Masanobu Fukuoka

MASANOBU FUKUOKA (1913-2008) was a farmer and philosopher who was born and raised on the Japanese island of Shikoku. 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 twenty-five languages and has helped make Fukuoka a leader in the worldwide sustainable agriculture movement He continued farming until shortly before his death in 2008 at the age of ninety-five.

Horz01

Publishing

Works:

The Road Back to Nature: Regaining the Paradise Lost

For over fifty years, the author of this revealing book has devoted his life to farming as a spiritual path. Acclaimed in his native land for his paradoxical wisdom, Fukuoka has pioneered in showing that culture is agriculture, that the roots of a healthy, whole way of life can be found in farming, and that tilling the land and growing magnificent products need not be laborious. Here are Fukuoka’s secrets to farming the natural way— first giving the theory and practice of working with nature, and living the better for it; then explaining in a practical and down-to-earth manner how to go about using his revolutionary techniques to make lasting peace with the earth and with ourselves.

Profusely illustrated with “how-to” photographs, figures and tabl clearly explained in a lucid text, this book has a provocative message for farmers, gardeners, and general readers, leading all to self-renewal thr the land.

The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming

During the past forty years Masanobu Fukuoka has witnessed with indignation the de- generation of both the land and of Japanese society. In those years the Japanese have followed single-mindedly the American model of economic and industrial development, abandoning their rich heritage of working closely and simply with their land. Mr. Fukuoka, however, was determined not to forsake traditional farming. Instead, he refined it so that his natural farming method requires less labor and less disruption of nature than any other, while maintaining the same yields per acre as his farmer neighbors.

In this highly sensitive and thought- provoking work, Mr, Fukuoka describes the events that led to the development of his natural farming methods and the impact that it has had on his land, himself, and the thousands of people he has taught. He discusses the method itself and why he believes it offers a practical, steady-state model of how society can live on a foundation of permanence and simplicity.

Sowing Seeds in the Desert: Natural Farming, Global Restoration and Ultimate Food Security

The earth is in great peril due to the corporatization of agriculture, the rising climate crisis, and the ever-increasing levels of global poverty, starvation, and desertifi cation on a massive scale. This present condition is not “natural,” according to Masanobu Fukuoka, but a result of humanity's destructive actions. Fukuoka’s inspiring and international best selling book, The One-Straw Revolution, spoke directly to the growing movement of organic farmers and activists seeking a new way of life.

For years after its publication, Fukuoka traveled the world spreading his teachings, and worked with a devoted following of farmers and organizations in Africa, India, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the United States to show how you could grow food and regenerate forests with very little irrigation in the most desolate places. Sowing Seeds in the Desert, a summation of those years of travel and research, is Fukuoka’s last major work—and perhaps his most important.

The book presents Fukuoka’s revolutionary plan to rehabilitate the world's deserts and achieve global food security by using natural farming, including practical solutions for feeding a growing human population and providing a deep and renewed understanding of the relationship between human, beings and nature. Fukuoka’s message comes 1en people around the world seem to have lost their frame of reference, and offers Us a way forward.

The Natural Way of Farming: The Theory and Practice of Green Philosophy

Imagine raising crops with no cultivation, no chemical fertilizers or herbicides, not even any added compost! Fukuoka has learned not to ask the impossible of nature, and is blessed with impossibly high yields. Instead of continually attempting to do a little bit more, he has looked for ways to do less, to leave off unnecessary labors, and yet his soil grows richer every year. He has pared his costs, equipment, and techniques down to an absolute minimum, rejecting the race to keep up with runaway relative economies for a saner, more balanced natural cycle. He offers us a provocative image of stewardship to the earth as the cornerstone to a society of sufficiency, permanence, and self-renewal.

Professional

References

ISNI:

0000 0000 8460 7037

Personal

Country of Origin:

Japan

Birth / Death:

Sunday, February 2, 1913 to Saturday, August 16, 2008