I am glad to see you. I am chairman of one of Korea’s biggest organic farmers’ group. To adopt a vegetarian diet, I think an essential step is to avoid pesticide and chemical fertilizer. I hope to see organic farming and the vegetarian diet boom in Korea. If it happens, I suppose I will have to work more. How does organic farming contribute to global warming? What mindset should organic farmers work with and what products should consumers have? Organic farming produces a less bountiful harvest. Could you say a few words about the government supporting the crop yield reduction or consumers’ role? Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you for your question, Mr. Lee. Actually, it has been found that a large scale change to organic farming could feed the world. Research in Denmark and elsewhere has shown larger yields from organic farming on land that was previously underutilized. The producing of less harvests that you mentioned may be from fields that were previously cultivated with chemical pesticides and fertilizers, or trampled by livestock for a prolonged period of time.

These can show a drop in crop yields when switching to organic farming, but that is only initially because the yields are shown to increase again over time. In fact, the large yields produced by conventional farming are taken at the expense of the soil, of our health, and of the environment. And these enormous single crops, such as soy, are mostly produced to feed animals for meat production, not for humans’ consumption.

In Africa, the United Nations Environment Program did a study in which they found crop yields were doubled when the small farmers used organic farming methods. In this case, since the organic practices such as composting and rotating crops improve the soil – make it healthier – instead of buying fertilizers and pesticides, the organic farmers can use their money to buy better seeds. I have said before that governments should also subsidize organic farmers until there is enough volume of demand to naturally sustain good yields. Another research in the US found that organic farming methods could be used to triple farm yields.

One of the main factors in enabling the high yields was that the farmers were planting legumes, like beans or soya beans, as cover crops between growing seasons, which fixed enough natural nitrogen in the soil to ensure high crop yields. In terms of global warming, many practices that come from organic farming remove carbon from the atmosphere. Even with climate change and soil variations around the world, recent studies have verified that organic agriculture, if practiced on the planet’s 3.5 billion tillable acres, could sequester nearly 40% of current CO2 emissions.

So, Mr. Lee, please continue what you're doing to spread the benefits of organic farming and encourage and train more organic farmers. I dream of a day when we need not worry what we are feeding our children, whether it has chemicals, it has harmful substances, or is unnatural in any way which is harmful to the health of us and of our children. Organic farming is the way to go. It helps to maintain our robust health and reduce global warming. Thank you for what you're doing, sir.

It’s nice to see you. I am an environmentalist, Park Byung Sang.

I agree that it’s really urgent to inform consumers about vegetarianism in order to stop climate change. However, I believe the vegetarian diet would only help stop global warming when we have organic and seasonal locally grown vegetables. What do you think about the export competition of agricultural products that excessively consume petroleum? Thank you.

Yes, thank you also, Dr. Park. I definitely agree with you that it is important to eat from local organic vegan products. That is the best for our health and for our planet. But remarkably, eating vegan, and especially organic vegan, represents such an incredible savings for the planet that eating local is not really as important. But, of course, the food that is grown nearby is better and fresher all the time – that, we should choose, if we can.

A study conducted recently in Germany showed that the emissions of a meat eater over a one year period were equivalent to driving a mid-sized car 4758 kilometers, like almost 3000 miles per year. By contrast, a vegetarian diet was found to reduce these emissions by half. Moreover an animal-free vegan diet produced less than one seventh the greenhouse gases, representing an emissions savings of 86% by being vegan. But if you are an organic vegan person, then your diet was calculated at 94% less emissions. So we save 94% of the pollution for the planet. While we, of course, want to minimize emissions to be green overall, they are not as much compared to the heat-trapping effects of greenhouse gases caused by the meat industry itself. So please, just be vegan, plant organic, and save the planet. Thank you, sir, Dr. Park.

Just be an organic vegan, then you reduce 94% emissions of pollution for the planet – 94%! So we could still drive our car until we have better cars, we could still fly our airplane until we develop a better technology. Just be vegan, everything else stays almost the same until we can invent something better. ##And we are safe. If we are all vegans, the planet is saved and our lives will be saved, our generations in the future will be saved. Thank you, sir, thank you, everyone. Please be vegan, organic vegan.

I want to report that the Shanxi provincial government wholeheartedly approves of organic farming. Fellow initiates have already cultivated 140 acres of land there. It is also very successful. That’s great! That’s a poor county. Their provincial government considers this to be a key initiative. That’s great! Good. If there is a water shortage, you can plant more beans or fruits. Beans are very easy to grow. They grow very fast, right? And they don’t need that much water, right? They can grow without water. In Âu Lạc (Vietnam), they grow beans without water. In arid areas, they always plant beans. You can learn how to grow things by watching TV, Supreme Master TV. It teaches us how to plant vegetables. In Âu Lạc (Vietnam), they grow beans without water. The harvest is very good and they can be sold at a good price. That’s great. Good. You can grow and sell them yourselves. Good.

The government is very good. The government is helping the farmers. That’s great. (Yes.) That’s most important: that they support organic farming.

Very good. The soil is very fertile. Wonderful. They have good blessed rewards. There is an abandoned school next to the farm. They are planning to rent it to promote organic farming nationwide. They already have all the know-how. Congratulations.

I have asked people here to plant things themselves.

Anyone with a small plot of land or a yard in the back or in the front of the house can grow vegetables instead of grass. It’s also very green and looks nice and you can eat them. If you have extra, you can sell them or give them to your neighbors and friends and advocate the plant-based diet at the same time. Set an example for them, “You see, I planted these. They grow up.” It’s very easy to grow. Even when I was in elementary school, I grew tomatoes. I grew tomatoes when I was young. They had very good yields. It’s very simple. Later, after I got married, I also planted a lot of things that are easy to grow, such as cilantro, tomatoes, mint, etc. Mint, the kind that is easy to plant, grew very well. It was very easy for me to grow it. My husband also helped me. He collected leaves and trimmed grass and put them in a small hole in the yard for me.

Then, when I was planting vegetables, I used that as fertilizer. We didn’t purchase fertilizers from outside at all; they were all from our own trees, dried branches, leaves, and grass. Every time we cut grass, we left it there. All trimmed leaves from our yard were put there. Then they became compost. They grew so fast… so fast that we couldn’t finish eating them. I used to invite monks to come to eat the vegetables. I also grew flowers. They grew so fast. The few Buddha statues of mine had new flowers every day, because I had too many flowers. I changed new flowers for them every day. I grew different kinds of flowers. Okay, continue doing it. Yes. Congratulations. Very good. (Thank you.)

What do you propose for livestock farmers about changing their activity without affecting their livelihood, Master? That’s a good question. That’s a good question, concerning question and, of course, it’s a very right question. The livestock farmers can easily change to something like organic vegan farming which will reduce 40% of the CO2 that exists on our planet right now. If all people, all the farmers, and all the arable land on our planet turn to vegan farming method, then first, immediately, 40% of the CO2 will be absorbed by the farming method alone already – 40% of it. They already have the land already readily available, and to switch to organic farming will restore the health of the soil which has been depleted by conventional growing practices.

Studies have even shown that organic faming methods, besides using less energy and reducing carbon emissions, are more financially profitable than conventional ones. With the world food shortage continuing to worsen, more people are going hungry every day, so if we just stop the animal raising practices and turn instead to growing organic vegan food for humans, everyone in the world will benefit and we can save our planet. If we don’t feed all the corn and all the cereals and vegetables to the animals, all the food that we produce right now could feed two billion people already. So, there’s even no worry about a food shortage, and then we have a better future, a better conscience; and our planet will have a bright future if everyone turns to organic vegetarian diet and organic vegan farming.