Back Dr. H. L. Xu
Director, International Nature Farming Research Center, Atami, Japan
Chairman Sir Peter Elworthy, Mr. Jim Anderton, The Deputy Prime Minister
of New Zealand, Dr.T Kawashima, Senior Managing Director of the International
Nature Farming Research Center, Atami, Japan, Professor Dr.Teruo Higa Chairman
of the Conference, Ms.Liz Clay, World Board Member of the International
Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements, Mr. Segar Mason, the Chief
Executive Officer, Bio-Gro, New Zealand, Mr.T Chamberlain of the New Zealand
Nature Farming Society, Distinguished Guests and participants of the 7th
International Conference on Kyusei Nature Farming.
Konnichiwa
It is with immense happiness that I present this address at the end of
the opening session of this conference, on behalf of the sponsors, to express
a few words of gratitude to all those who made this a reality.
We have with us today, the Right Honorable Jim Anderton, Deputy Prime Minister
of New Zealand, who has taken time amidst his duties to attend this opening
session. You have been the most distinguished guest attending the opening
of our series of International Conferences, which is a highlight indeed.
We thank you sir for being with us today and hope that you will follow
up the activities of this conference presented to the people of New Zealand.
We also have with us Ms.Liz Clay the World Board Member of the International
Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements. We thank you for being here
today, at very short notice to represent IFOAM. The Vice President of IFOAM
was to be with us but ill health prevented her from being here and we thank
you Ms.Clay for accepting the invitation.
We have with us Sir Peter Elworthy, a person who has supported the cause
of agriculture in New Zealand. I do not know whether you flew upto Christchurch
in your Tiger Moth with Lady Fiona, but we thank you sir for chairing this
session and being associated with the planning of this conference. We express
thanks to Mr.Segar Mason, of Bio-Gro New Zealand and Dr.Morgan Williams,
the Commissioner for the Environment for being here. Your presence adds
strength to us and gives us encouragement.
A conference becomes successful due to its participants. Many eminent scientists
have accepted our invitation to be guest speakers. The call for contributions
brought us a flood of abstracts and papers - over 150, of which about 35
will be oral presentations and 75 posters. We thank you all for this interest
and for being here with us to share this information. This is the success
and we of the sponsoring organization are happy that the message of Kyusei
Nature Farming and EM Technology is spreading. This is the mandate of the
International Nature Farming Research Center.
The organization of a conference brings about many problems. The decision
to hold the last of the series of International Conferences on Kyusei Nature
Farming in Christchurch was made sometime last year. Thereafter, the New
Zealand Nature Farming Society, which was supported by our organization
at the initial stages accepted the challenge, in conjunction with the Asia
Pacific Natural Agriculture Network of Thailand, which also partially supported
by us. This coexistence and cooperation between two organizations located
over a distance of 14 hours of flying time worked exceptionally well, like
Kyusei Nature Farming and EM Technology or the microbes in solutions of
Effective Microorganisms, to make this conference a reality and a success.
Thus I do thank all involved both in New Zealand and Thailand. However,
a word of special mention is required to the young staff of the network
in Thailand, supported by Professor Dr.Teruo Higa, its President, and Rev.
Kazuo Wakugami and his staff of the Sekai Kyusei Kyo of Thailand, and the
committee of the New Zealand Nature Farming Society. These people made
this a reality and we thank you. You all have done a very good job.
The theme of this conference is Kyusei Nature Farming for the 21st Century.
The words spoken by Professor Dr.Higa and Rev. Setsunori Shinoda have given
an insight to the scope of this system of farming. The best is yet to be
presented with keynote presentations, videos, oral presentations and posters.
I do wish to state that this conference will show you all and the world
that the theme adopted is realistic. It will be shown that Kyusei Nature
Farming and EM Technology can solve most problems facing the agriculture
and that it is a true method for the 21st century. Hence please do participate
actively, share your experiences.
In closing, I do thank all of you here today, and all those who made this
possible. The distinguished guests, the participants, the organizers and
those who provided these exceptional facilities - I do say thank you on
behalf of the International Nature Farming Research Center. I request you
all to learn or improve your existing knowledge on Kyusei Nature Farming
and EM technology. These will surely help you develop a better life and
environment for yourselves and the future generations.
Thank you..