Today I’m going to speak about Natural Agriculture activities and the movement in Taiwan. The people in Taiwan are very much interested in Natural Agriculture. I think a lot of people in Crestone are somewhat similar to this. That’s why I think you come to the Shumei center and learn about Shumei Natural Agriculture and are doing your own kitchen gardens using the Natural Agriculture method. This seems to be a strong aspect in your way of life or lifestyle.

In 2001, a couple, Mr. and Mrs. Lee began their own farm. I’m not sure if Mr. Lee was born in Japan or Taiwan but he studied in Japan until he was 20 years old. So he also speaks fluent Japanese. After studying in Japan, he became a musician, then eventually went on to become a medical doctor. Later he got married and had a family. He became concerned about his children’s future and their diet and decided to become a farmer. Now two days a week, he is a doctor in a hospital and the rest of the week he works as a farmer. So as farmers, neither of them are very experienced as they are just beginners but they want to share their way of life with people in Taiwan. So when they developed this farm, they knew they could not survive solely by farming. They wanted to use this farm as an educational place and to invite people to come and share the philosophy. They charge visitors a fee to learn about this farming technique. This is one way they are able to survive and sustain the farm.

Mrs. Lee is very good at writing in Chinese. Writing Chinese in Taiwan is very different. It’s like a Taiwan Chinese old version of Chinese writing, just like Shakespeare’s old version of English. That’s why even the normal Japanese person who can speak fluent Chinese has difficulty reading or writing it because they still use the old Chinese format. But Mrs. Lee is very good at writing in this older language and her book was very well accepted by the Chinese audience in Taiwan. Her first book, “My Happy Farm”, was published in May 30th 2005. Already it is in it’s 5th printing and has sold over 7000 copies. This year, in February, she published a new book about food called, “Foods come from Nature”. Already it is in it’s 6th printing and has already sold 6000 copies. So a lot of people become informed about Shumei Natural Agriculture through her books. They also developed a web site in December of 2004 and already there has been 370,000 accesses. Now, on a daily basis, more than 500 people access their web site.

When visitors come to tour their farm, the Lees share with them, the philosophy of chemical free farming, the method of seed saving, respect of nature and learning from nature and the system of repeated cultivation. One of the uniqueness’ of Shumei Natural Agriculture is to grow the same crop in the same location. So that is the practice and philosophy they share. Originally, Mr. and Mrs. Lee organized these tours but they have become so busy that now they have volunteers. About 7 or 8 people come daily to help with the tours.

Mr. Lee does the farming and Mrs. Lee, who is also a very good cook, when the tour finishes, prepares for their visitors traditional Chinese Natural Agriculture meals. Then they speak about agriculture as a lifestyle. Last year one of the Shumei farmers from the Catskills in NY, Kenji Ban, came to visit this farm. He asked the visitors how they found this farm. 38% of 9 people said from Mrs. Lee’s book, 7 people 29% said from the web site, 13% from TV programs, 8% from magazines, 8% from radio and 4% from friends. Not only visitors come but people from TV stations, radio stations and many journalists also come to visit the farm and interview them. Mrs. Lee has especially become very busy sharing the philosophy and Shumei Natural Agriculture that she now travels a lot as well. In the Spring and Autumn they hold a Natural Agriculture session at their farm. They give 8-12 lessons, 1 lesson each week. So if it’s 12 lessons, people attend for 3 months, once every week. For each lesson at least 10-20 people participate. In the Shinchiku area, in Spring and Autumn, they also hold 8-12 lessons, 1 lesson each week with 10 participants each time.

Another series of lectures they also give is called, Citizen’s College. The first session is 12 lessons on the Shumei Natural Agriculture principal and practice with 10 participants. And the 2nd session has 30 participants. They offer a lot of ‘hands on’ experience and sharing of the philosophy. They also offer a series of lectures in different areas where around 30 people attend each lecture. So far they have given lectures 10 times in Taipei, 18 times in Shinzhu, 4 times in Taizhong, 4 times in Zhayi, 1 time in Tainan, 4 times in Gaoziong, 4 times in Taidong and 2 times in Xuanlan. Mrs. Lee constantly travels giving lectures, sharing the philosophy and Jyorei as well as participating in various organic agriculture exhibitions. Mrs. Lee gives more than 100 lectures each year, which equates to at least once every three days, where she speaks about Natural Agriculture throughout Taiwan. It would appear that many people are interested in learning about Natural Agriculture.

Also Mr. Lee, being a musician, gives music concerts at their farm. They organize tours to Japan so people can experience the Shumei Natural Agriculture programs. From 2006 through 2009, 8 groups have already come to Japan. Since Taiwan and Japan are very close in proximity and their cultures and traditions are very similar, Japan receives many tourists from Taiwan. Each time when I arrive at the airport there is always a large number of Taiwanese people either arriving and/or departing. That may be one reason why they are interested in coming to visit Japan.

Each group that comes to Japan visits Misono the Shumei Headquarters, Miho Museum and “Shigaraki no Sato” the Natural Agriculture headquarters where cooking, eating and farming experiences take place. They also visit Kishima Island, where Natural Agriculture has been practiced for more than forty years and where they can learn from that abundant knowledge. They also visit and speak with local Shumei Natural Agriculture farmers. As a result of these tours many people become interested in changing their way of life. International travel is not for everybody. But for some of those whose lives have provided them enough to be able to travel and take an international vacation, this experience as they return home, really helped to change their way of life. Most of them are connected to an IT business where they became very successful and are looking for what’s next. They became interested in working with soil.

Last year in December they finally established a Shumei Natural Agriculture Association in Taiwan. In December of 2008 when the association became organized, the farmer members were 31, the consumer members were 68 and the organizational members were 3, a total of 102. As of April 30, 2009 it grew to 45 farmer members, 99 consumer members and 4 organizational members, a total of 148.

When we asked how these people found the Shumei Natural Agriculture Association, they said, website 48, Mrs. Lee’s books and magazines 32, Shumei members 27, friends 15 and from the tour to Japan 26. In most other cases such as in Japan, Europe and other countries most people usually find out about Shumei Natural Agriculture through Shumei members since it began in the Shumei organization. But in Taiwan’s case, it is very different. People find out through the Lees’ personal experience on Natural Agriculture which they share through the web site, magazines, books and by visiting their farm directly. Then after going through one of these other avenues, people find out and learn about Shumei. Many of these people become interested in Shumei philosophy and go to visit the Shumei Taipei Center. Some become Shumei members and also begin giving Jyorei. So that’s quite unique compared to other situations related to Natural Agriculture.

Through these activities the Lees met a very interesting person and discovered a native variety of pineapple. For a minimum of 55 years this pineapple was grown fertilizer and chemical free. Normally the cultivation of pineapple is grown on flat land but this one is grown and cultivated on mountain slopes and also in a forest eco-system; totally different from the conventional way. They have a very strong reproductive power. Normally in conventional pineapple farming, new plants have to be planted every two years but this native variety never has to be planted since every year they continue to reproduce. All they have to do is pick and thin the pineapples. The most important thing about these pineapples is that they are very tasty. Because of the incredible taste of this pineapple, it has become very popular in Taiwan.

The farmer who learned about this pineapple from his father, wants to make sure that this way of production is continued on. He does not want to use any chemicals or fertilizers. That is why he became interested in Shumei Natural Agriculture. This will allow us to be able to learn from his method as well. Thank you so much.