What is needed to protect fields from insects?

 

 

 

Here is an example of our creative approach.

 

The damage caused by tea green leafhoppers is devastating to tea plantations and causes disease outbreaks. They are a nuisance to farmers and can drastically reduce yields.

 

Since we could not find a farming method that could cope with the current organic tea farming techniques prevailing in Japan, we conducted a series of researches to solve the problem. Based on successful examples of other crops, we discovered that it is possible to increase effectiveness by managing the soil environment, and we were able to systematize a method for dealing with this problem.

 

Tea green leafhoppers grow in the soil of the tea estates. Therefore, we thought that if we could keep the soil in a condition that inhibited the growth of the young, we would be able to suppress the development of the adults. We adjust our fertilizer formulas according to the growing season of the insects. By doing this, we intentionally change the soil environment in the field.

 

Farming methods that rely on pesticides protect the tea plantation by destroying the ecosystem and eliminating insects. While it may get rid of the ones that cause damage to the plantation, such as the tea green leafhoppers, pesticides can kill insects that cause feeding damage, such as tea leafhoppers, but they also kill other insects and fungi. If the bees that pollinate the seeds also disappear, some parts of the natural cycle come to a halt.

 

Insects eat leaves. In the process, the plants, through the work of other insects and fungi, become humus, which makes the earth fertile and necessary to sustain the forest. Humans, too, are part of nature, living and receiving its blessings.

 

We believe that it is important to be as close to the natural environment as possible and to become a part of the cycle of nature.

 

As we worked on organic farming, I came to feel that living naturally meant being able to receive great power from the natural world without much effort. The effort was not much more than we thought.

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We have a lot of hard work ahead of us, but we will continue to be inventive and strive to increase productivity and quality through sustainable, environmentally friendly methods.