Professor Teruo Higa: The Pioneer of Effective Microorganisms

Professor Higa grew up farming and knew that farmers often only had the choice of expensive chemical pesticides and treatments for their crops. After becoming extremely ill as a result of working with chemicals all day long on the farm, he decided to find a natural method through the use of beneficial microorganisms that would help relieve the farmers of their chemical dependencies.

He graduated from the Agricultural Department of Ryukyus University where he also completed his doctorate in Agricultural Research. In 1970 he was invited to become an instructor at Ryukyus University and 10 years after that, he became professor of the university.

Professor Higa is best known for his discovery of EM Technology® or Effective Microorganisms®. However, this incredible discovery occurred by accident. In the 1960’s, microorganisms were constantly being studied, all across the globe, for many different applications. One day, Professor Higa was working in the lab and accidentally spilled microorganisms near some shrubs. A few days later, he noticed that those shrubs had grown extremely well.