Others

INFRC offers various programs for those who are interested in Nature Farming.  Among them are field tours for individuals and groups and training programs for those who intend to acquire the knowledge and techniques of Nature Farming.  We also breed various crops in Nature Farming and sell seeds of developed cultivars as Nature Farming seeds (only in Japan).  In addition, we operate an organic farming certification system in Japan approved by the Japanese government for helping organic farmers and promoting organic farming in Japan.

Field Tours

Field tours are available at the following sites.

Note: Currently, all our field tours are given only in Japanese, and we cannot arrange interpreters for participants from overseas.

Agricultural Research Station (Matsumoto, Nagano Pref.)

The Agricultural Research Station of INFRC was opened in 1990 as the base of research and development in Nature Farming together with our headquarters. The station has 80 a of paddy fields and 300 a of crop and breeding fields for research, crop breeding, seed production, training and field tours.

Chita-Kusagi Farm (Agui-cho, Aichi Pref.)

The Chita-Kusagi Farm was established in 2011 in the central area of the Chita Peninsula as the base for spreading Nature Farming technologies. The farm has a field area of about 1.75 ha for testing, proving and demonstrating research achievements and bred cultivars in Nature Farming.

Training Programs

1. Regular training program

8 to 12-month training to learn the knowledge and practical techniques of Nature Farming through crop cultivation, as well as methods of scientific approach to understand the lives of crops and nature in farmland for utilizing the power of nature.

2. Short training program

1 to 3-month training for those who hope to learn specific farming practices and methods in Nature Farming.

3. Research exchange program

This is a training program for employees and researchers sent by public organizations or research institutions. The content of the program is determined upon discussing with the corresponding organization.

For inquiry about training programs, contact us through the Contact Us page.

† Currently, the above programs are given only in Japanese. We will make an announcement when programs in English become available. It should be noted that we cannot make any arrangements for visas for participants from overseas.

Nature Farming Seeds

There are various technological innovations in the field of agriculture for building sustainable society. As part of the innovations, many new seed varieties have been developed in Japan.
These new varieties are often characterized by disease resistance and better crop yields. They are, however, basically developed for conventional farming and not for organic farming.

Organic farmers prefer seeds with organic certification or native varieties to protect local crop varieties. In-house seed production is an important skill to preserve native varieties. Many today’s farmers, however, do not have the knowledge of in-house seed production at their own farms.
You can buy seeds of local varieties in the market. Most of such seeds, however, are produced overseas to save production costs. Today it is very difficult to find organic seeds produced in Japan. Particularly, vegetable seeds made for organic farming is difficult to obtain. In addition, there is less information on organic cultivation technologies, compared to conventional farming. This is why organic farming has not spread much in Japan. To overturn this situation, we have developed new cultivars that can grow well with minimum fertilization and provide their seeds to organic farmers.

Seeds of our original cultivars are available for pumpkin, cucumber, tomato, eggplant, pepper, water melon, carrot, lettuce, beans, sweet corns, turnip, daikon, rice and other grains.

The seeds are sold at a special website, which is available only in Japanese for shipping within Japan only.