유영훈Leader of the Paldang Farmers in 두물머리 is running for Green Party election!

My good friend Mr. Young-Hun Yu (유영훈), the leader of the Paldang Organic farmers and activists in Dulmulmoeri (두물머리), is running for the election for the launch of the Green Party in South Korea.  - Word on the street in Seoul is that people are strongly supporting him. He is a strong activist for Organic farmers and says he vows to spread sustainable organic agriculture in South Korea.  

Mr. Young-Hun Yu (유영훈) talking about fighting the Korean Government in Support of Organic farmers.

Mr. Young-Hun Yu (유영훈) protesting in Dulmulmoeri (두물머리) to save the Organic farmers of Paldang. 

Thanks are due to both the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and the Korean Federation of Sustainable Agriculture (KFSA) for supporting the Paldang farmers throughout the planning of the IFOAM GA and OWC. - This cost the KFSA its budget this year and for a while it was looking like it might cost IFOAM the Korean Government support.   

It looks like things are turning around in South Korea. - We can all look forward to visiting an Organic South Korea soon. 

Organic in Seoul Korea

Just arrived in Seoul, Korea and now live at the Green Scent Farm, a peri-urban organic farm with vegetable production and farm exposure programs for children and consumers from Seoul.

On my first night on the farm I was treated to a large traditional Korean barbecue with the whole family. Complete with a few different species of native plants and some heavy Korean schnapps.

I am here working for the Korean Federation of Sustainable Agriculture Organizations (KFSA) one of the many organizers of the IFOAM Organic World Congress (IFOAM OWC).

The IFOAM OWC (titled: 'Organic is Life') will take place in Gyeonggi Paldang in early October. The organizers are several government institutes and non-profit organizations.

The event will also be the 3rd Scientific Conference of the International Society of Organic Agriculture Research (ISOFAR) looking at the development of the Organic Sector in Korea and other Asian countries.

For now I am working on getting rid of my jet-lag and getting into the swing of life in Seoul.

For balance, here is a Poem from Wendell Berry's Farming: A Handbook

The Man Born to Farming

The Grower of Trees, the gardener,

the man born to farming,

whose hands reach into the ground and sprout to him the soil is a divine drug.

He enters into death yearly, and comes back rejoicing.

He has seen the light lie down in the dung heap, and rise again in the corn.

His thought passes along the row ends like a mole.

What miraculous seed has he swallowed

That the unending sentence of his love flows out of his mouth

Like a vine clinging in the sunlight, and like water

Descending in the dark.