-
Birthday
Mansanobu Fukuoka was born on 2 February 1913 in Iyo, Ehime, Japan. -
The Birth of a Theory: Natural Farming
The Birth of a Theory: Natural Farming
In 1937 Fukuoka was hospitalized with pneumonia. While in recovery, he had a spiritual awakening that led him to reconsiders the practices of modern "Civilized" agricultural science. He later resigned from his post as a government employed agriculture research scientist and returned to his family's farm. -
Philopsohy
Natural Farming, Do-Nothing Farming, and the “Fukuoka Method”, is influenced by nature itself, but really there are many indigenous and native cultures around the world that have utilize these same 4 Principles: -
4 Principles
- 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.
-
Period: to
Major Influences of Natural Farming:
Influencers of the Organic farming Movements are Austrian Rudolf Steiner, German-Swiss Hans Müller, Lady Eve Balfour in the United Kingdom and J. I. Rodale in the United States. -
Period: to
Theory of Power in Natural Farming:
These practices are “flow of power” of “less is more”. In a deconstruction of Civilized Agriculture, instead of imaging ourselves as the controllers and masters of natures, we are simply part of nature, and we are trying to not think of farming as method to control life, but as a way of existence that creates a healthy environment for all organic life. -
Major Publications:
Masanobu Fukuoka has had many works published, but his most famous and the one which all his other works are built from was his first publication in English, “One Straw Revolution", which has now been translated into over 20 languages and sold more than one million copies.
This book is also heavily cited and referenced by those who participate in Permacultre. -
Period: to
Major Social, Political, and Cultural Events:
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger, have found that conventional industrial agriculture systems to be rooted in unsustainable practices that ignore basic biology and the needs of ecosystems. Hidden Costs of Industrial Agriculture | Union of Concerned Scientists". www.ucsusa.org.