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It is reproduced here with their permission and generous cooperation.
"40 Years of Natural Farming"
Masanobu Fukuoka, with his grizzled white beard, subdued voice, and traditional
Oriental working clothes, may not seem like an apt prototype of a successful
innovative farmer. Nor does it, at first glance, appear possible that his rice
fields riotous jungles of tangled weeds, clover, and grain are among the
most productive pieces of land in Japan. But that's all part of the paradox that
surrounds this man and his method of natural farming.
On a mountain
overlooking Matsuyama Bay on the southern Japanese island of Shikoku,
Fukuoka-san (san is the traditional Japanese form of respectful address) has
since the end of World War II raised rice, winter grain, and citrus crops ...
using practices that some people might consider backward (or even foolish). Yet
his acres consistently produce harvests that equal or surpass those of his
neighbors who use labor-intensive, chemical dependent methods. Fukuoka's system
of farming is amazing not only for its yields, but also for the fact that he has
not plowed his fields for more than 30 years! Nor does he use prepared
fertilizer - not even compost on his land, or weed his rows, or flood his rice
paddies.
Through painstaking experimentation, you see, this Japanese
grower has come up with a method of agriculture that reflects the deep affinity
he feels with nature. He believes that by expanding our intellect beyond the
traditional confines of scientific knowledge and by trusting the inherent
wisdom of life processes we can learn all we need to know about growing food
crops. A farmer, he says, should carefully watch the cycles of nature and then
work with those patterns, rather than try to conquer and "tame" them.
In
keeping with that philosophy, Fukuoka-san's fields display the diversity of
plant succession that is a natural part of any ecosystem. In the spring, he sows
rice amidst his winter grain ... then, late in the year, casts grain seed among
the maturing rice plants. A ground cover of clover and straw underlies the
crops, deterring weeds and enriching the soil. In addition, the master gardener
grows vegetables "wild" beneath the unpruned trees in his mountainside orchard.
Naturally, such unconventional plots might look positively disastrous to
traditional agronomists, but as Fukuoka points out to skeptical visitors, "The
proof of my techniques is ripening right before your eyes!"
For many
years, the Oriental gentleman's unique ideas were known only to a few
individuals in his own country. In 1975, however, he wrote a book entitled "The
One-Straw Revolution", which was later published in the United States. Since
then, he has been in great demand by groups eager to know more about this
strange "new" attitude toward farming. In 1979 Fukuoka-san undertook an
extensive tour of the United States ... and while he was in Amherst,
Massachusetts for a series of university lectures, he talked for several hours
with Larry Korn, a student of natural farming methods and the editor of The
One-Straw Revolution. Their conversation was conducted entirely in Japanese and
later translated into the edited version printed here.
Incidentally, if
you're puzzled by several instances of apparent contradictions in the following
comments, consider that Fukuoka like the Oriental philosophers who
deliberately present students with what seem to be illogical statements or
paradoxes - is perhaps trying to help people break habitual patterns of thought
and develop new perceptions. And because his natural farming does demand such an
unaccustomed mode of thinking, Fukuoka-san warns that it is not for the timid or
the lazy; "My method completely contradicts modern agricultural techniques. It
throws Scientific knowledge and traditional farming know-how right out the
window." What's left in the wake of that revolutionary (and sometimes admittedly
befuddling) upheaval, however, should excite and challenge anyone who'd like to
see a simpler, more natural form of agriculture take root.
PLOWBOY: I notice that you're drawing, Fukuoka-san,
what will
the picture be?
FUKUOKA: It's a sketch of a mountain
scene, and there's a poem with it: Deep in the mountains, a gentle soul asks,
For whom do the wildflowers bloom? For foxes and raccoons, Who know the pine
winds and The spirit of the valley stream.
PLOWBOY:
Can you explain what yon mean by that verse?
FUKUOKA: Well, there are many ways of defining this "gentle
soul". It could be a person... a flower... a tree... or even the grass. And if
one could ask this soul why it lived all alone, deep in the mountains, it would
answer, "I am not living here for anybody's sake. Just to listen to the fox and
the raccoon, to talk to them and be with them... that is why I am living
here."
PLOWBOY: Are you the figure I see in the
drawing?
FUKUOKA: I'd like it to be me!
PLOWBOY: Well, it's certainly evident from your artwork and from
your approach to farming that you value having a close relationship with nature.
Were you raised in a rural setting?
FUKUOKA: Yes, I
was an ordinary country boy, born in a simple country house. My father who
served as the leader of our small villagewas a landowner and farmer. I grew up
just as the other local children did... going to school and helping my parents
and neighbors is the rice fields.
PLOWBOY: Did you
begin farming as soon as you had finished school?
FUKUOKA: No, I first went to a special technical institute to
study microbiology and plant pathology. Then I moved to Yokohama to become a
quarantine officer at the Agricultural Customs Office. My job was to inspect,
and experiment with, Japanese mandarin oranges and American oranges. I learned a
lot there about the weaknesses and diseases of different plants... and greatly
enjoyed my laboratory work. However, at the age of 25, I underwent a change of
heart - and mind that caused my life to be completely different from that time
on.
PLOWBOY: Tell me about it.
FUKUOKA: Well, like many young people, I was having very large,
ponderous thoughts about life... and my musings led to a lot of skepticism about
the human condition. To add to my doubts, I became so ill during that period
that there was, for a while, a question whether or not I would pull
through.
Following my eventual recovery, I spent many sleepless nights
wandering the streets. The morning after one such episode - when it seemed as
though everything were about to explode in my brain a flash of insight came to
me. I suddenly felt that all human existence is meaningless and of no intrinsic
value. Humanity knows nothing of real worth at all, I decided, and every action
we take is just a futile, empty effort. I also saw that nature is ideally
arranged and abundant just as it is... therefore, 1 was sure that we should work
in cooperation with the natural processes, rather than try to "improve" on them
by conquest.
I know all this may sound preposterous, but whenever I try
to put those thoughts into words, they seem to sound that way. The revelation
wasn't something that can be easily explained to another person.
PLOWBOY: Why not?
FUKUOKA: Anyone
who's had an experience similar to mine will understand instinctively... but
there's nothing I can say to help those people who don't have this understanding
or aren't even looking for it. For example, do you think there's such a thing as
a ghost? Have you ever seen a ghost? [With a smile, he points over the
interviewer's shoulder.] Didn't you just see that one? People who've never
seen a ghost usually can't believe in them. Those who have had such an
experience, though, totally believe in the phenomenon... so there's no need to
convince them.
PLOWBOY: How did this change in
thinking affect your life?
FUKUOKA: I immediately
quit my job at the Customs Office. Then I spent the next year or two traveling
around the country, talking with people and trying many new experiences.
Sometimes I camped in the mountains and sometimes near hot springs. Whenever I
was in a city, I would sleep in temples or parks... and when I was in the
country, I stayed at farmers' homes and worked in their fields with them. I
actually started my wanderings with the intention of spreading my new
understanding throughout the whole country... but whenever I spoke about the
meaninglessness of human existence, nobody was interested in what 1 had to say!
I was ignored as an eccentric. So I finally decided that in order to help people
understand my theories, I'd have to demonstrate them in some concrete and
practical way. I also needed to do that, of course, to convince myself
that I was right.
Since I believe that farming is the most worthy of all
occupations, I decided to return to my native village and become a farmer. I
wanted to see whether I could apply my theory of the uselessness of human
knowledge to agriculture... So that if people didn't understand my words, I
could take them out to the fields and show them the truth of these
ideas.
PLOWBOY: And you've been farming ever
since?
FUKUOKA: Almost. During the Second World War,
I was sent to work at the agricultural Experimental Station at Kochi, where I
had to fall back upon my scientific training. After the war was over, though, I
joyfully returned to the mountains and resumed my life as a farmer.
PLOWBOY: How much land did you start with?
FUKUOKA: After the war there was a massive land reform in Japan -
called the Nochi-kaiho - in which large landowners like my father lost
most of their holdings. My father died soon after that, and I was left with one
small rice paddy about a quarter-acre in size
PLOWBOY: Did you begin practicing natural farming right
away?
FUKUOKA: I had started experimenting in some
of my father's mandarin orange orchards even before the war. 1 believe that - in
order to let nature take its course the trees should grow totally without
intervention on my part, I didn't spray or prune or fertilize... I didn't do
anything. And, of course, much of the orchard was destroyed by insects and
disease.
The problem, you see, was that I hadn't been practicing
natural agriculture, but rather what you might call lazy agriculture! I
was totally uninvolved, leaving the job entirely to nature and expecting
that everything would turn out well in the end. But I was wrong. Those young
trees had been domesticated, planted, pruned and tended by human beings. The
trees had been made slaves to humans, so they couldn't survive when the
artificial support provided by farmers was suddenly removed.
PLOWBOY: Then successful natural farming it not simply a
do-nothing technique?
FUKUOKA: No, it actually
involves a process of bringing your mind as closely in line as possible with the
natural functioning of the environment. However, you have to be careful: This
method does not mean that we should suddenly throw away all the
scientific knowledge about horticulture that we already have. That course of
action is simply abandonment, because it ignores the cycle of dependence that
humans have imposed upon an altered ecosystem. If a farmer does abandon his or
her "tame" fields completely to nature, mistakes and destruction are
inevitable.
The real path to natural fanning requires that a person know
what unadulterated nature is, so that he or she can instinctively
understand what needs to be done and what must not be done to work in
harmony with its processes.
PLOWBOY: That attitude
certainly denies the "manipulate and control" foundation of established modern
agriculture. How did you progress from your traditional training to such an
unusual concept of farming?
FUKUOKA: During my youth
I had seen all the farmers in the village grow rice by transplanting their
seedlings into a flooded paddy... but I eventually realized that that isn't the
way rice grows on its own! So I put aside my knowledge of traditional
agricultural methods and simply watched the natural rice cycle. In its wild
state, rice matures over the summer. In the autumn the leaves wither, and the
plant bends over to drop its seeds onto the earth. After the snow me1ts in the
spring, those seeds germinate, and the cycle begins again. In other words, the
rice kernels fall on unplowed soil, sprout, and grow by themselves.
After
observing this natural process, I came to view the transplanting/flooded field
routine as totally unnatural. I also guessed that the common practices of
fertilizing a field with prepared compost, plowing it, and weeding it clean were
totally unnecessary. So all my research since then has been in the direction of
not doing this or that. These 30 years of practice have taught me that many
farmers would have been better of doing almost nothing at
all.
People often think, in their arrogance and ignorance, that nature
needs their assistance to carry on. Well, the truth is that nature actually does
much better without such "help" from humans! Once a field is healthy and working
on its own, natural or "noninterference" agriculture becomes a real
possibility. However, as my orange grove demonstrated, such a condition can't be
initiated suddenly. In Japan and other agricultural countries, the land has been
plowed by machines for decades... and before that it was turned by cows and
horses. In fields such as those, you wouldn't have very good results in the
beginning if you simply stopped cultivating the earth and adopted a do-nothing
altitude. The soil must first be allowed to rehabilitate itself. Fertility can
then be maintained by surface mulch and straw that break down into the
soil.
PLOWBOY: For folks who may be unfamiliar with
your book, The One-Straw Revolution, let's review the basic practices you
follow in your natural system of growing grain, vegetables, and
citrus.
FUKUOKA: First of all, I operate, under four
firm principles. The first is NO TILLING... that is, no turning or plowing of
the soil. Instead, I let the earth cultivate itself by means of the penetration
of plant roots and the digging activity of micro organisms, earthworms, and
small animals.
The second rule is NO CHEMICAL FERTILIZER, OR PREPARED
COMPOST. I've found that you can actually drain the soil of essential nutrients
by careless use of such dressings! Left alone, the earth maintains its own
fertility, in accordance with the orderly cycle of plant and animal
life.
The third guideline I follow is NO WEEDING, either by cultivation
or by herbicides. Weeds play an important part in building soil fertility and in
balancing the biological community... so I make it a practice to control
- rather than eliminate the weeds in my fields. Straw mulch, a ground cover of
white clover interplanted with the crops, and temporary flooding has provide
effective weed control in my fields.
The fourth principle of natural
farming is NO PESTICIDES. As I've emphasized before, nature is in perfect
balance when left alone. Of course, harmful insects and diseases arc always
present, but normally not to such an extent that poisonous chemicals are to
correct the situation. The only sensible approach to disease and insect control,
I think, is to grow sturdy crops in a healthy environment.
As far as my
planting program goes, I simply broadcast rye and barley seed on separate fields
in the fall... while the rice in those areas is still standing. A few weeks
after that I harvest the rice, and then spread its straw back over the fields as
mulch. The two winter grains are usually cut about the 20th of May... but two
weeks or so before those crops have fully matured, "I broadcast rice seed right
over them. After the rye and barley have been harvested and threshed, I spread
their straw back over the field to protect the rice seedlings. I also grow white
clover and weeds in these same fields. The legume is sown among the rice plants
in early fall. And the weeds I don't have to worry about... they reseed
themselves quite easily!
In a 1 1/4 acre field like mine, one or two
people can do all the work of growing rice and winter grain in a matter of a few
days, without keeping the field flooded all season... without
using compost, fertilizer, herbicides, or other chemicals... and without
plowing one inch of the field! It seems unlikely to me that there could be a
simpler way of raising grain.
As for citrus, I grow several varieties on
the hillsides near my home. As I told you, I started natural farming after the
war with just one small plot, but gradually I acquired additional acreage by
taking over surrounding pieces of abandoned land and caring for them by hand.
First, I had to recondition that red clay soil by planting clover as a ground
cover and allowing the weeds to return. I also introduced a few hardy vegetables
such as the Japanese daikon radish and allowed the natural predators to take
care of insect pests. As a result of that thick weed/clover cover, the surface
layer of the orchard soil has become over the past 30 years loose,
dark-colored, and rich with earthworms and organic matter. In my orchard there
are now pines and cedar trees, a few pear trees, persimmons, loquats, Japanese
cherries, and many other native varieties growing among the citrus trees. I also
have the nitrogen-fixing acacia, which helps to enrich the soil deep in the
ground. So by raising tall trees for windbreaks, citrus underneath, and a green
manure cover down on the surface, I have found a way to take it easy and let the
orchard manage itself!
PLOWBOY: Don't you also grow
vegetables in a kitchen garden?
FUKUOKA: Actually, I
raise such produce, in a semiwild manner, among the weeds all over the mountain.
In my orchard alone I grow burdock, cabbage, tomatoes, carrots, mustard, beans,
turnips, and many other kinds of herbs and vegetables. The aim of this method of
cultivation is to grow crops as naturally as possible on land that might
otherwise be unused. If you try to garden using "improved" high-yield
techniques, your attempt will often end in failure as a result of infestation or
disease. But if various kinds of herbs and other food crops are mixed together
and grown among the natural vegetation, pest damage will be so low you won't
have to use sprays, or even pick bugs off by hand.
To plant my vegetable
crops, I simply cut a swath in the weed cover and put out the seeds. There's no
need to top them with soil... I just lay the cut plants back over them as a
natural mulch. Usually the resurgent weeds have to be trimmed back two or three
times afterward to give the seedlings a head start, but sometimes just once is
enough. Vegetables grown in this way are stronger than most people think. In
fact, you can raise produce wherever there's a varied and vigorous growth of
weeds... but to be successful, it is important that you become familiar with the
yearly cycle of the indigenous weeds and grasses and learn what kinds of
vegetables will best match them.
PLOWBOY: Have you
encountered any really serious problems with disease or insect pests over the
decades that you've been practicing natural farming?
FUKUOKA: Since I turned the fields back to their natural state, I
can't say I've had any really difficult problems with insects or disease, Even
when it looked as if something had gone wrong and the crops would soon be
devastated, nature always seemed to bail me out in the end!
Of course, I
have made mistakes... just as every grower does. However, I never really
think of them as mistakes! Back in the beginning, for example, when 70% of a
field was overgrown and unproductive and 20 to 30% was extremely productive, I
saw my limited harvest as a success. 1 figured that if a small percentage of the
field did produce, I could eventually make the rest of the acreage do just as
well. My neighbors would never have been satisfied with a field like that... but
I just viewed the "mistake" as a hint or a lesson. One of the most important
discoveries I made in those early years was that to succeed at natural farming,
you have to get rid of your expectations. Such "products" of the mind are often
incorrect or unrealistic... and can lead you think you've made a mistake if
they're not met.
PLOWBOY: What about the wild
grasses and weeds that grow right among your crops? Don't they ever threaten to
get out of control?
FUKUOKA: Instead of relying on
herbicides or mechanical cultivation to control weeds, I've always used legumes
and other cover crops to limit the spread of the less helpful plants. I also
throw straw on the fields as a mulch that will both discourage weeds and let the
soil retain enough moisture to germinate seeds in the autumn dry
season.
PLOWBOY: It all sounds like the ideal
low-labor farming method. But what about the yields of your crops? Is it true
that they compare favorably with those of conventional farms?
FUKUOKA: In the beginning my expectations and desires were not
great... and my yields were not great, either! But as the condition of the soil
stabilized over time and the fields returned to their natural state, my crop
output began to rise steadily. I never noticed any dramatic changes, but
eventually I found that I could grow rice without plowing or flooding the field
all summer long, and still produce as much as the other farmers did with all
their machinery and chemicals... sometimes more. My production has now
stabilized at about 1,3OO pounds, or 32 bushels per quarter acre for both winter
grain and rice. That is close to the highest in Japan!
In the future, I
expect that my yields of rice, barley, and other grains will continue to
increase. After all, until recently I was growing the same kinds of crops that
other farmers in the village and, indeed, all over Japan were planting. But
as a result of practicing natural agriculture, I have now "developed" some new
varieties, simply by allowing them to spring up in the fields. With those native
seed cultivars, 1 think my farm has the potential to achieve the highest
productivity in Japan... and possibly in the world, since my country leads the
planet in average rice yields! If natural farming were used on a permanent
basis, there'd be no reason why the production capability of any piece of land
couldn't go far beyond its "chemical-based" levels... eventually approaching the
highest yield theoretically possible, given the amount of energy reaching a
field from the sun.
PLOWBOY: I assume that - given
such favorable production figures - you've been able to support yourself and
your family with natural farming.
FUKUOKA: I haven't
made a lot of money, but my overhead costs are so low that I've never been in
danger of going completely broke. For one thing, after I began farming this way,
word got around that the oranges grown on my mountain were the largest and
sweetest in the entire village. That fruit provides the greatest part of my
income. Then, too, as my holdings increased and the soil improved, things got
easier for us. Yes, I've been able to make a comfortable - though modest
living by practicing natural farming.
PLOWBOY: Has
the large-scale agricultural "establishment" exhibited any interest in your
ideas?
FUKUOKA: I first presented this "direct
seeding noncultivation winter grain/rice succession" plan in agricultural
journals 25 years ago. From then on, the method appeared often in print, and I
introduced it to the public at large on quite a few radio and television
programs... but nobody paid much attention to it.
In the past 15 years or
so, though, it seems to me that the general attitude toward natural farming has
begun to change. Various agricultural research scientists have highly acclaimed
my no-till technique. You might even say that natural farming is becoming the
rage! Journalists, professors, farmers, technical researchers, and students are
all flocking to visit my fields and stay in my huts up on the
mountain.
PLOWBOY: Why the sudden surge of curiosity
about your farming technique?
FUKUOKA: I think it's
because many people have gotten very far away from nature. Everything in this
modern world has become noisy and overcomplicated, and people want to return to
a simpler, quieter life... the kind of life I live as an ordinary farmer. You
see, to the extent that men and women separate themselves from nature, they spin
out further and further from the unchanging, unmoving center of reality. At the
same time a centripetal effect asserts itself, causing a desire to return
to nature - that true center - even as they move away from it. I believe
that natural farming arises from that unchanging, unmoving center of
life
It seems, also, that general recognition of the long-term dangers of
chemical farming has helped renew interest in alternative methods of
agriculture. Many people are looking at my methods and seeing that what they
previously viewed as primitive and backward is perhaps instead far ahead of
modern science!
PLOWBOY: You practice a low-cost,
low-labor method of growing food that requires no heavy machinery, fossil fuels,
or processed chemicals... and yet achieves yields comparable to those of more
"modern" scientific methods. That sounds almost like a dream come true. There
must be people trying natural farming all over the place!
FUKUOKA: Not really... because my method does seem like a dream
to them. In fact, I think natural farming is actually a very frightening
concept to many people' It entails a revolutionary attitude that could change
the whole climate of our society and our civilization.
PLOWBOY: What would it take, then, to convince such individuals
to try your methods?
FUKUOKA: It would be very
difficult for single farmers or families to get started by themselves. Natural
agriculture requires a great deal of work in the beginning - until the land is
brought back into balance and you can't do it alone unless you have a lot of
time to devote to the effort.
The change might be brought about more
easily on a village or small-town level, but I really think the best way to
start this "one-straw revolution", as I call it, is on a large scale...
through some sort of cooperative effort. The government, the agricultural
co-ops, the farmers, the consumers in other words, everyone must
decide that this is the direction in which our society should go. And, of
course, if we don't get that kind of cooperation, the possibility of bringing
about significant change in our farming methods is remote.
Most important
we've got to revise people's concepts of nature. In America, especially, the
outdoors that's seen often isn't natural at all... it's an imitation, man-made
nature. For example, look around the grounds of the university. You'll see
beautiful lawns, soft and comfortable, planted here and there with trees. The
foliage is indeed lovely, but these aren't the trees and grasses that originally
evolved here. They've been put here by human beings for the benefit of other
human beings. The native plants were smothered or exterminated... and this
nonnative, exotic lawn grass was nurtured instead. Allowing such an artificial
landscape to return to its natural state would be good for human beings and for
all the other animals and all the plants that live on this planet. However, not
everyone would appreciate it... there'd be more flies, more mosquitoes, and
other insects that people don't find very pleasant, and some would say, "Oh, how
inconvenient. What a bother!"
PLOWBOY: Several weeks
ago you started your American tour in California. did you see "artificial
nature" there, too?
FUKUOKA: It was really a shock
for me to see the degenerate condition of California. Ever since the Spanish
introduced their grazing cows and sheep, along with such annual pasture grasses
as foxtail and wild oats, native grasses have been all but eliminated. In
addition the ground water there has been overdrawn for agriculture, and huge
dams and irrigation projects have interrupted the natural circulation of surface
water. Forests have been logged heavily and carelessly, causing soil erosion and
damage to streams and fish populations. As a result of all this, the land is
becoming more and more arid. It's a dreadful situation... because of human
intervention, the desert is creeping across the state, but no one will admit
it.
PLOWBOY: Do you think the widespread adoption of
natural farming techniques could help reverse that process and make California
green again?
FUKUOKA: Well, it would take a few
years for people to learn how to adjust and refine the weed/ground cover
rotation, but I think the soil would improve rapidly if growers really attempted
to help it. And if it were done, California could eventually become an
exciting, truly natural place... where farming could be the joyous activity it
should be. But if modern agriculture continues to follow the path it's on now,
it's finished. The food-growing situation may seem to be in good shape today,
but that's just an illusion based on the current availability of petroleum
fuels. All the wheat, corn, and other crops that are produced on big American
farms may be alive and growing, but they're not products of real nature or real
agriculture. They're manufactured rather than grown. The earth isn't
producing those things... petroleum is!
PLOWBOY:
Haven't you said that you'd view a severe oil shortage as a positive
development?
FUKUOKA: Of course. I believe that the
sooner our oil supply lines dry up, the better. Then we'll have no choice but to
turn to natural agriculture!
PLOWBOY: But the
typical "agribiz" farm has hundreds or even thousands of cultivated acres. How
could someone apply natural agriculture in such a setting?
FUKUOKA: First of all, there shouldn't be such large spreads.
It's unfortunate that, in the modern American agricultural system, a very few
people are producing the food for millions of others who live in the cities. In
Japan, the average field is smaller than in the United States... but its yield
per acre is much greater. I can do all the work on my own farm with hand tools,
without using power machinery of any kind.
But I guess those mega-farms
in your country would need some machinery, at least for harvesting. In the
future, though, as more and more people move back to the country and begin to
grow their own food on small plots of land, there'll be much less dependence on
machines and Fossil fuels... and natural farming techniques can begin to be
used.
PLOWBOY: So you think that it would be
feasible to someday adopt natural farming in North America?
FUKUOKA: Of course, of course! When you talk about nature, it
doesn't matter whether you're referring to North America or Africa or Indonesia
or China... nature is nature. After all, modern industrial farming is now being
practiced almost everywhere in the world. In the same way, natural farming could
be practiced almost everywhere.
I'm just a village farmer who has come
visiting from another part of the same world. Through my one-straw research,
I've come up with some important clues as to how people can relate to nature and
live harmoniously with it... wherever they may be.
PLOWBOY: But wouldn't your method have to be adapted to fit local
growing conditions in this country?
FUKUOKA: It's
true that each place is somewhat different. Here in Massachusetts we are very
far from the Pacific Ocean and even farther from my home on the island of
Shikoku... so it may seem as if the experience and knowledge that I've
accumulated would not be applicable here. However, the research I did on that
little farm eventually led me to a practical and tested method of crop rotation.
So I would suggest that beginners at least start with the techniques I've
already worked out, no matter where they live... even here on the Atlantic
coast.
A person who does that will probably have some problems during the
first year, and the results may not be exactly the same as mine. But it should
then be obvious to that grower why things didn't work out. Maybe a
certain crop was planted too late, or perhaps the wrong variety was used for
that climate and soil. By the second year of understanding and practicing my
principles, a person should see clearly what needs to be done on his or her own
land. I tell everyone who wants to try natural farming to take the benefit of my
study and research and use it as it is... that is the smart way to begin. If you
immediately go off on your own and begin looking for the true "nature" of your
area, it'll take you 20 or 30 years to find it, just as it took me years to do
so in Japan. Instead, your first step in any attempt at natural farming
should be to throw away your preconceptions... then you can learn by simply
doing!
PLOWB0Y: Are you telling us to abandon all
logical reasoning?
FUKUOKA: Yes!
PLOWBOY: But Mr. Fukuoka, you did a lot of experimenting and
research yourself in the process of developing the concept of natural farming.
You used reason... and now you are telling us to discard it
all?
FUKUOKA: Exactly! Throw away your own ideas for
a moment and let the results of my experiments be the seed of some new
ideas and ways of thinking. Many people might be tempted to think, "Hmmm... my
climate is totally unlike his, so rather than use white clover, I'll try this
other ground cover." That line of reasoning could well take you off the
track and lead you down a lot of blind alleys! Clover is necessary to keep the
weeds back and replenish the soil.
PLOWBOY: But
there are many kinds of clover that could be used, aren't there?
FUKUOKA: Ah, you see? That's exactly what I mean. That's your
reason speaking! Don't question so much. If I suggest white clover, use white
clover. If I suggest red clover, then use red clover. Over the years I've tried
vetch, alfalfa, lupine, trefoil, and many kinds of clover... and I reached the
conclusion that for natural no-till rotation of grains and vegetables, and as a
ground cover in the orchard, white clover is best.
My findings have been
verified by others, too. When I visited Rodale's Organic Farming Research Center
in Pennsylvania recently, the people there showed me the experiments they've
been doing for several years in interplanting grains and row crops with clover
and other ground covers. And you know, the plots where they were having the
greatest success were the ones in which they were using white
clover!
PLOWBOY: In the Pacific Northwest, there's a
network of organic farmers and gardeners called Tilth. They've started a "clover
project" in which members in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and British Columbia
plant various types of clover in barley and corn fields, apple orchards, and
vegetable gardens... all to gain experience with that cover crop. Don't you
think that sort of experimentation is worthwhile?
FUKUOKA: Well, yes, it's fine... but the results are already here
and available right in front of us! I did those kinds of experiments 25 years
ago, and now others could benefit from my experience if only they'd look at the
results. They could save themselves a lot of time and effort by just taking the
shortcut of believing.
Americans, I think, find it difficult to
believe. They have to experiment and see for themselves. But believing is the
most direct approach.
PLOWBOY: Some people have
noticed a spiritual, almost mystical quality to your theory of farming. Do you
feel you're receiving insight and guidance from a divine source?
FUKUOKA: Although natural farming since it can teach people to
cultivate a deep understanding of nature - may lead to spiritual insight,
it's not strictly a spiritual practice. Natural farming is just farming, nothing
more. You don't have to be a spiritually oriented person to practice my methods.
Anyone who can approach these concepts with a clear, open mind will be starting
off well. In fact, the person who can most easily take up natural agriculture is
the one who doesn't have any of the common adult obstructing blocks of desire,
philosophy, or religion... the person who has the mind and heart of a child. One
must simply know nature... real nature, not the one we think we
know!
PLOWBOY: Can you be more specific about what
that attitude should be?
FUKUOKA: Many people think
that when we practice agriculture, nature is helping us in our
efforts to grow food. This is an exclusively human-centered viewpoint... we
should instead, realize that we are receiving that which nature decides to give
us. A farmer does not grow something in the sense that he or she creates
it. That human is only a small part of the whole process by which nature
expresses its being. The farmer has very little influence over that process...
other than being there and doing his or her small part.
People should
relate to nature as birds do. Birds don't run around carefully preparing fields,
planting seeds, and harvesting food. They don't create anything... they just
receive what is there for them with a humble and grateful heart. We, too,
receive our nourishment from the Mother Earth. So we should put our hands
together in an attitude of prayer and say "please" and "thank you" when dealing
with nature.
PLOWBOY: Do you think that, partly by
helping foster such different altitudes, your method could influence more
than the way we grow our food?
FUKUOKA: Yes, natural
farming could lead to changes in our way of life that would help solve
many of the problems of our present age. I think that people are starting to
have misgivings about the way the modern world's ever-accelerating growth and
scientific development, to question such things as nuclear power plants and the
massive slaughter of great whales, and to realize that the time for reappraisal
has arrived.
By living a natural lifestyle and demonstrating its
usefulness in this day and age, I feel I am serving humankind. As the steward of
my rice fields, I am making my stand against the need to use destructive
technology or eliminate other forms of life. After all, the problems of our time
are ones all of us must face in our own hearts and deeds. As I see it, the
ultimate goal of natural farming is not the growing of crops... but the
cultivation and perfection of human beings.
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This page was last updated on December 21, 2002
Copyright © 2002 Larry Haftl