This guy is amazing... He has discovered a simple way of changing deserts into forests... 'Seedballs'
I cannot impress upon you how amazing this Japanese farmer is. He is the father and master teacher, the Sensei of the art of Natural Farming.
"The power of Nature is great, because the natural structure is solid, three dimensional, not horizontal or two dimensional. Some of my mountain peach trees have kiwis climbing on them, and above the kiwi vines, there is a kind of melon. So three kinds of fruit exist together at different heights. I get one or two kilograms of fruit from one square meter of ground. This is a good sustainable yield. Natural production is greater than man-made production, because the structure is solid. Humans are destroying the power of Nature. We have only one fourth of the growing power of Nature left. We are not increasing fertility or production, but rather trying to prevent production from failing by using fertilizers. The world is digging itself into a bottomless pit with modern agriculture. The simple hearth of the small farm is the true center of our universe. Scientific thought is leading you away from a healthy life. Even the practice of conventional organic agriculture is a dangerous digression. It cannot be sustained if you have to rob part of the earth to feed another."
"Most farmers begin by asking, what if I do this or what if I do that, but only dissipate themselves that way. My approach just the opposite, seek the pleasant, natural way of farming. In order to make the work easier, not harder, I ask, how about not doing this or how about not doing that? By actual practice I finally reached conclusion there is no need to plow, no need to apply artificial fertilizer, no need to use pesticides at all. Most of the work of farming is created by tampering with nature, which causes negative side effects.
Very few agricultural practices are even necessary, just scattering seed, spreading straw on the soil and harvesting."
http://www.designandpeople.org/crone/masanobu.html
The Theory Of Relativity by Masanobu Fukuoka - Excerpts from his all-time classic, The One-Straw Revolution. Includes the following edited excerpt....
Four Principles of Natural Farming
The first is NO CULTIVATION, that is, no plowing or turning of the soil. The earth cultivates itself naturally by means of the penetration of plant roots and the activity of micro-organisms, small animals, and earthworms.
The second is NO CHEMICAL FERTILISER OR PREPARED COMPOST. People interfere with nature, and, try as they may, they cannot heal the resulting wounds. Their careless farming practices drain the soil of essential nutrients and the result is yearly depletion of the land.
The third is NO WEEDING BY TILLAGE OR HERBICIDES. Weeds play their part in building soil fertility and in balancing the biological community. As a fundamental principle, weeds should be controlled, not eliminated.
The fourth is NO DEPENDENCE OF CHEMICALS. The sensible approach to disease and insect control is to grow sturdy crops in a healthy environment.
"The farmers of long ago were a peaceful people, but now they are arguing with Australia about meat, quarrelling with Russia over fish, and dependent on America for wheat and soybeans"
For more information please take a browse through each of these websites...
http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC14/Fukuoka.htm
Greening The Desert
Applying natural farming techniques in Africa
an interview with Masanobu Fukuoka, by Robert and Diane Gilman
One of the articles in Sustainable Habitat (IC#14) Autumn 1986, Page 37
http://www.seedballs.com/2seedpa.html
A good site to get an overview of Seedballs, and a summary of Masanobu, and his techniques.
http://www.hollowtop.com/cls_html/thestore/Fukuoka.htm
Brief summary - with related books
http://organic.com.au/people/MasanobuFukuoka/
Brief summary of Masanobu as recipient of Magsaysay prize for his world-wide contribution to the well-being of mankind in 1988.
http://www.amberwaves.org/web_articles/fukuoka.html
On Listening to Nature
Interview with Masanobu Fukuoka By Mitsuko Mikami
http://www.mir.org/greenbelt/english/index.htm
This website is about the
"Greenbelt for southern Europe" initiative. The goal is to create a green belt in Europe - to stop desertification and recreate fertile soils.
http://www.lifepositive.com/body/nature/fukuoka-organicfarming.asp
Nature Knows Best By Suma Varughese
A review of Fukuoka's presence in India
Which includes.... "If a single new bud is snipped off a fruit tree with a pair of scissors, that may bring about a disorder which cannot be undone…Human beings with their tampering do something wrong, leave the damage unrepaired, and when the adverse results accumulate, work with all their might to correct them."
