The One-Straw Revolution: An
Introduction to Natural Farming (New
York Review Books Classics) by
Masanobu Fukuoka
The One Straw Revolution. The Journey Of A Thousand Miles Begins With The Work
Of One Man
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.
Personal Review: The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to
Natural Farming (New York Review Books Classics) by
Masanobu Fukuoka
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
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