A Natural Farming System For Sustainable Agriculture In the Tropics (English)
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2005-01-20 This helpful book has been provided free of charge by the Aloha House to the wider network. ECHO Asia believes that these resources are well researched and useful to the majority of ECHO Asia network members. For more information, please contact Keith Mikkelson, the author....
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2005-01-20 When you live in the developing world, you start to see things differently. I started visiting this country on short-term visits with Christian groups in 1995. I surveyed the rural areas and worked with people who were trying to make a difference with the knowledge they had. It’s hard to ignore...
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2005-01-20 The Current Model for agriculture started out with the best of intentions. Produce more food for a growing population while shifting the work force to more valuable sectors like industry, manufacturing and high-tech jobs. Attempts were made to help the developing nations tool up to produce more...
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2005-01-20 In our seminars we teach the fundamentals of Sustainable Agriculture. Some call it Organic Farming, some Nature Farming, others Natural Farming. There are subtleties that canmake them a little different, but the commitment is to safe, quality food production without chemical inputs. If we feed...
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2005-01-20 There are billions of microbes in a handful of soil. 90% of these microbes are neutral; they don’t affect the soil toward disease or health when left on their own. However, according to Dr. Higa, in abused or diseased-chemical based soils, 5 to 10% of the overall colony is pathogenic made up of...
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2005-01-20 It’s time for some hands on farming. This step makes inoculation affordable to the masses. We will grow some microbes. We call this EM Extended. We will make a concoction that used to take me 27 man-hours to make and weeks to watch and monitor while propagating. I had to grow each organism...
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2005-01-20 EM Extended is now ready to use as a diluted solution. It’s part of the Big Solution. If you feed the soil and manage it according to the 10 Fundamentals you will see tangible results. We will discuss these fundamentals in the following chapters. Let’s go over the basic application procedure for...
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2005-01-20 We gardeners, farmers and food growers are always looking for new technology, but a large body of information is already available to us. When I scan resources from A to Z, I find many interesting titles that are widely published and now available from Amazon books, Acres USA, ATTRA and various...
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2005-01-20 Proper crop rotation is Fundamental #1. It will beat the disease and pest cycle while promoting nutrient cycling. This is a forgotten age-old method to assure the health of future crops. It is of the utmost importance to minimize nutrient loss for long-range success. When the same plant is...
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2005-01-20 Legume usage is Fundamental #2. It helps nitrogen fixation. Rotate a legume through every year to add free nitrogen to your system. This is one of the biggest expenses in chemical based agriculture and can be minimized and even replaced by biological practices. Bacteria help the farmer by adding...
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2005-01-20 Companion planting is Fundamental #3. It is also called inter cropping. These crops are used for insect control, to make wind blocks, and they promote soil conservation. When harvested, they are used for compost and feed for livestock. Companion plants also create a desirable mulch and green...
- 2005-01-20 Composting is Fundamental #4. Compost will build up organic matter and create humus for your soil. The finished product of decomposition is called compost. Composting is a controlled process in which we capture a high percentage of nutrients from our crop residue and return it back to the soil in...
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2005-01-20 Green fertilizer is Fundamental #5. It feeds the next crop efficiently. As you plow crop residue into the soil it will eventually become humus and fertilizer for following crops. It is a form of composting, in which materials do not need to be transported to a mixing/composting site. You could...
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2005-01-20 Mulching is Fundamental #6. It will conserve topsoil and moisture, as well as provide fertilizer. When straw or crop residue covers the topsoil, it holds it in place while stopping raindrops from compacting soil. Areas with heavy rain require more plowing. It also slows down rain run off so that...
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2005-01-20 Cover cropping is Fundamental #7. It is the technique of growing plants that protect the soil to conserve topsoil and moisture. It can be considered a living mulch. Under sowing legumes below existing crops and other companion plants will work well. You get all the advantages of mulching; soil...
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2005-01-20 Minimal Tillage is Fundamental #8. It will preserve soil life and structure, save labor and increase profits. The soil food web is disturbed when continual plowing is practiced. The hoofs of the carabao (water buffalo) or tractor compact the soil while the plow causes disruption in microorganism...
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2005-01-20 Insect habitat is Fundamental #9. Insects populate and bring stability to your system if you allow the predators and beneficial species a place to live. Plant insect habitat for beneficial species and bait crops for the bad guys. Many pest problems can be minimized with habitat that promotes...
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2005-01-20 The best way to finish off your dream farm or garden is to balance it with a small livestock unit. Animal integration is Fundamental #10. It will create a low cost high quality fertilizer source as well as produce food to eat. Livestock properly managed will bring the tropical farmer higher...
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2005-01-20 Unused resources are called waste. If you use the waste in your compost, you turn it into fertilizer. It’s no longer waste, right? There’s no longer any need to have organic waste filling our landfill. We can use all of it in our system. For our purposes the opposite of waste would be useful....
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2005-01-20 Plans should be drawn up before any effort is wasted. Think through your traffic routes and flow of materials. Integrate your resource recovery plan in this process. Set your goals and lay down the steps that you think are needed as you see it now. Write it down; it will be a flexible starting...
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2005-01-20 The real hands on school of success is to intern with a working farm. Then you can learn first hand from experience. You will appreciate the land, soil and even the process of efficient food production more.
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2005-01-20 Sloping Agricultural Land Technology (SALT) has made steep worthless lands usable. This is a practice valuable to the tribal community. They are learning to stabilize topsoil with the proper selection of species. They can maintain their ancestral lands without having to destroy them through...
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2005-01-20 Bokashi is the Japanese word for fermented plant matter. There are thousands of types of bokashi for you to make and explore. Once you learn the fundamentals of bokashi production you will find many creative ways to capture seemingly worthless organic materials and turn them into a powerhouse of...
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2005-01-20 With all the instant gratification available to the consumer these days, nature seems to take a long time. Stabilizing your soil, pasture and livestock areas don’t happen over night. Nevertheless, Microbial Management with foliar sprays and fertilizers can help in the transition.
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2005-01-20 Soil conditions can improve rapidly when the right ingredients are added. You have to learn what to add. The quantities in nutrients run a range of effectiveness from a maximum to a minimum. It’s equally important to know how to add your amendments. Lime, Ash and Carbonized Rice Hull (uling) all...
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2005-01-20 In our training seminars, every student gets a bottle of EME. We teach them by making it in class. They also are trained on how to use their bag of five different soil amendments. This encourages students to use them in the project that they have already started. Some students are just starting...
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2005-01-20 The rice industry in the Philippines has gone through various challenges and will benefit from EM technologies. Growing, harvesting and processing rice creates high volumes of waste that can be captured and converted back into fertilizer for the next crop. It is important to understand the...
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2005-01-20 Miscellaneous info on Aloha House
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2005-01-20 Tables, Figures, Glossary