Akinori Kimura, a Japanese farmer, succeeded in growing apples without fertilizer which had long been considered to be impossible.
He married into an apple orchard in his 20s. Working there, he had been suffering from sickness and his wife from terrible skin inflammation caused by the fertilizer. While he was pondering what to do to improve this situation, he encountered Masanobu Fukuoka's "The Natural of Farming". He decided to adapt this method to grow his apples.
Soon after he stopped giving fertilizer, his 800 apple trees got infested by harmful insects. They were so many and he picked them by hands (three full plastic bags per tree,) They lost leaves and started dying. He kept trying to find the right fertilizer chosen from food items such as soy sauce, milk, whatever he found. He lost all the money and started working for a night club. His wife managed to prepare meals using wild grass as material. His children supported him as well. However, year after year, no sign of apple. After not being able to find a solution for six years, he decided to commit suicide to take responsibility. He went up to a nearby mountain and was looking for a place to hang his rope. That's when he saw an apple tree with lots of apples shining in a distance. He wondered why this tree is growing without fertilizer in a forest. When he went closer to the tree, he found that it was not an apple tree, but he got an inspiration. He immediately checked the soil and it was soft. He intuitively realized that if he can reproduce this environment, his apples will grow without fertilizer.
He went home and grew wild grass in his orchard. Every day he intensely studied insects and succeeded in recreating the ecological environment where the harmful and beneficial insects are balanced (so there are not harmful insects that infest apples). Three years later, all his trees produced apples which don't turn yellow being exposed to oxygen or deteriorate for years.
