Japanese-Kansas Exchange

Jeffrey R. Severin, Director of the KU Center for Sustainability wrote the following article for The Oread, the faculty/staff newspaper of the University of Kansas. The article mentions the June 29, 2009, visit by Japanese organic farmers to the Okanis Garden at Prairie Moon Waldorf School.

July 13, 2009
Sustainability spotlight
US-Japanese exchange focuses on organic agriculture

Local and organic food systems were in the spotlight last month as a 10-member Japanese delegation of organic farmers and sustainability activists visited the Lawrence area. The delegation was here as part of Global Partners for Local Organic Foods, an exchange project with a mission to address the decline of rural communities and local food production and establish closer personal relationships between food producers and consumers. The project brings together the Japanese delegation with a similar team from Lawrence.

Patricia Graham, Research Associate with the Center for East Asian Studies, conceived the project and co-directs the program with Kansas Rural Center Director Dan Nagengast.

“The goal is to get more people interested in locally produced organic food,” she said, “and to realize that the local organic food industry is a viable professional career path. We want more organic growers, we want more restaurants to use local organic food, and we want more grocery stores to carry local organic products.”

As part of that effort, the Japanese delegation visited organic farms in Lawrence and gardens at the Prairie Moon Waldorf School; toured Central Soyfoods, a local organic tofu producer, and the Bowersock hydro-power plant; and put on a cooking demonstration at the Lawrence Farmer’s Market. At a stop at Johnson County Community College, they learned about that college's sustainable agriculture program, campus-wide sustainability initiative, and the JCCC food service program that uses vegetables grown by students at the Kansas State University's Horticulture Center. On a trip to the Flint Hills they saw a rain water collection system, a passive solar installation, and wind turbines. The group also dined at organic restaurants in Lawrence and Kansas City and presented information at a public forum at the Lawrence Union Pacific Depot.

The tour was the second half of an exchange with team members in Lawrence. The Kansas delegation traveled to Japan in May where they learned about traditional farmhouse preservation, toured organic farms, and spent time in a community that has a strong focus on organic farming. The group saw many examples of sustainability in the food system including farmer training programs, a school lunch program that uses locally grown organic food, businesses that partner with farms to incorporate organic produce, and the conversion of food waste into biogas and liquid fertilizers.

The Kansas delegation also visited urban farms in Tokyo, which tied into the research interests of Lawrence team member and Eric Rath, associate professor of history. Rath is currently completing two books about Japanese food.

“The strength of this project was regular folk beyond just academics. The project included farmers, people involved in organic agriculture and urban farming at various levels, agricultural extension agents, restauranteurs, the Kansas Rural Center and others. These people have the potential to make real changes beyond just sharing ideas, and it was exciting to work with them,” Rath said.

The idea for the project grew out of a program Graham was involved with at KU from 2002-2006. Through the Kansas Asia Scholars Japan Program, Graham took students from KU to study sustainability in Japan. The program highlighted cultural and natural resources of Japan and included meetings with the nonprofit organization Japan For Sustainability. KU students presented information on aspects of sustainability at KU, in Lawrence, and across the United States and learned about sustainability from their Japanese counterparts.

Global Partners for Local Organic Foods is funded through a grant from the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership. Supplemental funding for Kansas projects and the group's Web site came from the Elizabeth Schultz Environmental Fund of the Douglas County Community Foundation, established by KU emeritus professor Elizabeth Schultz. For more information about Global Partners for Local Organic Foods, visit www.gplof.org.�