Did you know, over 1 billion pounds of pesticides are used in the United States, every year? These pesticides have a harmful consequence to the individuals working with them, soil health, the ecosystem, and the food we put in our bodies. If you’re looking for a more organic style of farming that doesn’t have any negative consequences, such as reduced yield and reduced quality, nature farming is a real alternative that encourages us to mimic nature.
Nature farming is about more than just eliminating toxins and unwanted pesticides from the food we eat. It’s about providing nature with the needed essentials to create an ecosystem where food, soil, plants, and humans can thrive.
If you’re someone looking to eliminate some of the chemicals and commit to an organic farming technique, with true commercial performance, nature farming may be the solution for you.
Let's take a closer look:
What is nature farming?
Nature farming is all about taking an environmental approach to agriculture and allowing nature to drive its course. This farming approach involves no pesticides and no fertilizers. It was originally named “fertilizer-free cultivation” since the process didn’t rely on any of the commercially used fertilizers that are commonly found in farming today. However, it was soon changed to show that it aligns with a conceptual theory that is larger than avoiding fertilizers and pesticides.
The concept of nature farming is an ideal style of agriculture derived from Mokichi Okada’s philosophy. He believed that we should allow the elements of the ecosystem to work together without the outside influences of fertilizers and pesticides. This means the primary factors are: sunlight, water, soil, animals, plants, and microorganisms. Together, the elements can work to produce a healthier, more nutritious living condition for your food and plants and allow for a chemical-free farming.
Nature farming also focuses on the power of soil and how soil has life-sustaining properties that are often disrupted. Providing optimal soil health is essential to our wellbeing and that of the plants and food around us and can have long-lasting positive benefits.
Instead of disrupting the naturally powerful qualities of soil with human-made disruptants, we need to encourage growth and allow nature to take its course.
Benefits of nature farming
Nature farming is about committing to an organic agriculture change and promoting the natural power of soil health. It’s about harmonizing with nature and allowing the ecosystem to take care of and prepare your growing environment, rather than relying on synthetic fertilizers or unwanted chemicals.
Let's take a closer look at some of the unique benefits of committing to this healthier, more sustainable, high performance approach to farming.
Reduce chemicals and pesticides
Chemicals and pesticides not only harm the food we eat or put into our bodies: but the world around us. When too many toxins are in our soils, our soil isn’t able to grow a natural tolerance to diseases and unwanted pests which can directly impact humanity, climate change, soil health, and the water supply.
Produce safe and nutritious food
This type of ideal agricultural practice promotes higher quality food for everyone. With the elimination of pesticides and chemicals from the foods we eat, we can maintain production and quality while increasing human health and ingest safer, healthier foods altogether.
Encourages biodiversity
Biodiversity is essential to a thriving, healthy ecosystem. It helps your farming and soil stay resilient against outside effects. When you allow your soil to run nature's course and grow a tolerance against the negative effects of the outside world, your soil will slowly grow stronger and more nutrient-filled over time.
Positive effects on water
Nature farming adds extra emphasis on creating and building sustainable, healthy soil and mulch for plants to thrive in. However, with this style of farming, less is more. As the soil grows more sustainable over time, the process requires less irrigation and less water. Nature farming also helps preserve water health and reduce toxic or chemical-filled water runoff from affecting our water supply or the ocean.
Making the change towards nature farming can have positive benefits for generations to come.
Offset soil health erosion
The continuous use of unwanted pesticides and chemicals can have a long-lasting, damaging effect on the soil that your plants and food are growing in. Nature farming allows your soil to thrive and build itself on its own, creating healthier soil over time. When your soil isn’t being treated with daily unwanted chemicals, it can house more helpful bacteria and add more nutrients back into your garden. In fact, it is said that one teaspoon of healthy, nutrient-filled soil
houses more microorganisms than there are people on earth.
What is EM®?
EM® is an acronym that stands for “Effective Microorganisms®”. EM® is a brand name that refers to a family of microbial-based products that use a technology developed by a Japanese scientist named Dr. Teruo Higa.
EM® can help promote flowering, fruiting, and the ripening of crops. It works with nature farming to protect and improve the environment, provide zero toxicity, and create a low-cost, sustainable farming option for all.
It can be used to improve the efficiency of the organic matter that is being used as your natural fertilizers when you start to eliminate commercial fertilizers. EM® has proven to suppress pathogens and pests that are borne in the soil and help your plants develop a natural resistance to diseases.
EM® is essentially a blend of beneficial and naturally occurring microorganisms. This unique blend helps natural processes within organic ecosystems function better. Overall, it can help reduce the cost of farming over time. The more you use EM® to sustain your crops the less you need because it will begin to self propagate and work with the natural elements in the ecosystem. This results in a higher quantum of organic soil matter and higher profits for farmers.
Overall, it can be used to provide you with optimal, organic results
How you can use EM-1 to support your nature farming
EM-1 is powered by EM® Technology that works to create nutrient-rich soil. It is a liquid combination of yeasts, actinomycetes, and two kinds of bacteria called photosynthetic and lactic. Together, they work to promote plant health and improve nutrient absorption and soil health. EM-1 Microbial Inoculant is certified organic production under the USDA National Organic Program and can provide you with healthy plants, trees, and vegetables.
Our EM-1 Compost Activator is a liquid concentrate of a spectrum of beneficial bacteria. The microorganisms work together to convert organic material into nutrient-filled food for your plants and increase needed microbial activity.
For soil that needs Bioremediation, our EM-1 Waste Treatment can treat contaminated soil and get you back to optimal soil health.
If you're looking to fully commit to eliminating toxins from your everyday life outside of your farming, you can also use EM-1 for other things around the house. Our EM-1 Waste Treatment is designed to treat wastewater and foul-smelling odors. Which can improve water quality without the use of toxic chemicals.
If you’re ready to start your journey towards a more organic farming lifestyle, EM-1 is a great place to start.
Wrapping up: Nature farming
Natural farming can be a wonderful, organic solution to traditional farming that allows you to eliminate chemicals and encourages the natural process of nature to work together. What natural farming has taught us about agriculture is that sometimes, less is more when it comes to nature. The world around us has everything it needs to provide nutrients, without the use of fertilizers. We can allow nature to take its course and provide it with the essentials needed to organically produce, by doing less.
If you are looking to make the switch to a more organic farming solution, we highly recommend adding EM-1 into your gardening routine. The efficient microorganisms will help your plants grow healthy and reduce the risk of unwanted diseases and pests.
Nature farming is a process. The longer you are living a more organic farming lifestyle, the richer and stronger your soil can get and the less EM-1 you’ll need.