Posted on: Monday, April 22, 2002

Chemical-free crops raise hope

By Will Hoover
Advertiser North Shore Writer

Three years ago students at Waialua High became involved in a three-year test program that could affect how food is grown in Hawai'i in the future:

Naturally — without pesticides or fertilizers.

"This is probably the future of farming," said Ivan Kawamoto with MOA, the international nonprofit organization that pioneered the crop rotation methods being used. "It will have to be considered to protect the environment."

The Natural Farming System Project is assisted by the University of Hawai'i College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, and is designed to adapt natural farming methods to subtropical conditions.

Growers and interested parties are invited to a field day Thursday from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. to check out the results.

More than 1,000 Waialua High students participated in the demonstration garden. Not only did they prove that natural methods could be adapted, but they got a lesson in the practical application of the concept.

Last year, students grew more than a half-ton of radishes, squash, lettuce, eggplant and cabbage on the quarter-acre test plot. The produce was sold to teachers at the school, and the money was used to purchase new textbooks.

Kawamoto, who was project adviser for MOA, said Waialua was chosen for the project because the area has traditionally been agricultural and because teachers at the school expressed interest.

Noel Kawachi, a former school agriculture teacher who returned to head up the project, said at first he had a hard time implementing the plan.

"It's a learning process for me, too," he said. "In the old days we just used Roundup weed killer like crazy. With fertilizers I used to grow corn 6 to 8 feet high. And the first crop I planted here was about 3 or 4 feet and had hardly any ears."

But Kawachi said once he and his students got the hang of weed, disease and nutrient control through the detailed system of crop rotation, the yields were comparable to crops grown with fertilizers and pesticides.

"I'm sold on it now because I see how safe it is," he said. "I'd bring in a couple of bottles of salad dressing and say to the kids, 'OK, go out and make your own salad.' And all they had to do was wash off the dirt, and it's ready to eat."

Kawachi said the process is considerably more labor intensive than the old methods. As such, crops grown this way will cost more. However, he said he believes the savings such methods will bring to the environment cannot be measured.

The project ends in December. Kawachi said the school hasn't decided whether to extend it. But Kawamoto said the school's plot is now MOA certified, so the school might consider continuing the natural farming project on its own.