.

Over the past ten years, Ms. Kikuya's dermatitis and asthma have improved greatly, she no longer needs to rely on medication, and her physical strength has also increased greatly, allowing her to farm in the fields all day. She said: "From running to the hospital every day to being able to farm all day, for me, Shumei farming not only provides safe, reassuring food, it is also a miraculous farming method!" In the past two years, the rice Ms. Kikuya has grown has won praise from many consumers. "Praise from consumers is the greatest joy for a farmer!"

The Original Intention of Practicing Natural Farming Is Heart-to-Heart Connection

Yoshinori Takahashi from Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture, has twenty-one years of experience with Shumei farming. His farm has three work partners and a cultivation area of 10 jia. In addition to crops such as buckwheat, soybeans, wheat and rice, they also make processed products such as soy sauce, buckwheat noodles, natto and jam.

Mr. Takahashi, who has rich experience in natural farming, did not come from a farming family. Before farming, he was an ordinary company employee. He said: "When I first started natural farming, my farming skills could be said to be zero, but I simply wanted to devote myself to it."

The reason that made him determined to devote himself to it was very simple: a bowl of porridge. More than twenty years ago, the infant of one of Mr. Takahashi's friends had severe allergies and could not drink breast milk, vomiting after every feeding. But when the baby ate porridge made from rice grown with natural farming, it never vomited, and grew up relying on the nutrition of this porridge, becoming healthier and healthier. Takahashi said: "This experience made me realize that food is truly too important, so I decided to devote myself to natural farming."

Before practicing Shumei farming, Mr. Takahashi worked at a cigarette company for more than twenty years. He described working in an office as not knowing the weather or daylight of nature at all. "But after I took up farming, although I still get tired, I feel the world is incomparably open, and I can feel heaven and earth and nature. Life has become very enjoyable."

Mr. Takahashi said that he used to see images on television of indigenous people singing to their crops and thought they were strange, but after he actually began farming, he found himself doing similar things. He said: "I place the rice seeds in front of the altar, hoping the seeds will receive blessings."