Sensei Alan Imai is the Assistant Director of Shinji Shumeikai of America. He also has responsibility for gathering information about alternative agriculture techniques and for coordinating Shinji Shumeikai’s of America’s Natural Agriculture activities.

In August another group of eight visitors from Japan came to America: Kenzo Matsubayashi Sensei from the Kochi Branch, Head of Natural Agriculture, who was also one of the first visitors' group; Akira Tsuchiya Sensei from the Sendai Branch; Sachio Nishida from the Toyohashi Branch; Kunihiro Hayashida Sensei from the Kagoshima Branch; Mr. Seiji Okada from Misono, who came with Togo Sensei last year; Mr. Mitsuhiro Oketani from Akita; Ms. Misayo Suzuki from the Hamamatsu Branch; and Ms. Takako Nakamura from the Tokyo Branch. Alan Imai, Andy Manishi, Junzo Uyeno and Kenji Ban from the US joined the tour. The main purpose of this trip was to visit the Rodale Institute for further discussion with them about our future as partners and to tour farms, which were also trying to establish and operate a sustainable method of agriculture.

Since I was with them all the time, of course I knew what was going on, but I was concerned that what was happening in the group was too far away for Shumei readers to feel connected and involved. Actually, "agriculture" itself is not a familiar word, especially for those who are living in urban areas. Even for farmers themselves, the image of agriculture has changed greatly in recent years. On this trip we drove down from San Francisco to Los Angeles by US Highway 5 to experience the farming system that is the opposite of Natural Agriculture. In the Central Valley of California, they grow more than one-third of all the fresh vegetables, fruits, and nuts Americans eat. But where are the farmers? Thousands of miles of fields, automatic irrigation systems and the heavy heat, but there was no warmth of people and farmland. It's so different from the farms on the East Coast and, of course, from Japan.

On the way we stayed a night at a ranch inn, where we enjoyed a steak dinner. The next morning we visited the cattle field. There were 10,000 cows in the middle of nowhere. All of a sudden there were cows, cows and more cows. When I approached this area, the smell reminded me of where I was. It was a really shocking experience for everybody. On the other hand, we met some farmers who love nature and working with the soil, people who had been concerned about the sustainability of the land.

Mr. Steve Groff is a young farmer in Pennsylvania. He has been doing the no-till method on his corn and soybean fields for 15 years. Three years ago he started to use this method on vegetables like tomatoes, pumpkins, broccoli and cabbage. He is one of the pioneer farmers of the no-till method in the US He began this method due to his concern about the erosion of the topsoil. He loves working under the sun and being able to work where his family is close to him all the time. He and his wife, Cheri, warmly welcomed us and we had a wonderful conversation with him as farmers who love and care for Nature.

At the Full Belly Farm in Northern California, they are doing CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) with almost 600 shares in the Bay Area. Can you imagine how hard it is to make sure you can provide eight to ten kinds of vegetables every week for 600 hundred families? Andrew (one of the owners) showed us a share, which is in a box. There were two kinds of melons, two kinds of tomatoes, beans and other vegetables. That means they had to have 600 melons of each kind and 1200 tomatoes and other vegetables that week. And they have to continue this every week throughout the whole year, except for a three-week vacation in winter. They said that CSA is only one-third of their sales. They employ about 20 workers full-time and no seasonal workers, which is also marks them as unique among fresh vegetable, flower, fruit and nuts growers. Andrew's wife, Anna, a flower specialist, gave us a tour. She is currently pregnant, and she told us that she feels safe in this totally chemical-free farming environment.

Mr. Bob Cannard in Sonoma, California -- the Japanese group called him an "American Fukuoka" -- (Mr. Yoshinobu Fukuoka is a world famous Japanese farmer with the Natural Farming Method) takes care of weeds the same way as crop vegetables. He said we have to give wholeness to weeds, from seeds, baby plants, adult plants, and on until they produce new seeds. He says that weeds somehow communicate with each other and help the crop vegetables to grow. He kneeled down on the ground, picked a plant up, touched a leaf gently, carefully examined the color and texture of the leaf, smelled it and tasted it. He said if we stretch out onto the ground, we can feel the vibrations from the earth and plants, and we always will be able to know if they are happy or not. He earnestly shared his philosophy with us.

The UCSC (University of California, Santa Cruz) Farm & Garden is a fine institution renowned for helping their apprentice students become future leaders of sustainable gardening society. This 25-acre Farm and two-acre Garden was developed by Mr. Alan Chadwick. We learned he was from England, and had introduced French Intensive and biodynamic systems of food and flower production to America. From this garden, his students have spread across the country with Chadwick-inspired gardens and farms from California to Virginia. When we learned this beautiful Farm used to be a dry, rough, brown, weedy field, such as we could see right in front of the farm, we really felt Mr. Chadwick and his students' fidelity to the spirit of Nature.

In 1940 there were more than six million family farms in America. In the early 1970s, "Get big or get out" was the message from the government, and the big growers swallowed up the family farm operations. Now, the total number of US farm-workers has declined almost seventy percent. Mass production needed huge machines and a lot of chemicals to produce higher and higher yields. In Japan in the 1940s, seventy percent of all workers were farmers. After World War II, the country aimed to become an industrial country, and more and more farmers left the land. An entire generation of would-be farmers lost interest in continuing. Now, can you believe only five percent are farmers? Japan's self-sufficiency in crop production is only 30 percent.

We have visited some farmers and institutions that have the same vision and goals as Shinji Shumeikai. It is obvious that we need to work together with these organizations and individuals. Our partnership project with the Rodale Institute and the project we are working on with the Center for Regenerative Studies at Cal. Poly are wonderful beginnings for us. President John Haberern, Dr. Laurie Drinkwater and Dr. Amadou M. Diop from the Rodale Institute and Dr. Diana Jerkins, Director of CRS at Cal Poly will be visiting Misono in the beginning of December this year.

Mr. Michael Ableman has been an organic farmer for the last twenty-some years and currently runs Fairview Gardens Farm in Goleta, California. In his book "From the Good Earth" he talked about his son and his garden. Michael says that depending on the time of the year, he always knows where to look for his son. In May or June, he is stuffing himself with strawberries or swinging from the branches of the mulberry tree. In July, he is under the peach tree or seeking out the first apricots. In August, he leaves a trail of cornhusks. In October, piles of discarded guava skins give him away, and in November the blood-like stains of pomegranate juice on his face tell Michael exactly where his son has been. Somehow he always knows, out of many trees, where to find the first ripe fruit. The dominant food of each season has marked many of his life passages: weaned on fresh fruit from their trees; he first walked at the peak of orange season; he started school with sliced avocados from his father's garden in his sandwich. At age of eleven, he said to his father, Michael, "Food is the most important thing in life, besides you and Mom."

I have always loved nature and I went to University to study agriculture. I believe that farming is the greatest joy in the world. But I became very disappointed with modern agriculture. My spiritual path had begun with Shinji Shumeikai and Jyorei, and I worked for it for the last twenty-one years. Now, we have begun to expand and deepen our emphasis of Natural Agriculture, and I'm spending a lot of time on this project. It seems as if I've come back to the beginning, but at a much higher spiritual level with Natural Agriculture. I have a two year-old son, Tomoyuki, and I read Michael's book with his son and my son in mind.

Somebody said, "You are what you eat." We have to bring the farms back to our society. With the CSA program, many consumers started to question for the first time where their food is coming from and how it is grown. How can we help the Central Valley of California to restore the natural green? We have to establish a technique and support farmers in changing to a sustainable way of agriculture. We need a support program to help people to begin their own kitchen gardens. We need to start an educational program for children to provide them an understanding of nature and farming. We need to encourage, educate and support young farmers for the next generations. When we have our institution and demonstration farm in the US, this is what we would like to do in cooperation with other organizations and individuals.

Then when you read my reports of agricultural tours, I hope the issues are very familiar to you, too.

FROM SHUMEI MAGAZINE, VOL. 206, OCTOBER, 1997