We usually think of organic agriculture as the goal when we talk about the process of transition and conversion from conventional agriculture.

However, regenerative farming using EM-1®, is the only way to create a truly regenerative organic agriculture environment as envisioned by Robert Rodale, founder of the Rodale Institute, without expensive costs or loss of yield.

Most forms of organic agriculture do not achieve this regenerative state or are able to do so only after several years of costly transition. 

This helps to explain the short-comings of organic agriculture which have provoked so much criticism and resistance on the part of farmers, researchers and policy makers.

The criticisms leveled at organic agriculture as a solution to the world food problem of feeding an ever-expanding population of human beings are based on the perception, right or wrong, that organic agriculture simply is not up to the task of feeding the world. 

Without the use of chemicals and the other tools and techniques of conventional agriculture, it is said, many people would starve. Scientists and farmers point out, for example, that crop yield and quality often go down dramatically when conventional farmers try to convert to organic agriculture. 

Organic farmers and researchers counter that crop yields and quality stabilize at near conventional agriculture levels after a period of four or five years. But that’s too late for most farmers who are only a crop or two away from bankruptcy to begin with. 

Meanwhile, the world food problem grows more precarious every year. While the debate goes on, soil quality, the factor on which all food production depends, is declining dramatically around the world in all of the critical production areas. A world food crisis is inevitable unless we end the debate and move quickly towards sustainable practices that regenerate the means of production, especially with respect to restoring soil quality.

Regenerative farming with EM-1® has demonstrated the ability to solve the short-comings of organic agriculture while providing the necessary tools and strategies for conventional farmers to safely and economically transition to sustainable practices. 

Research has shown that EM-1® and regenerative farming practices are able to provide abundant food supplies equal to or better than the yield by conventional agriculture. 

If this point is taken seriously, then conventional farmers, researchers and policy makers have a new direction to follow in adjusting the world food production system to become environmentally-friendly and sustainable

Relationship of EM Nature Farming to Conventional Agriculture 

Conventional agriculture with its high-tech methods and sophisticated equipment and inputs is the dominant method of food production in the world. Even in developing countries, the use of agricultural chemicals is widespread and dominant. Learn more about microbes and soil structure.

This approach to food production receives the lion’s-share of government support through agricultural programs, research, and training at the universities and so on. Yet, many, even in government and at the universities, are becoming concerned about the question of how sustainable is this approach to food production. Can it be productive over the long term?

Many are expressing doubts and concerns about this issue for a variety of reasons. Topsoil loss is becoming catastrophic in many regions of the world where conventional practices are followed. Chemical contamination of the environment and of the food itself is an issue of increasing public concern. 

The high costs of farming and the low prices of commodities are driving farmers out of business in record numbers. Soon, there may not be enough hands to do the work. In the face of such concerns, how does the EM-1 regenerative nature farming movement relate to conventional agriculture?. 

Improving Yield and Quality, Reducing Costs, Increasing Profitability

Even in the context of conventional agriculture using chemical inputs, EM is demonstrating an ability to improve yield and quality while reducing costs and improving profits. Numerous experiments testing yields using chemical fertilizer with and without EM show that using EM can increase yields significantly above fertilizer alone. (Hussein, et al, 1999) 

This is an interesting result.

What is even more interesting is that many of these experiments also show that using EM with organic fertilizer, such as compost or green manure, results in yields that are equal to chemical fertilizer. This removes one of the barriers to transition from chemical-based agriculture to organic farming on a mass scale, namely, that such a move usually results in yield loss, income reduction and loss of profit.

Research shows that over the long term, EM nature farming can out-yield conventional farming and produce crops of superior quality and nutrition while enhancing, not harming the environment. (Higa, 1995)