was a Japanese farmer and philosopher celebrated for his natural farming and re-vegetation of desertified lands. He was a proponent of no-till, herbicide and pesticide-free cultivation methods from which he created a particular method of agriculture, commonly referred to as "natural farming" or "do-nothing farming".Sustainable Agriculture: Definition and Terms. Special Reference Briefs Series no. SRB 99-02, September 1999. Compiled by: Mary V. Gold, Alternative Farming Systems Information Center, US Department of AgricultureSetboonsarng, S. and Gilman, J. 1999. Alternative Agriculture in Thailand and Japan. HORIZON Communications, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. Online review version (Retrieved 25 March 2014).
Fukuoka was the author of several books, scientific papers and other publications, and was featured in television documentaries and interviews from the 1970s onwards.NHK TV 1976 Documentary (in Japanese). Retrieved 30 November 2010. His influences went beyond farming to inspire individuals within the natural food and lifestyle movements. He was an outspoken advocate of the value of observing nature's principles.Scheewe W. (2000) Nurturing the Soil, Feeding the People: An Introduction to Sustainable Agriculture, rev ed. Rex Bookstore, Inc.
Life Fukuoka was born on 2 February 1913 in Iyo, Ehime, Japan, the second son of Kameichi Fukuoka, an educated and wealthy land owner and local leader. He attended Gifu Prefecture Agricultural College and trained as a microbiologist and agricultural scientist, beginning a career as a research scientist specialising in plant pathology. He worked at the Plant Inspection Division of the Yokohama Customs Bureau in 1934 as an agricultural customs inspector. In 1937 he was hospitalised with pneumonia, and while recovering, he stated that he had a profound spiritual experience that transformed his world view1992 1996 translation The Ultimatum of God Nature The One-Straw Revolution A Recapitulation -page 2. "In an instant I had become a different person. I sensed that, with the clearing of the dawn mist, I had been transformed completely, body and soul."2001 [(a title translate:) The One Straw Revolution: Recapitulation -Journeying [around Earth] with clay seed balls-] -biographical notes on page 271. and led him to doubt the practices of modern "Western" agricultural science. He immediately resigned from his post as a research scientist, returning to his family's farm on the island of Shikoku in southern Japan.
From 1938, Fukuoka began to practice and experiment with new techniques on organic citrus orchards and used the observations gained to develop the idea of "Natural Farming". Among other practices, he abandoned pruning an area of citrus trees, which caused the trees to become affected by insects and the branches to become entangled. He stated that the experience taught him the difference between nature and non-intervention.1975 1985 translation -updated 1987 The Natural Way Of Farming-The Theory and Practice of Green Philosophy -pages 132 and 190-216 - page 132 "There is a fundamental difference between nature and the doctrine of laissez-faire or non-intervention. Laissez-faire is the abandoning of nature by man after he has altered it, such as leaving a pine tree untended after it has been transplanted in a garden and pruned, or suddenly letting a calf out to pasture in a mountain meadow after raising it on formula milk."1992 1996 translation The Ultimatum of God Nature The One-Straw Revolution A Recapitulation -pages 5, 50, 97-8, 206-208 - page 98. "To put it very briefly, my theory is that human knowledge and actions have destroyed nature, and thus, if we abandon them and leave nature to nature, nature will recover on its own. This does not, however, mean nonintervention." His efforts were interrupted by World War II, during which he worked at the Kōchi Prefecture agricultural experiment station on subjects including farming research and food production.
In 1940, Fukuoka married his wife Ayako, and they had five children together. After World War II, his father lost most of the family lands in postwar land reform and was left with three-eighths of an acre of rice land and the hillside citrus orchards his son had taken over before the war. Despite these circumstances, in 1947 he took up natural farming again with success, using no-till farming methods to raise rice and barley. He wrote his first book, Mu 1: The God Revolution, or in Japanese, during the same year, and worked to spread word of the benefits of his methods and philosophy. His later book, The One-Straw Revolution, was published in 1975 and translated into English in 1978.
From 1979, Fukuoka travelled the world extensively, giving lectures, working directly to plant seeds and re-vegetate areas, and receiving a number of awards in various countries in recognition of his work and achievements. By the 1980s, Fukuoka recorded that he and his family shipped some 6,000 crates of citrus to Tokyo each year, totalling about 90 tonnes.
During his first journey overseas, Fukuoka was accompanied by his wife Ayako, met macrobiotic diet leaders Michio Kushi and Herman Aihara,1984 1987 translation The Road Back to Nature: Regaining the Paradise Lost and was guided by his leading supporter and translation editor Larry Korn. They sowed seeds in desertified land and met with United Nations UNCCD representatives including Maurice Strong, who encouraged Fukuoka's practical involvement in the "Plan of Action to Combat Desertification".
In 1983, he travelled to Europe for 50 days holding workshops, educating farmers and sowing seeds. In 1985, he spent 40 days in Somalia and Ethiopia, sowing seeds to re-vegetate desert areas, including working in remote villages and a refugee camp. The following year he returned to the United States, speaking at three international conferences on natural farming in Washington state, San Francisco and at the Agriculture Department of the University of California, Santa Cruz. Fukuoka also took the opportunity to visit farms, forests and cities giving lectures and meeting people. In 1988, he lectured at the Indian Science Congress, state agricultural universities and other venues.
Fukuoka went to Thailand in 1990 and 1991, visiting farms and collecting seeds for re-vegetating deserts in India, which he returned to during November and December that year in an attempt to re-vegetate them. The next year saw him participate in official meetings in Japan associated with the Earth Summit in Rio, Brazil, and in 1996 he returned to Africa, sowing seeds in desert areas of Tanzania, observing baobab trees and jungle country. He taught the making and sowing of clay seed balls in Vietnam during 1995.
He travelled to the Philippines in 1998, carrying out Natural Farming research, and visited Greece later that year to assist plans to re-vegetate 10,000 hectares (40 sq. mi.) around the Lake Vegoritida area in the Pella regional unit and to produce a film of the major seed ball effort. The next year he returned to Europe, visiting Mallorca.
He visited China in 2001, and in 2002 he returned again to India to speak at the "Nature as Teacher" workshop at Navdanya Farm and at Bija Vidyapeeth Earth University in Dehradun, Uttarakhand in northern India. On Gandhi's Day, he gave the third annual Albert Howard Memorial Lecture to attendees from all six continents. That autumn he was to visit Afghanistan with Yuko Honma but was unable to attend, shipping eight tons of seed in his stead. In 2005, he gave a brief lecture at the World Expo in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, World Expo Aichi Japan 2005 appearance - official web page for his session in 2005 Aug 4. (Japanese only; Retrieved 30 November 2010) and in May 2006 he appeared in an hour-long interview on Japanese television network NHK. May 2006 NHK television interview between Fukuoka Masanobu and on the topic: Journey around the world with Clay seed balls
Masanobu Fukuoka died on 16 August 2008 at the age of 95, after a period of declining mobility that made him reliant on a wheelchair.
Natural farming
Fukuoka called his agricultural philosophy , most commonly translated into English as "natural farming".. Translated and reinterpretated in 1978 under the title The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming. It is also referred to as "the Fukuoka Method", "the natural way of farming" or "Do-Nothing Farming".
The system is based on the recognition of the complexity of living organisms that shape an ecosystem and deliberately exploiting it. Fukuoka saw farming not just as a means of producing food but as an aesthetic and spiritual approach to life,Linking foresight and sustainability: An integral approach. Joshua Floyd, Kipling Zubevich Strategic Foresight Program and National Centre for Sustainability, Swinburne University of Technology the ultimate goal of which was "the cultivation and perfection of human beings".Agriculture: A Fundamental Principle, Hanley Paul. Journal of Bahá'í Studies Vol. 3, number 1, 1990.
The four principles of natural farming are that:The One-Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka, New York Review Books. Published 1978, 2009 edition, pages 33-34
human cultivation of soil, plowing or tilling are unnecessary, as is the use of powered machines prepared fertilizers are unnecessary, as is the process of preparing compost weeding, either by cultivation or by herbicides, is unnecessary; instead, only minimal weed suppression with minimal disturbance should be used applications of pesticides or herbicides are unnecessary
Clay seed balls Fukuoka re-invented and advanced the use of clay seed balls. Clay seed balls were originally an ancient practice in which seeds for the next season's crops are mixed together, sometimes with humus or compost for microbial inoculants, and then are rolled within clay to form into small balls. This method is now commonly used in guerilla gardening to rapidly seed restricted or private areas."Seed Bombs: A Guide to Their Various Forms and Functions. On Guerilla Gardening.org (English) (Retrieved 25 May 2011)
Awards In 1988, Fukuoka received the Visva-Bharati University's Desikottam Award"Japanese Farmer-Philosopher Masanobu Fukuoka: Natural Farming Greening the Deserts" Japan for Sustainability Newsletter 2006 May. (English) –Japanese page. (Retrieved 5 January 2011) as well as the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service in the Philippines, often considered "Asia's Nobel Prize".The 1988 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service. "RESPONSE of Masanobu Fukuoka 31 August 1988". The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation website. (Retrieved 15 December 2010)."In electing Masanobu Fukuoka to receive the 1988 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service, the Board of Trustees recognizes his demonstration to small farmers everywhere that natural farming offers a practical, environmentally safe, and bountiful alternative to modern commercial practices and their harmful consequences".
In March 1997, the Earth Summit+5 forum in Rio de Janeiro presented him with the Earth Council Award, received in person at a ceremony in Tokyo on 26 May of that year, Earth Council Awards 1997 Japan - Japanese Government Environment department website press release (Japanese only; Retrieved 30 November 2010) honouring him for his contributions to sustainable development.
In 1998, Fukuoka received a grant of US$10,000 from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, but the grant was returned because his advanced age prevented him from completing the project.. "As a contribution toward the publication of a textbook, 'Natural Farming - How to Make Clayballs'."
Influence