practical biotech or snake oil? EM bokashi

In Japan they are using it for everything from agricultural waste mitigation (eg de-stinking hog/poultry farms) to cleaning swimming pools. Yet a research paper on beneficial microbes in Japan's agricultural practice dissed it completely, claiming that it was ineffectual and in some cases reduced yields or led to crop failures. What's up with the bokashi buzz?

First, a little background. Bokashi as a term has been in use for generations in Japan, and refers to specific practices involving composting and soil-seeding with beneficial microbes. Recently the term has seen a lot of use specifically applied to bokashi-type practices using EM, the "Effective Microbes" mix developed by one researcher and now commercially sold.

The researcher and others founded the EM Technology Network, a US-based nonprofit which exists to promote EM use for sustainable living. EMTN maintains a a forum site discussing applications of EM, and hosts a download page for the out-of-print EM Teachers' Manual and for a number of leaflets describing EM uses, ranging from swimming pool cleaning to agricultural waste mitigation. A small donation to defray bandwidth costs is requested, but not required.

If you follow some EMTN links, especially to vendors like EM Trading, you will find all sorts of EM-spinoff things, many of which seem, well, let's say 'far-fetched'. EM Trading has a link section with an impressive array of international agricultural research papers on EM use for a variety of applications. YMMV.