Teruo Higa spent the last 30 years looking at ways microorganisms can be used as everything from a substitute for chemical fertilizers to an aid to water purification.
The 58-year-old pioneer of Effective Microorganisms technology visited MU this weekend for a two-day conference on the application of EM. Higa is a professor of horticulture at the University of Ryukyus in Okinawa, Japan. [more]
It might look like nothing but a pail of garbage.
But the half dozen 20-gallon rubber buckets stacked in the back room of The Main Squeeze on Ninth Street are considered by some environmentalists to be the future of composting. [more]
Many people preach the salvation of recycling, composting, and simple living, but fewer actually follow through. Matthew Wood is a follow-through kind of guy.
"I used to be one who did a lot of complaining about the way things are, but I was challenged to do something about it," he said. When he was studying at Earth College in Costa Rica, he discovered something that had the potential to make a difference. [more]
Matthew Wood was walking his dog across the Frances Quadrangle to do some studying when he saw a small yellow flag stuck in the grass. A man wearing a full-body protective suit, gloves and mask was spraying a pesticide on the lawn. Nearby, students walked, sat and played in the sun, not noticing the skull and crossbones displayed on the flag. [more]
The pickleworm's days might be numbered.
A new technology slowly being introduced to Missouri has the potential to wipe out the agricultural pest naturally without harming other beneficial insects.
The technology is known as effective microorganisms, or EM. It is all-natural, consisting of microorganisms similar to those used in processing yogurt, cheese and wine. EM technology claims to control odors from livestock waste, improve the quality of soils and reduce the need for chemical fertilizers and pesticides. [more]
Effective microorganism technology could make its way to Missouri.
People may turn up their noses at bacteria, but not for long.
Bacteria is one component of a new technology that may take some of the stink out of hog farms. And an MU student may bring the technology from Asia to mid-Missouri.
Matthew Wood, a senior soil science major, spent his junior year in Costa Rica studying fungi and bacteria that make an agricultural tool called effective microorganism technology. Wood presented his findings to researchers in Thailand at the Fifth International Conference on Kyusei Nature Farming. [more]
Effective microorganisms referred to as EM, is arguably Okinawa’s most significant discovery in horticulture chemistry. Described as liquid matter composed of selected species of microorganisms, the EM is a solution with impressive agricultural, environmental and medical applications. EM is used in farming to enrich soil, enhance plant growth and take the place of pesticides, toxic chemicals and artificial fertilizers. This miracle solution is also a front-runner in recent save the planet technology, with its significant role in decomposition during the recycling process and the water purification process. [more]
It was most valuable to see firsthand the infrastructure necessary to use EM on 1.5 million hectares of crop production (current amount as of 2000). [more]
