Nagata - method of vegetable growing

Yesterday I saw a TV program (in English) on NHK World, which had a short section on a man who had developed a method of growing fruit and vegetables on ground which was generally considered to be infertile.

He used very little water and fertiliser, and the idea was to stress the plant so that it sought moisture from the air (in the case of tomatoes, for example, the plants develop tiny hairs to take moisture from the air).

His background was that, as a young man, he took over his family orange-growing farm, and he found that the trees planted on the "worst" ground produced the sweetest fruit. He then spent decades of trial and error and came up with a system which is apparently being followed by several other farmers in Japan. He said that he was going to work with the Chinese Govt. to develop agriculture in a part of China which is basically a desert.

I'd love to find out more about this method (but it would have to be in English - sorry, but I can't read Japanese). I think the man's name was Mr Nagata, but they didn't show his name on-screen, so it could have been Nakata.

I've googled, but found nothing. If anyone could help, I'd be very grateful.

Thanks very much.

http://www.obusession.com/guest/guest079.htm

It's "Nagata" alright :) The method is to really deprive the plants of any external source of fertilizers and water so that the plants grow stronger - but the timing to give fertilizer *immediately* before it really gets weak from lack of nutrients seem to be the difficult part.

Unfortunately the book titles are actually only the translation of the titles mentioned, and the books are only in Japanese. But as the profile says he is active in France and other countries as well, if you search with his full name, you might find something.

Thanks very much for taking the trouble to look for me.

I've spent some time searching, using the extra info you pointed me to. I still can't find much info in English, but I appreciate your help and I'll keep looking.

Why not contact NHK World to ask for any info they may have?

If you're very interested in the practical farming method, the 10 set DVD-box is available here:

http://www.1101.com/store/yasai/index.html

I don't know whether you understand spoken Japanese but even if not, at least if you're an experienced farmer or gardener, I guess this DVD intended for both pros and beginners would be of much help to you.

...thanks very much