Maoi cover seed
Raymond Epp
Raymond Epp
〒069-1317
Hokkaido Yubari-gun Naganuma-cho East 6 Line North 13,
Menno Village Naganuma
Mission
Maoi Cover Seed supports farmers who are engaged in regenerative agriculture by providing the necessary education for regenerative agriculture and supplying a wide variety of low-cost cover crop seeds, thereby restoring the health of the soil, the health of plants, the health of people, and the livelihoods and economy of local areas.
History
1995-2019
2020-2023
January 2024 - December 2024
He has practiced organic farming and CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) for about 30 years in Meno Village Naganuma, Naganuma Town, Hokkaido, and in 2019, after being given a copy of "Dirt to Soil" (Japanese version of "Tsuchi wo Sodateru" by Gabe Brown) by a friend, he began working on regenerative agriculture on 18 hectares of farmland.
After meeting Keith Burns, co-founder of Green Cover, a cover crop seed company based in Nebraska, USA , she wanted to introduce the regenerative agriculture documentary film "To Which We Belong" (directed by Pamela Tanner Boll) to Japan, and began working with Shinichi Tsuji of the NGO Sloth Club to produce a Japanese version, which will be screened in October 2022. The message that restoring healthy soil can be a solution to climate change, and that healthy soil leads to healthy plants, healthy people, local lives and connections, and economic revitalization, has spread beyond expectations, and the film "To Which We Belong" has been screened in approximately 400 locations and seen by more than 10,000 people. *For more information, please visit Daichi x Kurashi Research Institute
The interview will be featured on the cover of the October 2023 issue of Gendai Nougyou and in a special feature titled "No-Till Agriculture."
In the spring of 2023, he will participate in a workshop in Australia hosted by Nicole Masters, a soil researcher from New Zealand who appears in the film. This prompted him to work on publishing the Japanese version of Nicole Masters' book, "FOR THE LOVE OF SOIL."
The educational project "My Regenerative Journey (MRJ)" will begin in January 2024 with 24 members in its first year, teaching basic knowledge and practice of regenerative agriculture.
In July, MAOI COVER SEED started its business. In August, 13 types of seeds were imported from GREEN COVER, an American cover crop seed company, and in September, MRJ members began growing cover crops in the fall. In November, a practice report meeting was held in Oketo and Bihoro, Hokkaido. With the addition of new MRJ second-term members, in 2025, in addition to practicing regeneration agriculture, the team will also try to produce cover crop seeds, and the journey towards supplying seeds domestically will begin.
