The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming
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Product Description
Call it “Zen and the Art of Farming” or a “Small Green Book,” Masanobu Fukuoka’s manifesto about farming, eating, and the limits of human knowledge presents a radical challenge to the global systems we rely on for our food. At the same time, it is a spiritual memoir of a man whose innovative system of refining the planet reflects a deep faith in the wholeness and balance of the natural world. As Wendell Berry writes in his preface, the book “is valuable to us because it is at once practical and philosophical. It is an inspiring, necessary book about agriculture because it is not just about agriculture.”
Trained as a scientist, Fukuoka rejected both modern agribusiness and centuries of agricultural practice, deciding as a replacement for that the best forms of cultivation mirror scenery’s own laws. Over the next three decades he perfected his so-called “do-nothing” technique: commonsense, sustainable practices that all but eliminate the use of pesticides, fertilizer, tillage, and perhaps most significantly, wasteful effort.
Whether you’re a guerrilla gardener or a kitchen gardener, dedicated to slow food or simply looking to live a in excellent health life, you will find something here—you may even be stirred to start a revolution of your own.
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As a long-time gardener, I establish the book practically useless, and I establish the concept of “do-nothing farming” to be offensive.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
This book drove me crazy. But then, I have a really low threshold for Zen- and an even lower threshold for that peculiar style of reverent, whispery, needlessly flowery Japanese-to-English translation. Here’s an example from the text- “Humanity is like a blind man who does not know where he is heading. He gropes around with the cane of scientific knowledge, depending on yin and yang to set his course.” Now, the sentiment may very well be right– but lighten up, Francis. That’s the tone of the entire book, and it never lets up.
If you’re already an adherent of real food, permaculture, and no-till, you won’t learn anything new here. If you want a snapshot of how the real food movement got ongoing in Japan, you might get something out of the book.
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
We have 6 billion people. These methods may be sustainable over centuries but they will not sustain a population of 6 billion.
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Folks, we are in a fix because of overpopulation. We likely need population control measures on the order of cap and trade measures for carbon output. Its gonna be hideous. But, promoting naive “sustainable” farming techniques like these, but noble they may be, will not feed all of us. Setting political or agricultural agendas based on this will lead to mass starvation and war.
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Once we get zero population growth and start to shrink humanity down to about 2 billion perhaps these methods are then “sustainable”.
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There ain’t no free lunch.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
As is apparent, not only from the plenty of rave 5-star reviews of his book, but also from the many organizations and websites stemming from his approach to agriculture, Masanobu Fukuoka (1913-2008) clearly has had a profound and lasting influence as founder of a grass roots “natural farming” movement and, more broadly, as a respected representative of the more interconnected way of viewing our place within the ecosystem.
Published in 1978, following more than 30 years of Fukuoka’s hands-on experience farming in the Shikoku region of Japan, “The One-Straw Revolution” is both an exposition of the Fukuoka method of farming–direct seeding through broadcasting of pellets; no plowing or tilling; no chemicals fertilizers, insecticides or herbicides; seasonal grain/rice succession; mulching with clover and rice straw–and an extended discussion critiquing scientific values and their negative impact on commercial agricultural practices, our food, nutrition and lifestyle, as a replacement for advocating a “one with scenery,” Zen-influenced philosophy of life.
But much we can agree in spirit with Fukuoka’s natural approach to farming and living, we should not overlook the irony in how his own application of scientific inquiry undoubtedly aided his discovery and innovation of natural farming methods: “I have made a lot of mistakes while experimenting over the years and have veteran failures of all kinds. I probably know more about what can go incorrect growing agricultural crops than anyone else in Japan.” Fukuoka’s success can be attributed, at least in part, to his diligence and perseverance in following that very same, conduct experiment-based, scientific method he learned in his proper training and prior research as a microbiologist, yet generously criticizes in his book.
There is further irony in Fukuoka’s writing regarding humans and work: “I don’t particularly like the word `work.’ Human beings are the only animals who have to work, and I reflect this is the most ridiculous thing in the world. . . . I reflect the way animals live in the tropics, stepping outside in the morning and evening to see if there’s something to eat, and taking a long nap in the afternoon, must be a wonderful life. . . . To go things in this direction is my goal.” I know Fukuoka’s sentiment in wishing to place humans on par with animals, but I would also contend that this view is much too simplistic. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, when the human brain evolved to a larger size and humans lost their coat of hair and establish they needed to harness fire and invent clothing for warmth and survival, our evolutionary path diverged in significant ways from that of additional animals–so that returning to the idyllic animal-like being Fukuoka seeks is a practical impossibility.
Like it or not, we humans will never be content existing as animals do. Fukuoka’s criticism of the detrimental impact that compound-based commercial agriculture has had on humans and our environment is well taken; but, I cannot agree that humanity long-term will be better off if we stop attempting to reason, analyze and know the world in which we live, for the inquiring mind (including Fukuoka’s!) that evolution gave us when we bought larger brains is inherent in our scenery as human beings. Our only path yet to be into the future is to accept being uniquely human and forge earnestly onward–in a “natural” spirit consistent with Fukuoka’s teaching, but lacking subscribing to his overly simplistic goal of apt one with animals.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
I was on my way to join the Television journalism Institute.I took the bus and immediately grabbed a window seat and opened this book.I raised my head only when the bus had reached its destination,some sixty odd kilometers journey and still I had a few more pages to go.It was enchanting. It was about six years back but I still remember it vividly.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5