Plowman's Folly

by Edward H. Faulkner

Mr. Faulkner’s masterpiece is recognized as the most important challenge to agricultural orthodoxy that has been advanced in this century. Its new philosophy of the soil, based on proven principles and completely opposed to age-old concepts, has had a strong impact upon theories of cultivation around the world. It was on July 5, 1943, when Plowman’s Folly was first issued, that the author startled a lethargic public, long bemused by the apparently insoluble problem of soil depletion, by saying, simply, “The fact is that no one has ever advanced a scientific reason for plowing.” With the key sentence, he opened a new era.For generations, our reasoning about the management of the soil has rested upon the use of the moldboard plow. Mr. Faulkner proved rather conclusively that soil impoverishment, erosion, decreasing crop yields, and many of the adverse effects following droughts or periods of excessive rainfall could be traced directly to the practice of plowing natural fertilizers deep into the soil. Through his own test-plot and field-scale experiments, in which he prepared the soil with a disk harrow, in emulation of nature’s way on the forest floor and in the natural meadow, by incorporating green manures into its surface, he transformed ordinary, even inferior, soils into extremely productive, high-yield croplands.Time magazine called this concept “one of the most revolutionary ideas in agriculture history.” The volume is being made available again not only because farmers, ranchers, gardeners, and agriculturists demanded it, but also because it details the kind of “revolution” which will aid those searching for the fruits of the earth in the emerging nations.

Genres: Agriculture, Science, Nature, History, Nonfiction, Environment

154 pages, Textbook Binding

First published January 28, 1943

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shortly after the Dust Bowl experience many in the agricultural world focused on trying to understand how it had happened and to identify the major contributing causes. The deeply-penetrating and inversing actions of the moldboard plow is the primary suspect per Faulkner. He cogently explains how this implement, while the true boon to mankind for its allowing us to use the originally lush and nourishing prairie and woodland soils to produce incredible harvests, has ultimately depleted soils wherever it is in constant use. By taking the surface "trash" (his term for organic plant material) and burying it too deeply below the active decomposition layer just under the surface it creates an impermeable barrier to the normal capillarity of soil, creating both parched and flooded conditions that eventually kill the soil's organic community. However, per Faulkner, disking is fine, since it helps work the organic material just far enough in to feed and make use of the soil fauna that create hummus and help release soil minerals and make them available to plant roots.

I recommend this slim, persuasive, now rather-outdated volume to anyone interested in the history behind some of the current debates on sustainable agricultural practices.

[Brian Griffith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a classic of clarity on the practices and costs of unsustainable farming.

[Justin Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although _Plowman's Folly_ has proved to be influencial in Ameircan agriculture, this book's limited scope makes it a frustrating read. It touches very little or not at all on several important subjects in the field of soils such as soil type, soil pH, slope, elevation, etc. The author does spend time on weeds, but ignores that they are invasive and mostly introduced. How does he account for weeds in pasturelands? Likewise, he says that erosion doesn't occur without agriculture. This au natural mindset is nonsense. Without admitting it himself, Faulkner limits his understanding to the recent dustbowls of the 1930s. Agriculture has actually reduced erosion by keeping rivers contained, by eliminating huge herds of buffalo that denuded the plains, and by irrigation.
It is by chance, not sufficient scientific inquiry,that his proposal to replace plowing with disk harrowing proves to be effective. While he states, "It has long since become axiomatic among scientists that the data supporting a given statement must not only be accurate enough to eliminate, within reasonable limits, the possibility of error in generalization.," Faulkner's experiments involved very limited acerage, time, and conditions.
Despite all my critizism, I decided to turn over my garden soil only a few inches deep this fall. We'll see next summer if this does anything to retain soil moisture and limit bindweed.

[Kevin Revolinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

An important read. Wisdom that is lost in the age of industrial farms, GMO seeds, and massive amounts of insecticides, fertilizers, herbicides. A student asks his professor Why do we plow? and doesn't get a sensible answer. His quest to find out if farming can be done without turning over the soil turned into this book. Read this and The One-Straw Revolution and have your mind blown.

[Will G · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book needed more rye disked into the surface.

[Gina Rheault · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jane Jacobs of soil. A non-academic farmer/county extension agent, through observation and experiment and fundamental thinking comes to a philosophy of agriculture: that the soil itself is fundamental and that moldboard plowing that may have been the right tool for breaking up virgin soil with centuries established vegetation has become a mindless bad habit in the modern era; and further that restoring health to depleted fields is doable over a few seasons of growing green manures and focusing on the top six to twelve inches of soil with low till disking instead.

In the field of urban planning, Jane Jacobs, a non-academic architecture critic, wrote an outsider classic "The Life and Death of Great American Cities" which I loved as a description of the organic city. Edward Faulkner's with "The Plowman's Folly" seems to have written a similar outsider book in the field of agriculture. Both books are refreshing examples of thoughtful, intelligent outsiders, citizen scientists whose intellectual curiosity, fundamental thinking and experimentation throw light on the blind spots of experts and academia, thus challenging and advancing their disciplines.

Five stars for being a very readable and entertaining story, and a classic of the history of organic farming.

[James E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for agronomists. The account from Faulkner sheds light on 1930s misguided agricultural extension in the US. Just before chemical ag really ticked up after WWII. Even then, a select few, like Faulkner, could observe this. Ironically, concepts like green manuring were not unfamiliar techniques to farmers of the time. It's funny to see these concepts often presented or thought of today as new techniques.

The book made me wonder what set Faulkner apart. How was he able to see the pitfalls of certain ag management techniques, some of which had been been common for millennia (eg. ploughing)? The world needs agronomists with his level of observation of ag systems and management-environment-crop interactions, and who don't hesitate to question business as usual.

For me, this book is a foundational ag resource, the US equivalent of the great "shakers-up" of agricultural philosophy like Masanobu Fukuoka (Japan) and Ernst Gotsch (Brasil).

My only hope for the next edition is to have leading scientists to annotate the 90-year old claims, giving context as to what has since been confirmed (or, in rare cases, refuted) by the scientific community.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read for all interested in agriculture. This is the story of the important message to farmers that disking only the surface soil was necessary to produce significant crops, much moe then deep plowing with the moldboard plow, the use of which has been eliminated in agriculture. Edward H. Faulkner's experiments in Ohio & Kentucky revoluntionalized agriculture. This book has been in my reading pile for a decade and has followed many other books on agriculture I have read.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book described how soil is depleted by erosion through the use of the moldboard plow. The fact that it was written in 1943 and farmers continue to use the plow to prepare the soil for planting is sad. Tony Jupiter also indicated in his book, "What has nature ever done for us" that plowing contributes to global warming through the loss of topsoil and the emission of carbon dioxide

[Lepus Domesticus · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an incredible little book! This was life-changing and eye-opening and fascinating on every page, full of a wealth of information in a small space. And depressing, in that I frequently found myself boggling that we knew this then and yet we still made all those choices that put us here now? Highly recommended. Also, read the follow-up, A Second Look.

[Karen Mahtin]

Good for those who are interested in the history of research into low-till/no-till. Faulkner based his ideas on just a couple of years of growing this way in his garden.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...#

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast read and perhaps a bit repetitive at times, but absolutely groundbreaking read within the context of the times in which it was written. Filled with fascinating anecdotes.

[Meg Leader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Given that it was written years ago based on his work in the 1930s, it was interesting. But, after a third of it, it was soooo boring.

[deleted d · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not interested in agriculture, but what I took from this book is always question everything. Just because someone has been doing it one way for ages doesn't mean it's the right way or the best way by any means.

[Robert Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

75 years later farmers are still using the plow

I don,t understand after all these years, and all the research that proves plowing is destroying our soil it continues. Very sad.