The One-Straw Revolution (New York Review Books Classics)

Product Information

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. Making seedballs is relatively simple, but like any craft it takes some time to get the hang of it.

The One-Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka | Goodreads

Fukuoka, M. (1996/2012). Sowing Seeds in the Desert (L. Korn, Ed. & Trans.). White River Junction, Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing. Friedrich, Theodor and Kienzle, Josef (2008) Conservation Agriculture: Impact on farmers' livelihoods, labour, mechanization and equipment; in: Stewart, B.I., Asfary, A.F., Belloum, A. Steiner, K., Friedrich, T. (eds): Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable Land Management to Improve the Livelihood of People in Dry Areas; Proceedings of an international workshop, 7–9 May 2007 in Damascus, Syria, Damascus/Syria, pp 25-36. In 1975 he wrote The One-Straw Revolution, a best-selling book that described his life’s journey, his philosophy, and farming techniques. This book has been translated into more than 25 languages and has helped make Mr. Fukuoka a leader in the worldwide sustainable agriculture movement. He continued farming until shortly before his death in 2008, at the age of 95. Fukuoka called his agricultural philosophy shizen nōhō ( 自然農法), most commonly translated into English as " natural farming". [18] It is also referred to as "the Fukuoka Method", "the natural way of farming" or "Do-Nothing Farming".

One-Straw Revolutionaryrepresents the first commentary on the work of the late Japanese farmer and philosopher Masanobu Fukuoka (1913 – 2008), widely considered to be natural farming’s most influential practitioner. Mr. Fukuoka is perhaps most known for his bestselling book The One-Straw Revolution(1978), a manifesto on the importance of no-till agriculture, which was at the time of publication a radical challenge to the global systems that supply the world’s food, and still inspires readers today. Larry Korn, who apprenticed with Mr. Fukuoka in Japan at the time, translated the manuscript and brought it to the United States, knowing it would change the conversation about food forever. The One-Straw Revolution, edited by Korn and Wendell Berry, was an immediate international success, and established Mr. Fukuoka as a leading voice in the fight against conventional industrial agriculture. In this new book, through his own personal narrative, Larry Korn distills his experience of more than thirty-five years of study with Mr. Fukuoka, living and working on his farm on Shikoku Island, and traveling with Mr. Fukuoka to the United States on two six-week visits. The documentary is also revealing in showing the kind of advice Fukuoka-sensei attempted to bestow on Indian farmers. During his visit to India in 1997, Fukuoka-sensei met with a number of practicing natural farmers, many of whom were struggling and in need of advice. Interestingly, the documentary shows that he was equally philosophical in his dialogues with farmers as he was in his books – speaking of the futility of human knowledge and the value in leaving things to nature. He was purist in his adherence to principle, reprimanding farmers for even slight tillage of the soil or having fixed ideas of how nature ought to behave. He holds to the value of scattering seed, and makes the point that in desertified lands, one need only be more rigorous, scattering seed balls continually until they take root. After many years of observation and experimentation, Fukuoka developed a method of growing rice, barley, vegetables and fruit over his small farm with very minimal disturbance of the soil or need for fertilization. He referred to these methodologies and philosophical perspectives as “natural farming”, and wrote several inspiring and informative books on the matter. The One-Straw Revolution, and Sowing Seeds in the Desert being two of the most renowned.

One-straw Revolution, by Masanobu Fukuoka. English The One-straw Revolution, by Masanobu Fukuoka. English

Mu 1: Kami no Kakumei ( 無1　神の革命), self-published; republished by Shunjūsha, 1985. ISBN 978-4-393-74111-5 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. a b "The 1988 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service - "BIOGRAPHY of Masanobu Fukuoka" ". Archived from the original on 2009-01-15 . Retrieved 2010-08-17. in Japanese) Elder Mr. Fukuoka meeting again with owner of Mahoroba Natural Foods store (Japanese only; Retrieved 30 November 2010) It is said that Einstein was given the Nobel Prize in physics in deference to the incomprehensibility of his theory of relativity. If his theory had explained clearly the phenomenon of relativity in the world and thus released humanity from the confines of time and space, bringing about a more pleasant and peaceful world, it would have been commendable. His explanation is bewildering, however, and it caused people to think that the world is complex beyond all possible understanding. A citation for "disturbing the peace of the human spirit" should have been awarded instead.

During our visit to Fukuoka-sensei’s farm in Iyo, his grandson, Hiroki-san, informed us that in all the world there were probably only ten people practicing natural farming in the manner that his grandfather had taught. Many others had adopted aspects of his methods, but were unwilling to leave things to nature to such a large extent as Fukuoka-sensei – they are only partially practicing ‘natural farming’ (and Hiroki-san included himself in this). Those who were practicing a pure form of natural farming were mostly doing it as an experiment or as a way of life, but not as a commercial initiative, and they were overwhelmingly from wealthier countries. Furthermore, the overwhelming number of visitors coming to the farm today are from Europe and North America. It is telling that a farming method that has the potential to mend the damaged lands of the post-colonial world and which requires very little expenditure on labour and other inputs, has not become more popular amongst the peasant societies of Asia, Africa and Latin America. This was despite Masanobu Fukuoka’s extensive efforts at revegetation in the Philippines, Thailand and East Africa. You hear a lot of talk these days about the benefits of the "Good Rice Movement" and the "Green Revolution." Because these methods depend on weak, "improved" seed varieties, it becomes necessary for the farmer to apply chemicals and insecticides eight or ten times during the growing season. Rosset, P. (2000). Lessons from the Green Revolution. Oakland: Food First [online]. Available from: http://www.foodfirst.org/media/opeds/2000/4-greenrev.html