The documentary is also revealing in showing the kind of advice Fukuoka-sensei attempted to bestow on Indian farmers. 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. Whether you’re a guerrilla gardener or a kitchen gardener, dedicated to slow food or simply looking to live a healthier life, you will find something here—you may even be moved to start a revolution of your own. He suggests that most of the world’s farmers see skyscrapers as ‘tombstones of the human race’ (Fukuoka, 2012: 56). Part of Fukuoka’s attraction to India was the strong resonance between his ideas and those of Mahatma Gandhi.

The One-Straw Revolution - Penguin Random House The One-Straw Revolution - Penguin Random House

Over the next 65 years he worked to develop a system of natural farming that demonstrated the insight he was given as a young man, believing that it could be of great benefit to the world. The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming, translators Chris Pearce, Tsune Kurosawa and Larry Korn, Rodale Press. Because I live in a cold desert the growing season is very marginal and you have to give plants proper spacing or else they compete for sunlight and become leggy and stunted.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. Pest deterring compounds such as those found in the capsicum genus are effective in deterring insects from breaking open the balls and eating the seeds.

The One-Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka | Goodreads

That we ignore the bounty that nature is willing to shower upon us every season, and choose to eat with our heads (11-12 servings of carbohydrates, 6 of proteins, 5 of fruit, check! Trees would take root and bring up water from beneath the ground, simultaneously hydrating and cooling. To save this article to your Google Drive account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. With no ploughing, weeding, fertilizers, external compost, pruning or chemicals, his minimalist approach reduces labour time to a fifth of more conventional practices.

Be sure to check that the parents show evidence of nodulation, otherwise the soil is likely to be lacking the necessary bacteria. The system is based on the recognition of the complexity of living organisms that shape an ecosystem and deliberately exploiting it.