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The Natural Wayof Farming
The Theory and Practice of Green Philosophy
By
Masanobu Fukuoka
Translated by
Frederic P. MetreaudJapan Publications, Inc.
©1985 by Masanobu FukuokaTranslated by Frederic
P. MetreaudAll
rights reserved, including the right to
reproduce this book or
portions thereof inany form without the
written permission of the
publisher.Published by J
APAN
P
UBLICATIONS
, I
NC
., Tokyo and New York
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First
edition: October 1985Revised
edition: February 1987
LCCC No. 84-81353 ISBN 0-87040-613-2
Printed in U.S.A.
Preface
Natural farming is based on
a nature free of human meddling and
intervention. Itstrives to restore nature from
the destruction wrought by human knowledge andaction, and to resurrect
a humanity divorced from God.While still a youth, a
certain
turn of
events set
me out on the proud and lonelyroad back to nature.
With
sadness, though,
I learned that one
person cannot
livealone. One
either lives in association with people or in communion with nature.
Ifound also,
to my despair, that people were no
longer truly human, and nature nolonger truly
natural. The
noble road that rises
above the world of
relativity
was toosteep for me.These writings are the record of one farmer
who for fifty
years has
wanderedabout
in search of nature. I
have
traveled
a
long
way, yet as night falls there
remainsstill a
long way to go.Of
course, in a
sense,
natural farming will
never be perfected. It will not seegeneral application in its true form, and will
serve only as
a
brake
to slow the madonslaught of
scientific agriculture.Ever
since I
began proposing a
way of farming in step with nature,
I havesought to
demonstrate the validity of
five major principles: no
tillage, no
fertilizer,no pesticides,
no weeding, and no pruning. During the many
years that have elapsedsince,
I have never
once doubted the possibilities
of a
natural way of farming thatrenounces all human knowledge and intervention. To
the
scientist
convinced
thatnature
can be understood and used
through the human intellect and
action,
naturalfarming is
a special case and
has
no universality.
Yet these basic principles applyeverywhere.The trees and grasses release seeds that
fall to the ground, there to
germinateand grow into
new plants.
The seeds sown by nature are not
so weak as to grow onlyin plowed
fields. Plants have always grown
by direct
seeding, without
tillage. Thesoil in the fields is worked by small animals and roots, and
enriched
by green manure plants.Only
over the last
fifty
years or
so have chemical
fertilizers become thought
of as indispensable.
True, the ancient practice of
using
manure
and compost does
helpspeed crop growth, but
this also depletes the land from which the organic material inthe compost is taken.Even organic farming, which everyone is making such a big fuss over lately, is just another type of
scientific farming.
A lot of trouble is taken to move organicmaterials first here
then there, to process
and treat.
But any
gains to be had
from
allthis
activity are local
and temporal gains. In
fact, when examined from a broader perspective,
many such efforts to protect
the
natural ecology are actually destructive.Although a thousand diseases attack
plants in the fields and forests, naturestrikes a balance; there never was
any need for
pesticides.
Man grew confused whenhe identified these diseases as
insect
damage; he
created
with
his own hands the needfor labor and
toil.Man tries also to
control weeds, but
nature does not arbitrarily
call one plant
aweed and try
to eradicate
it. Nor
does a
fruit tree always
grow
more vigorously and bear more fruit when
pruned. A tree grows best
in
its
natural habit;
the
branches
donot
tangle, sunlight falls on
every
leaf, and
the tree bears fully each
year, not only inalternate years.Many people are worried today over the drying out of arable lands
and the lossof
vegetation throughout the world, but
there is no doubting that human civilizationand the misguided
methods of
crop
cultivation that arose from man's
arrogance arelargely responsible for this global plight.
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