The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming

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The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming

by Masanobu Fukuoka, Frances Moore Lappé (Introduction), Wendell Berry (Preface), Larry Korn (Translator)

4.40 · rating details · 552 ratings · 108 reviews

Call it “Zen and the Art of Farming” or a “Little Green Book,” Masanobu Fukuoka’s manifesto about farming, eating, and the limits of human knowledge presents a radical challenge to the global systems we rely on for our food. At the same time, it is a spiritual memoir of a man whose innovative system of cultivating the earth reflects a deep faith in the wholeness and balanc...more

Paperback, 200 pages

Published September 8th 2010 by NYRB Classics (first published October 1975)

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Community Reviews

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Feb 15, 2008

John added it · review of another edition

I legally downloaded the book in PDF form from http://www.soilandhealth.org/
The author writes that he is a farmer in Japan who gets rice yields that meet or eclipse the most highly productive regions in Japan, yet he:
- uses no artificial fertilizer
- does not plow
- does not sow seed but rather tosses it on the ground and forgets it
- does not weed
- does no insect control
- works far fewer hours than those who use the above

His descriptions of his...more

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Jun 26, 2009

Rebecca rated it

· review of another edition

So if you crossed Yoda with Joel Salatin and made him a laboratory scientist with a Japanese rice-grain-vegetables-citrus farm, you'd get a rough and awkward parody of Fukuoka Sensei.

Really, to capture this guy's wit and humility and flashing intelligence, you really need to read the book. Possibly over and over. Outside would be best. In Japan-- perfect.

So, if I may debase his great ideas with my little summary, the idea of the book is that People Mess Up Nature. Even go...moreSo if you crossed Yoda with Joel Salatin and made him a laboratory scientist with a Japanese rice-grain-vegetables-citrus farm, you'd get a rough and awkward parody of Fukuoka Sensei.

Really, to capture this guy's wit and humility and flashing intelligence, you really need to read the book. Possibly over and over. Outside would be best. In Japan-- perfect.

So, if I may debase his great ideas with my little summary, the idea of the book is that People Mess Up Nature. Even good farming practices, like pruning, mulching, weeding, flooding, and composting have only become necessary because we've messed up the way nature thrives on its own.

Fukuoka Sensei experimented for years on his small farm, slowly pruning out all the practices of farming that have been thought necessary for millenia. The result is a naturally harmonious and productive way of farming that he calls, with the humility of a true Zen master, Do-Nothing Farming.

Acolytes arrive at his farm expecting that Do-Nothing means really not doing anything. It actually means lots of work: much more difficult than following formulas or procedures or practices. It requires accurate awareness of the natural world, a precise understand of the specific natural processes at work in the spot you are trying to cultivate, and also a good deal of inner work-- in the farmer.

And from the inner world of the farmer, a new view on the world's problems. Maybe the world doesn't need to produce MORE meat, MORE food, MORE grain, MORE energy. Maybe we need to realize that we can thrive on less. That we ignore the bounty that nature is willing to shower upon us every season, and choose to eat with our heads (11-12 servings of carbohydrates, 6 of proteins, 5 of fruit, check!) rather than with our hearts and bodies. Seasonal, local, handmade, in communities, with gratitude.

So I thought it was a far-sighted, insightful, wise, funny, extraordinarily persuasive little book. I'd like to carefully incorporate his ideas about do-nothing farming(maybe skipping the maggots-for-dinner proposal)into my tiny garden, or at least into my awareness of the natural world and my place in it.

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Aug 04, 2008

Mel rated it

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If you're into sustainable agriculture this is a must read. It's interesting to read something from the 70's that applies even today. There's also a bit of history into how the Japanese food industry began to change with an influx of American agriculture ideas after WWI.

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Dec 30, 2008

Elizabeth rated it

· review of another edition

We make things too complicated. We're not as smart as we think we are. The earth pays for our arrogance. Eat well. Simple, whole foods. Don't work too much or you won't have time to write a haiku.

Starting from the thesis that life has no meaning, Mr. Fukuoka explains how this realization led him to his "do-nothing" farming method. His views of the Westernization of agriculture in Post WWII Japan lead to musings on how the Japanese have become removed not only from their foo...more

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Nov 13, 2009

Jennifer rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: Foodies, Gardeners, and folks interested in Sustainability

Recommended to Jennifer by: Ben

Shelves: garden-and-plants, green-and-sustainable

"Right Food, Right Action, Right Awareness"

"When a decision is made to cope with the symptoms of a problem, it is generally assumed that the corrective measures will solve the problem itself. They seldom do. Engineers cannot seem to get this through their heads. These countermeasures are all based on too narrow a definition of what is wrong. Human measures and countermeasures proceed from limited scientific truth and judgment. A true solution can never come about in t...more

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Jun 24, 2009

planetkimi rated it

Shelves: gardening, non-fiction, philosophy

The One-Straw Revolution creates plenty of food for thought!

The book seems to me to be way ahead of its time. It was originally written in the late 1970s, but it sounds like it could have been written today. Organic farming is fairly mainstream now, but it wasn't at the time Fukuoka wrote this book. It's amazing to think about the strength of mind it must have taken for Fukuoka to rethink farming from the ground up.

The ideas he shares about the role of science and the...more

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Nov 10, 2011

librarianka rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: environment, farming, philosophy, ethics, spiritual, biology, gardening, food, favourite

I don’t know how I came upon this book. It has found its way into my Kobo reader. I borrowed the epub version of it from my library via the website. Thank goodness it has been brought back into printing. Upon reading it I immediately became fascinated by it and by its author. I knew nothing about Masanobu Fukuoka, who lived to be 95 (died on16 August 2008) and was a Japanese scientist, philosopher, and a farmer and developed a very unique way of farming, and also influenced many people in farmi...more

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Oct 22, 2010

Letters Journal rated it

· review of another edition

This is a book about rice, winter grain, and fruit tree farming in Japan and a meditation on the limits of human knowledge and language. Or, it is more accurate to say that it is a story about the limits of human knowledge and language, told through the lens of rice, winter grain, and fruit tree farming in Japan.

I have never grown rice or winter grains, and I probably never will. Yet, this book was absolutely captivating and exciting. Fukuoka’s approach to farming and to life is to see...moreThis is a book about rice, winter grain, and fruit tree farming in Japan and a meditation on the limits of human knowledge and language. Or, it is more accurate to say that it is a story about the limits of human knowledge and language, told through the lens of rice, winter grain, and fruit tree farming in Japan.

I have never grown rice or winter grains, and I probably never will. Yet, this book was absolutely captivating and exciting. Fukuoka’s approach to farming and to life is to seek non-action and avoid tasks, rather than taking them on. He sums up the basis for his “do nothing” farming method thus*: “All my research has been in the direction of not doing this or that. These thirty years have taught me that farmers would have been better off doing almost nothing at all.”

One feels immediately the urge to argue against this assertion. My initial counter-example was playing Go. Surely, doing nothing at all will not improve one’s Go game. Then I remember that the primary problem of weak Go players is playing unnecessary stones, of trying to do too much rather than playing natural or fundamental moves. For Fukuoka, “do nothing” is not an absolutist principle but a lighthearted and casual approach to life.

In some ways, Letters is an attempt to develop a “do nothing” approach to spreading communist ideas. When we put forward the slogan “Do Nothing!” we do not propose an absolute inverse of the activist demand to “Do Anything!”. Le Garcon Dupont writes:

"The refusal to offer solutions, to insist that such must be imposed at a wholly different (and higher) organisational level is the only radical solution we have to offer. People take no notice if you tell them things could be otherwise; if you reveal to them your desire to change things: it instantly turns off a switch in their head. However, if you tell them there is no hope, if you tell them that they can achieve nothing… this provokes their intellectual antibodies, and they start thinking about what they can do."

The do nothing farmer allows nature to solve its own problems, rather than constantly supplying solutions (which, in turn, create new and more difficult problems). For example, the ’solution’ of pesticides creates many new problems, whereas allowing natural solutions like spiders does not.

Fukuoka is aware of the contradictions inherent to writing and advocating doing nothing, and he is aware of the limits of communicating his ideas. One of the best sections of the book describes his attendance to a farmers’ co-op meeting, where he argues against the use of fertilizer and urges the other farmers to just scatter the rice straw back onto their fields. He knows that his message cannot be to the co-op (it is financed by the fertilizer industry and etcetera), but in knowing this – and being unattached to the outcome of his intervention – he actually leaves open some space for communicating.

"Here I have been, talking all the time about how everything is of no account, saying that humanity is ignorant, that there is nothing to strive for, and that whatever is done is wasted effort. How can I say that and then go on chattering like this? If I push myself to write something, the only thing to write is that writing is useless. It is very perplexing."

The One-Straw Revolution is a beautiful book. It leaves me cautiously optimistic about, at least, my own ability to one day grow vegetables in my backyard by learning how not to do this or that.

Also of interest in this book but beyond the scope of this small review: Fukuoka’s criticisms of Buddhism and organic food ideology.(less)

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Dec 06, 2010

Ivan rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: pertanian, filsafat, hikmah-wise

Sudah lama saya tidak membaca buku ini sejak pertengahan tahun ini. Pertama mendapat informasi mengenai buku ini dari seorang teman sedepartemen. Buku ini kemudian saya cari di perpustakaan kampus sesuai dengan informasi teman saya tersebut. Bukunya lecek tipis tidak terawat, mungkin buku lama.
Buku ini sebenarnya mengetengahkan mengenai cara bertanam tanaman terutama yang sering dibahas disini adalah padi, buah-buahan, gandum gerst dan sayuran secara alami. Dengan kata pengantar dari Mocht...moreSudah lama saya tidak membaca buku ini sejak pertengahan tahun ini. Pertama mendapat informasi mengenai buku ini dari seorang teman sedepartemen. Buku ini kemudian saya cari di perpustakaan kampus sesuai dengan informasi teman saya tersebut. Bukunya lecek tipis tidak terawat, mungkin buku lama.
Buku ini sebenarnya mengetengahkan mengenai cara bertanam tanaman terutama yang sering dibahas disini adalah padi, buah-buahan, gandum gerst dan sayuran secara alami. Dengan kata pengantar dari Mochtar Lubis yang merupakan salah satu sastrawan Indonesia terkenal membuat buku yang merupakan perpaduan antara ilmu pertanian, filsafat, sastra ini menjadi lebuh berbobot.
Jika dikampus saya mendapat kuliah tentang minimum tillage yang artinya pengolahan tanah secara minimal, mungkin inilah yang ingin disampaikan Tn. Fukoka di dalam buku ini dengan tentunya ada beberapa konsep di luar minimum tillage yang banyak sekali dibahas didalam buku ini yang akan menambah pengetahuan mengenai cara bertanam secara alami.
Cara bertanam secara alami yang selama ini saya pahami yaitu bertanam secara organik ternyata banyak yang tidak sesuai dengan apa yang diketengahkan dalam buku ini. Dalam pertanian organik yang masih memerlukan input dari luar terutama pupuk alami, insektisida alami dan saprotan pertanian sungguh berbeda dengan pertanian alami yang cenderung membiarkan alam untuk mengolah lahan dan menumbuhkan biji sesuai dengan kodrati mereka menurut siklus alami ekosistem.
Jika dalam pertanian konvensional, petani membiarkan menumpuk dan cenderung membiarkan bahkan membuang hasil jerami mereka sebelum dibakar maka dalam pertanian alami ala manasobu fukoka jerami tersebut dikembalikan ke lahan tanpa dipotong-potong beberapa minggu sebelum biji disemai. Pada waktu jepang sedang gencar gencarnya impor gandum dari Amerika pada tahun 70an Tn. Fukoka menganjurkan menanam jenis gandum lokal yang bernama gandum gerst yang bisa panen sesuai dengan iklim di jepang dibanding dengan jenis gandum luar (Amerika) yang panen pada waktu musim hujan, sehingga meningkatkan busuk panen yang akhirnya menurunkan kualitas dan kuantitas panen.
Tidak hanya pertanian akan tetapi juga perternakan yang disorot disini. Pemeliharaan ayam leghorn yang dibirkan liar dan mendapat pakan secara alami dari alam menurut Tn. Fukoka lebih baik dari segi kulitas hasil telur dan daging yaitu memiliki kuningteur yang kenyal dan berwarna orange cerah dibandingkan dengan Telur ayam dan daging yang dipelihara dalam kandang.
Penanaman semanggi sebagai LCC (Tanaman Penutup Tanah) akan mengurangi gulma yang tumbuh yang akhirnya dapat mengurangi pemakaian herbisida (yang sangat ditentang dalam pertanian alami) dan pemakaian tenaga kerja.
Tn. Fukoka juga membahas masalah metode ilmiah yang menurut dia kurang bisa menjangkau keterpaduannya dengan alam dan hanya membahas persoalah pada suatu sisi (tidak menyeluruh dan meninggalkan konsep keterpaduan). Beliau juga sering menentang para ilmuan yang hanya menggunakan hasil hasil temuannya untuk meningkatkan kecepatan efisiensi yang sering bertabrakan dengan konsep alami dari suatu sistem pertanian.
Selain membahas masalah-masalah diatas Tn. Fukoka juga membahas Diet alami berada dalam tingkat keempat setelah diet ringan (hanya mementingkan nafsu), diet dengan standart biologis (yang banyak diterapkan dalam diet diet ala Amerika), diet alami (yang masih membeda-bedakan antar bahan makanan) dan yang terakhir adalah diet surgawi yang sudah tidak ada pembedaan antar bahan makanannya.
Akan tetapi kekurangan buku ini jika ingin menerapkan sistem pertaniannya di Indonesia (walau sudah di translate dalam bahasa Indonesia) adalah masalah konversi satuan dan musim di Jepang yang berbeda dengan yang ada di Indonesia. Waalaupun begitu buku ini sangat cocok bagi pengembangan pertanian khususnya pertanian alami aka organik di Indonesia walaupun diharuskan dengan beberapa penambahan tertentu untuk mencapai kesesuaian tersebut.

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Feb 20, 2011

Gloria rated it

· review of another edition

Pretty remarkable book. The first half really was fascinating to me; the second half was less so, but only in the sense that he is describing or endorsing what many since his time have described over and over again—not that it is bad, as we clearly haven't absorbed or learned it. More specifically: Part one is his story; Part two is his four principles of no-work farming and specific issues for things like rice, orchards, etc; Part three about marketing of food, and Part four about food and eati...morePretty remarkable book. The first half really was fascinating to me; the second half was less so, but only in the sense that he is describing or endorsing what many since his time have described over and over again—not that it is bad, as we clearly haven't absorbed or learned it. More specifically: Part one is his story; Part two is his four principles of no-work farming and specific issues for things like rice, orchards, etc; Part three about marketing of food, and Part four about food and eating. Part V, well, is part five.

One can always describe his over-arching philosophy as one deeply rooted in Eastern philosophy, as they say very "zen"; he does challenge issues of duality, and the impossibility of knowing nature ("that which is conceived to be nature is only the idea of nature arising in each person's mind" p 25) which smacks more as a general question of how we moderns separate ourselves from nature in viewing the world (we are NOT beasts!). His notion of do-nothing is truly rooted in Buddhist thought, though, so do not misinterpret it as an adolescent might…!

Some notes:

"The usual way to go about developing a method is to ask 'How about trying this?' or 'How about trying that?' bringing a variety of techniques one upon the other. This is modern agriculture and it only results in making the farmer busier. My way was opposite. I was aiming at a pleasant, natural way of farming, which results in making the work easier instead of harder. 'How about not doing this? How about not doing that?'--that was my way of thinking . I ultimately reached the conclusion that there was no need to plow, no need to apply fertilizer, no need to make compost, no need to use insecticide. When you get right down to it, there are few agricultural practices that are really necessary." p 15

"To the extent that trees deviate from their natural form, pruning and insect extermination become necessary; to the extent that human society separates itself from a life close to nature, schooling becomes necessary. In nature, forming schooling has no function… Almost everyone thinks that 'nature' is a good thing, but few can grasp the difference between natural and unnatural. If a single new bud is snipped off a fruit tree with a pair of scissors, that may bring about disorder which cannot be undone. When growing according to the natural form, branches spread alternately from the trunk and the leaves receive sunlight uniformly. If this sequence is disrupted the branches come into conflict, lie one upon another and become tangled, and the leaves wither in the places where the sun cannot penetrate. Insect damage develops. If the tree is not pruned the following year more withered branches will appear. Human beings with their tampering do something wrong, leave the damage unrepaired, and when the adverse results accumulate, work with all their might to correct them. When the corrective actions appear to be successful, they come to view these measures as splendid accomplishments. People do this over and over again. It is as if a fool were to stomp on and break the tiles of his roof. Then when it starts to rain and the ceiling begins to rot away, he hastily climbs up to mend the damage, rejoicing in the end that he has accomplished a miraculous solution." p 17-18

"Before researchers become researchers they should become philosophers. They should consider what the human goal is, what it is that humanity should create. Doctors should first determine at the fundamental level what it is the that human beings depend on for life." p 74

"The other morning I heard a four-year old girl ask her mother, 'Why was I born into this world? To go to nursery school?'" p. 163(less)

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Sep 07, 2010

Bryan rated it

· review of another edition

the book started off amazing and i read about half of it in one night. somewhere in the middle (closer to the end) i lost interest a bit and almost knocked it down to 4 stars because of that, but it came back in the end. in the beginning he talks about his experience as a young scientist and i really enjoyed that part, how his life in natural farming is an attempt to show how people actually know nothing. when he got to the middle he starts harping repetitively about natural diet, natural food, ...more

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Aug 20, 2008

Josh Volk marked it as to-read · review of another edition

This recent obituary posted on comfood re-inspired me to read Fukuoka's writings. I've read a little of The Natural Way of Farming and saw him on a Japanese television show a few years back. Definitely an inspiring figure in truly sustainable agriculture.

Remembering a great man: Masanobu Fukuoka

Sadly, natural farming innovator Masanobu Fukuoka passed away,
Saturday, August 16, 2008, at his home in Iyo, Ehime Prefecture, Japan of
old age. He was 95.

...more

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Jul 01, 2008

Damian Satterthwaite-Phillips rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: People who love the earth and/or simplicity

Recommended to Damian by: Charles Chemin

This is really like a 4-star book combined with a 2-star one. This book starts out fabulously, all about simpler existence and simple farming. Life without fucking everything up, basically, and it's very inspiring. But then the author gets increasingly preachy, and goes on a Zen-and-the-Art-of-Motorcycle-Maintenance-type patting himself on the back... (though actually much less obnoxiously). Ultimately I tend to largely agree with Fukuoka's life philosophy, but he needs to tone it down a bit...more

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Jun 24, 2009

Sarah rated it

· review of another edition

This book presents Fukuoka's fascinating philosophy of no-till farming, mixed in with a bit of zen-like poetical wording on farming. One of my favorite quotes: "There is no other way than through the destruction of the ego, casting aside the thought that humans exist apart from heaven and earth." And for the permie and science teacher in me: "Food grown in soil balanced by the action of worms, microorganisms, and decomposing animal manure are the cleanest and most wholesome of all...more

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Aug 10, 2009

Kelly rated it

· review of another edition

I know nothing.

However, here are a couple of quotes I liked:

pg 88
'To say it in a word, until there is a reversal of the sense of values which cares more for size and appearance than for quality, there will be no solving the problem of food pollution.'

pg 159
'We have come to the point at which there is no other way than to bring about a "movement" not to bring anything about.'

pg 177
'Let us say that the key to peace lies close to the...more

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Feb 01, 2010

Anna rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: gardening-homesteading

This is an intriguing glimpse into a Japanese farmer's budding permaculture system. I only gave it four stars because the last two thirds of the book devolved into philosophizing, but the first third was an eye-opening description of a farming system that may have to be added to our homestead.

Read more about do-nothing farming on my blog.

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Mar 25, 2010

Brs36 rated it

· review of another edition

I've never been disappointed by any of the NYRB Classics I've read. One-straw Revolution was excellent. It's kind of scary to think that the same food issues that he is was describing back then are still around today. The information about farming wasn't boring at all (surprise surprise) and it was good to know that this comes from a scientist and not just a wannabee back-to-nature farmer. Check him out on youtube.

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Jan 24, 2010

Emily rated it

· review of another edition

A seminal text in the alternative food movement, this book is pretty straightforward but radical for its time. The farmer who wrote it started going back to natural farming just as it was widely accepted to move away from it. He presents a holistic, poetic, Buddhist approach to why we should eat and farm differently and more simply. I like, i like.

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Sep 02, 2009

Jiri Bryan rated it

· review of another edition

Book about natural miracles. You wouldn´t believe it (the same is true about the bunch of scientists, making their researches over 20 years). No literature, just pure beauty. / Kniha o přirozených zázracích. Nebudete tomu věřit, stejně jako ty vědecký partičky, co to už přes 20 let bedlivě zkoumají. Žádná literatura, zato čistá krása.

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Aug 26, 2011

Brian rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed

Landmark book of sustainable/permaculture farming that should be on everyone's shelves! We all ought to be growing our own food, but many of us justifiably dread spending many hours of each day toiling over fields, in dirt, to feed ourselves. Fukuoka's work is all about making it easier to feed ourselves healthy, low-cost food: how to not till or fertilize soil, how not to deplete your soil, how not to spend so much time weeding, how to make good low-effort compost, etc. He also situates this ba...more

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Sep 02, 2010

Rainbowgardener rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

Seminal work in what I am coming to call ecological gardening/ farming, dating back to 1978. His four central principles (no tilling, no chemical fertilizers, no herbicides, no pesticides) are still radical and important. Much of the detail relates to Japanese rice farmers and isn't directly translatable to American backyard gardeners. The book is less than 200 small pages and might have benefitted from being expanded a bit. But he captures (but doesn't explicate very much) the vision of n...more

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Nov 05, 2009

Lisa rated it

· review of another edition

Recommended reading for any permaculturist/organic gardener/living lightly on the Earth. Had the good fortune to meet the Honorable M. Fukuoka, when he did a workshop in Ashland some years back. Even tried his "no weed", cover cropping technique ( weeds were less, even tho' we did end up having to weed some).

Fascinating read.

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Jan 17, 2012

Holly Mcintyre rated it

· review of another edition

Wow. Now 35+ years old, this book is still an eye opener. Part Eastern philosophy part organic gardening, the work outlines a low-labor, high producing form of agriculture. Basically it advocates planting without cultivation using straw mulch and white clover cover crops to control weeds. I'm eager to give it a try.

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Oct 14, 2009

Ero rated it

A really remarkable book about farming techniques and the ecology of food production. Gets very zen in some interesting ways toward the end, as he extrapolates from his own experience to global and spiritual lessons learned.

If a few world leaders could be convinced to read this, we'd have a better world by far.

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Jun 30, 2010

Kimmy rated it

· review of another edition

This is an impressive book on its own- even more so when you consider it was written in '75 from the perspective of a rural farmer in Japan. Its lessons are still applicable and the problems are (unfortunately) still the same. An important read for anyone who considers himself a progressive foodie/consumer/human being.

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Sep 06, 2009

Naseem rated it

· review of another edition

An important work. I used it extensively when I was teaching sustainable resource management for The Center for Holistic Resource Management back in the 1980's and 90's. Fukuoka provides wonderful insight on how we can approach food and agriculture is a more whole and healthy manner.

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Aug 24, 2011

Jenny rated it

Shelves: favorite-non-fiction

I loved this book, and really need to go back and read it again. It is written by a Japanese farmer on his life and reasons and ways that he farms his land using only natural methods. The voice this book is written in is so Japanese. It is one of my all time favorite books.

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Sep 23, 2011

Philippa rated it

· review of another edition

I've waited so long to read this book, having heard about it 10 years or so ago – and there it was all along in the Dunedin Public Library. Everything I thought it would be. Get right back to nature. Try softer. "Do nothing" farming. Simplicity and common sense.

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Mar 14, 2010

Tom rated it

While I enjoyed this book and found Fukuoka's arguments persuasive, they are arguments that persuaded somebody (me) who doesn't know anything about the realities of farming. I'm curious to hear what other farmers--organic or conventional--have to say about this book, to read their critical appraisals of it.

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Jun 17, 2010

Junyan Boon rated it

· review of another edition

My favourite book as it sums up my understanding of life. It is a very difficult topic and the spiritual context will be difficult for those who are looking simply for a farming book. However these are the thoughts of an exceptional farmer.

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About Masanobu Fukuoka

Masanobu Fukuoka was born in 1914 in a small farming village on the island of Shikoku in Southern Japan. He was educated in microbiology and worked as a soil scientist specializing in plant pathology, but at the age of twenty-five he began to have doubts about the "wonders of modern agriculture science."

While recovering from a severe attack of pneumonia, Fukuoka experienced a...moreMasanobu Fukuoka was born in 1914 in a small farming village on the island of Shikoku in Southern Japan. He was educated in microbiology and worked as a soil scientist specializing in plant pathology, but at the age of twenty-five he began to have doubts about the "wonders of modern agriculture science."

While recovering from a severe attack of pneumonia, Fukuoka experienced a moment of satori or personal enlightenment. He had a vision in which something one might call true nature was revealed to him. He saw that all the "accomplishments" of human civilization are meaningless before the totality of nature. He saw that humans had become separated from nature and that our attempts to control or even understand all the complexities of life were not only futile, they were self-destructive. From that moment on, he has spent his life trying to return to the state of being one with nature.

At the time of his revelation, Fukuoka was living in a Japan that was abandoning its traditional farming methods and adopting Western agriculture, economic and industrial models. He saw how this trend was driving the Japanese even further from a oneness with nature, and how destructive and polluting those practices were. As a result, he resigned his job as a research scientist and returned to his father's farm on Shikoku determined to demonstrate the practical value of his vision by restoring the land to a condition that would enable nature's original harmony to prevail.

Through 30 years of refinement he was able to develop a "do-nothing" method of farming. Without soil cultivation such as plowing or tilling, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, weeding, pruning, machinery or compost, Fukuoka was able to produce high-quality fruit, vegetables and grains with yields equal to or greater than those of any neighboring farm.

In his 60's, Fukuoka sat down to document what he had seen and done. In 1975 his first book "One Straw Revolution" was released and has had a profound impact on agriculture and human consciousness all over the world. "One Straw Revolution" was followed by "The Natural Way of Farming" and then by "The Road Back To Nature."

Since 1979, Fukuoka has been touring, giving lectures and sowing the seeds of natural farming all over the world. In 1988 he was given Deshikottan Award, and the Ramon Magsaysay Award. In 1997 he received the Earth Council Award.

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Books by Masanobu Fukuoka

Natural Way Of Farming: The Theory And Practice Of Green

The Road Back to Nature: Regaining the Paradise Lost

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“When it is understood that one loses joy and happiness in the attempt to possess them, the essence of natural farming will be realized. The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.” — 6 people liked it

“The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.” — 4 people liked it

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