Elementary School to 3:6 Rice: How Cho Found Natural Farming

Where did Cho's natural farming come from, in his own telling?

Late Thursday afternoon, Cho standing in front of the world map with Kim Chang interpreting. No slides; nothing legible on the flip chart until he writes 3章6節 (Chapter 3, Verse 6) near the end. This is his life story and his faith, told in his own order; a few dates in it don't match his books (see cho_check).

1. Cho went only as far as elementary school, then worked in 4-H as a young man

   4-H's basic ideals, in Cho's Korean: 지덕노체, knowledge, virtue, labor, body. The room worked out head, heart, hands, health. The interpreter says he led 4-H in Gyeonggi-do; Cho's Korean there is unclear.

   ▶ 2:58:50 As spoken

2. After the Korean War brought in livestock from America, Gyeonggi Province opened a livestock technology training center

   Entry needed a university degree or the local government head's recommendation. Cho had neither; the governor called him in and gave him his own recommendation.

   ▶ 3:00:46 As spoken

3. The entrance exam was 90 applicants to 1 place, and Cho passed at the top

   ▶ 3:02:52 As spoken

4. The course was six months; the top graduates got a veterinarian's license, and Cho also got an artificial-insemination license

   The interpreter's line was heard as '26-month trainee'.

   ▶ 3:03:40 As spoken

5. A doctor's job is to keep disease from happening, not to cure it, so Cho quit veterinary work

   He went looking for a way of farming in which disease doesn't happen.

   ▶ 3:04:56 As spoken

6. Cho went to Japan at the Japanese government's invitation, taught himself Japanese, and became a visiting professor at four Japanese universities

   He lectured on natural farming. The interpreter called it a scholarship. Later he became an expert of the Asian Productivity Organization (APO) and spread natural farming across Asia.

   ▶ 3:07:02 As spoken

7. Feeling he had to study, he entered high school at 26 by a qualifying exam; his homeroom teacher was younger than him

   'Age 26' comes from the interpreter. Then came Korea's May 16 (1961) revolution, which he joined; his role ('represent farmer', 'congressman') is only in the interpreter's English.

   ▶ 3:09:06 As spoken

8. He really learned natural farming in Japan, after high school, from three teachers

   Yamagishi Miyozo (taught him a great deal), Shibada Genshi (enzyme fermentation), Ōinoue Yasushi (bred the Kyoho grape).

   ▶ 3:11:17 As spoken

9. Ōinoue Yasushi was the first person on earth to create the nutritive cycle

   Cho says he'll explain it tomorrow (Friday).

   ▶ 3:13:04 As spoken

10. His greatest teacher was Jesus; more than 95% of what led him to natural farming he found in the Bible

    Key verses: 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (your body is God's temple, keep it well) and 3:6-7.

    ▶ 3:13:37 As spoken

11. 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 is the growing method of natural farming: I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth

    The farmer plants and waters; the growing isn't the farmer's doing.

    ▶ 3:16:27 As spoken

12. His group grew rice on 8 million pyeong

    800만 평 is about 2,645 ha, about 6,500 acres. The interpreter said 8,000 acres.

    ▶ 3:17:55 As spoken

13. He named the rice '3:6' after 1 Corinthians 3:6, and it sold out

    Many wanted the name. A kimchi maker asked for it; Cho said no until he went to church.

    ▶ 3:19:38 As spoken

14. Cho spreads natural farming as mission work

    Then Tanzania: a roofless Anglican church whose priest wouldn't take money for a roof, until Cho left it with him. Lesson: don't refuse grace; receive it with thanks.

    ▶ 3:22:08 As spoken