The One Straw Revolution An Introduction to Natural Farming New York Review Books Classics

Call it “Zen and the Art of Farming” or a “Little 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 cultivating the earth 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 instead that the best forms of cultivation mirror nature’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 healthier life, you will find something here—you may even be moved to start a revolution of your own.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Natural Farming with The One Straw Revolution
This book will generally appeal to two types of people:1-those wishing to learn farming or gardening using the most sensible, natural methods known while also doing the least amount of work and being rewarded with bountiful harvests and 2-those seeking spiritual enlightenment through communion with nature. I am one of the first type mentioned. I pretty much skimmed over the Zen Buddhism/Taoism, slowing to study the parts where Mr. Fukuoka talks about his methods and experiences in farming the natural way.

I tend to write in my books, highlighting and underlining the passages that speak to me, instead of taking seperate notes. My copy of this book now has alot of added ink--sometimes I have underlined entire pages. The amount of useful information in this book is astounding. It's full. I'm not seeking enlightenment, or I would say it is full to overflowing.

While I don't have a farm, I do keep a backyard garden, and I have found the techniques Mr. Fukuoka teaches to be especially useful and time/energy saving for me. You don't have to have a green thumb for his methods to work either.

I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to begin farming or gardening the natural way, especially if you want to get in on the now popular "Go-Green" trend, as his methods call for No Tilling, No Fertilizer, No Pesticides, and No Weeding.

Sounds like "No Work" right? Well, there is work involved, but it is minimal compared to the modern methods of farming and gardening.

You will want to check into this one. I did, and I have not once been sorry for it.

Five big, bright shiny stars from me to you, Mr. Fukuoka.

5 Stars essential
This is one of the more inspiring books I've ever read. If you have any interest in gardening you must read this book. It's also totally enlightening in exploring eastern philosophy/ culture and the scientific method. I cannot recommend this strongly enough.

4 Stars Natural Farming, Yes, But Animals We Are Not
As is apparent, not only from the abundance 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, instead advocating a "one with nature," Zen-influenced philosophy of life.

However 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 experienced failures of all kinds. I probably know more about what can go wrong 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, experiment-based, scientific method he learned in his formal training and prior research as a microbiologist, yet liberally 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 think this is the most ridiculous thing in the world. . . . I think 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 move things in this direction is my goal." I understand 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 found they needed to harness fire and invent clothing for warmth and survival, our evolutionary path diverged in significant ways from that of other animals--so that returning to the idyllic animal-like existence 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 chemical-based commercial agriculture has had on humans and our environment is well taken; however, I cannot agree that humanity long-term will be better off if we stop attempting to reason, analyze and understand the world in which we live, for the inquiring mind (including Fukuoka's!) that evolution gave us when we acquired larger brains is inherent in our nature as human beings. Our only path ahead into the future is to accept being uniquely human and forge earnestly onward--in a "natural" spirit consistent with Fukuoka's teaching, but without subscribing to his overly simplistic goal of becoming one with animals.

5 Stars The One Straw Revolution. The Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with the Work of One Man
I mentioned in In Search of Simplicity: A True Story that Changes Lives the inspiration I had received from Japanese scientist and farmer, Masanobu Fukuoka. He found through trial and error a number of secrets that nature revealed to those prepared to work with her and to observe keenly. This knowledge didn't come easily to Fukuoka. He openly revealed in his writing that he almost killed the existing citrus trees when he first took over his father's farm. But his wisdom, presented in books such as The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming (New York Review Books Classics) is a palpable testimony to the unswerving dedication of one man.

Fukuoka maintains that our society's motto seems to be that `Bigger is Better.' People want to feel important through `important' jobs. He saw that agriculture, in Japan and elsewhere in the modern world, has come to rely on chemicals and machines. In order to pay for the costs of these inputs farmers aim for higher yields and people get busier and busier.

Fukuoka suggests we can look at how plants grow in Nature--effortlessly. If man could work with Nature to grow his food he could live without much work and exertion.

After leaving his work as a trained microbiologist and research scientist, Fukuoka began to search for methods of growing that were more natural than the modern trends that surrounded him.

He developed a method of growing rice that involves no digging, ploughing or machines. He walks through his field(s) of high standing rice just before the time of harvest, hand sowing seeds of winter grain--usually barley--and white clover. After harvesting the rice, the rice straw is left lying on the ground as mulch and to return organic material to the soil. Some chicken manure is added.

In time the winter grain and clover seeds germinate and grow. Clover fixes nitrogen for the barley, reduces weed growth and its roots break up the soil.

Rice is usually sown in the spring, when heavy rains help it to germinate and discourage the growth of the clover. Barley straw is left on the ground, again as mulch and to improve the soil. Fukuoka hasn't ploughed his fields in decades. In that time the soil has dramatically improved. Microbes, worms and other creatures broke down organic material and, together with the roots of plants, aerated the soil. He experienced little insect and pest damage, hypothesising that the plants grew stronger and more resistant in the undisturbed soil.

He decided to plant a steep hillside with citrus trees, without resorting to the building of terraces. He started out by dynamiting holes in the rock-hard soil for mandarin and orange trees. In time, he found an easier and more natural way. Fast growing acacias were established to fix nitrogen. Within seven years each tree was the size of a telegraph pole and could be cut down for firewood. The citrus trees were under planted with comfrey, burdock and daikon (long white radish, a traditional Japanese vegetable). The soil is now richer and more manageable and it supports low care vegetables (even comfrey roots are eaten and are claimed to be delicious) and a nearly pest-free citrus crop. He plants a few acacias each year to ensure a constant supply of firewood for heating and cooking.

Fukuoka states that chemically-grown vegetables may be considered as foodstuffs but not as medicine, whereas organic, naturally grown plants can be considered to be both medicine and food. This sounds like Hippocrates saying 2400 years earlier, "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food."

Fukuoka warns of the dangers of Europeans dedicating so much of their arable land to wine grapes and livestock. He says that an equivalent acreage, dedicated to the growing of grain and vegetables, could support many more people. He is concerned that the industrialization of society is wasteful and polluting. In Japan sulphur dioxide from factories changes into sulphuric acid in the atmosphere, and has resulted in the widespread death of native pine trees. He sees that the world is moving forward quickly and without regard for the consequences of rapid change. In the West, people are separated from nature and industrial agriculture is based on what he considers contempt for Nature. In Japanese philosophy God is in Nature, the wind and the rain and the plants, in everything. Since God is in rice, eating rice in a conscious way puts one on the same level as God. He urges everyone to turn back to Nature for solutions. He says anyone can use `Natural Farming'. What he calls The Great Way has no gates.

The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming (New York Review Books Classics) is Masanobu Fukuoka's manifesto about farming, eating, and life. In reading it I could see and feel that for Masanobu growing and eating food is indivisible from spirituality. What a contrast and challenge to the present global systems of food growing and procurement. Read this book and be inspired to be the change you want to see in the world.

John Haines: Author of In Search of Simplicity

In Search of Simplicity: A True Story that Changes Lives

2 Stars Hippie-dippy Zen in the garden
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 true-- 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 started in Japan, you might get something out of the book.

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