David Pike's Posts - Transition Whatcom2024-03-29T07:56:12ZDavid Pikehttp://transitionwhatcom.ning.com/profile/DavidPikehttp://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2197500552?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1http://transitionwhatcom.ning.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=2xytmklf2d941&xn_auth=noMasanobu Fukuoka – A Natural Farmertag:transitionwhatcom.ning.com,2010-04-15:2723460:BlogPost:189802010-04-15T16:17:29.000ZDavid Pikehttp://transitionwhatcom.ning.com/profile/DavidPike
><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div><p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><b><font size="3">Mas</font></b></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><b><font size="3">anobu Fukuoka –</font></b></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><b><font size="3">A Natural Farmer</font></b></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"></p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">By David Pike, April 2010…</font></i></span></p>
</div>
><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div><p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><b><font size="3">Mas</font></b></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><b><font size="3">anobu Fukuoka –</font></b></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><b><font size="3">A Natural Farmer</font></b></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt">
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">By David Pike, April 2010</font></i></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt">
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">On Masanobu Fukuoka’s natural farm, hea</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">lthy rice</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">grow</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">s</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">in harmony with white clover and</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">a diversity of other plants.</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Birds, insects, and other wildlife</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">have free access to the lands. In the orchards, c</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">lover and herbs,</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">and many</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">kinds of</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">vegetables are grown in a semi-</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">wild manner between the</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">citrus trees.</font></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt">
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Masanobu Fukuoka was born in 1913 on the</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">island</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">of</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Shikoku</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">in</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Japan</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">where his family has lived and farmed for the last 1,400 years</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">. His formal education</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">at</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Gifu</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Agricultural</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">College</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">trained</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">him in microbiology, soil science and</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">plant pathology. Out of college</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">he landed a job</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">in the Yokohama Customs Bureau</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">in the plant inspection station</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">researching</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">diseases, fungi, and pests found on imported fruits and plants</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">.</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">However;</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">at age 25 he</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">contracted acute pneumonia</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">and</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">had a close brush with</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">death. Following his recovery</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">he</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">underwent a</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">time of introspection</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">and eventually</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">arrived at a</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">pertinent</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">realization</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">which drastically changed his life.</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">He specifically</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">describes</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">the</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">moment of revelation:</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">“</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">One night as I wandered, I collapsed in exhaustion on a hill overlooking the harbor, finally dozing against the trunk of a large tree. I lay there, neither asleep nor awake, until dawn. In a daze</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">I watched the harbor grow light…</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">As the breeze blew up from below the bluff, the morning mist suddenly disappeared</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">. Just at that moment a</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">heron appeared, gave a sharp cry, and flew away into the distance. I could hear the flapping of its wings. In an instant all my doubts and the gloomy mist of my confusion vanished. Every</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">th</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">in</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">g I had held in firm conviction</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">was swept away with the wind. I felt that I understood just one thing. Without my thinking about them, words came from my mouth:</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">In this world there is nothing at all</font></i></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">.</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">There was no reason to worry</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">about life. A</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">ll the concepts to wh</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">ich I</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">had been clinging were empty fabrications.</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">My spirit became light and clear. I was dancing for joy.</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">All my agonies disappeared like dreams and illusions, a</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">nd</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">something one might call 'true nature' stood revealed.</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">”</font></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">The next day he resigned from</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">his job</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">and began roaming</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Japan</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">, earnestly</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">trying to teach his revelation</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">t</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">hat “everything is meaningless”</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">to anyone who would listen,</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">but he fou</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">nd that</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">m</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">ost were un</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">interested and many dismissed him as an eccentric. Eventually he rambled back home to a s</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">imple hut on the mountainside of</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">his father’</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">s farm. He was en</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">trusted with one of his father’s</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">bountiful citrus groves, and to test his philosophy of “there is nothing at all” he did nothing to the citrus trees. The trees soon outgrew their carefully pruned shape and the branches became crossed and entangled. Disease spread throughout the orchard, and many of the trees perished. His father was shocked at the result of this negligence</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">,</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">and</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">insisted that he take another job.</font></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Fukuoka</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">was</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">soon</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">hired as head researcher of disease and insec</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">t control for</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Kochi</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Prefecture</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">, however throughout this time he was reflecting on his ideas of natural farming</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">. He thought that crops should grow themselves,</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">with little or no outside help;</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">it is nature which grows crops, not people. “The question which was always in the back of my mind was whether or not natural farming could stand up against modern scientific agriculture.” After 8 years at his job, he returned to his home to take up farming once again.</font></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">After many more trials and losses in the citrus orchards he realized that trees which have been pruned cannot immediatel</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">y be</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">given</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">back to nature</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">. “This is abandonment, not natural farming.”</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">He discovered that p</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">runing a tree even once, or even cutting a single bud from a branch alters its shape and makes it</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">for</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">ever dependant on people.</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Eventually he had</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">great success with the citrus orchards by developing</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">the trees through selective pruning into a “natural form” – which is the shape he determined that they would take if grown in the wild.</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">But he insists</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">;</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">“to allow a tree to follow its natural form from the beginning is best. The tree will bear fruit every year and there is no need to prune.”</font></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Although he</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">earned most of his modest income through</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">selling citrus fruits,</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Fukuoka</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">did not find his passion in working with the citrus orchards -</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">but</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">with</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">the cultivation of</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">rice.</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">His success with rice through his natural farming methods started with similar results to his initial att</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">empts at growing citrus fruit –</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">there were many failures</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">.</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">He notes;</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">“The usual way to</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">go about developing a method is: How about trying this? How about trying that? Bringing in a variety of techniques one upon the other. This is modern agriculture and it only results in making the farmer busier. My way was opposite. I was aiming at a pleasant, natural way of farming which results in making the work easier instead of harder. How about</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">not</font></i></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">doing this? How about</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">not</font></i></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">doing that?”</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">The</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">idea came to him while he was walking past a rice field which had not</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">been used for many years</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">. There he</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">saw healthy, robust rice seedlings sprouting u</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">p between the straw and weeds, and so he began the process of emulating the way he had seen rice growing naturally</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">.</font></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">He wondered what his neighbors must have thought</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">;</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">“As the farmer next door walks by on the way to his field, he takes a sidelong glance at my field, notices that its always full of weeds, that its bumpy and uneven with high and low spots, that sometimes it’s flooded and sometimes its not. To him it looks like a mess – no order at all. There is no denying that I’ve had bad or irregular harvests, my neighbors, feeling sorry for me, just pass by, trying not to look at such a sorry sight. There is no one as unbend</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">ing or methodical as the [traditional]</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">farmer. As for me, I have done just the reverse by trying every possible type of irregular cropping under the sun.”</font></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">N</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">atural farming</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">emphasizes the principles of</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">no cultivation</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">, no chemical fertilizers</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">, and no chemical pesticides,</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">herbicides</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">, or fungicides</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">. “</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">When you get right down to it, there are few agricultural pract</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">ices that are really necessary.”</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Much of his rice growing technique is very unusual</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">in comparison to</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">mos</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">t of</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Japan</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">’s</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">traditional or conventional methods:</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">He relies on the natural balance of a healthy ecosystem to control outbreaks of pests and diseases.</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">When he</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">noticed</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">that</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">his</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">yields of rice began to rise after</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">several years of not tilling the</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">fields, he never tilled them again for the rest of his</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">life.</font></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">S</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">eeding</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">the</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">rice eventually evolved into a direct broadcast method</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">. In the fall the rice</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">is thrown into the</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">winter crop of barley or wheat before it is harvested.</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">T</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">he little seedlings</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">germinate in the spring, and</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">are walked on durin</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">g the harvest of the winter wheat or barley</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">, but they quickly recover</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">.</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Clover is allowed to grow with the rice, and acts as a weed suppressor and nitrogen fixer.</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Fukuoka</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">floods the rice field for about a week in the spring. The flooding coincides with the monsoon season when the rice fields would have been flooded naturally. The flooding kills the weeds and weakens the clover. When he lets the water out of the fields the clover comes back but only after the rice seedlings have sprouted through. He doesn't hold water in the fields for the rest of the season. He believes that rice grows better in a non-flooded field</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">.</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">He a</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">lso employs ducks, which roam the</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">fields at certain ti</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">mes to eat weeds, pests, and</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">leave fertilizer.</font></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Fukuoka</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">estimates that his method of growing rice requires only one-tenth of the input of labor and energy that is commonly used in modern industrial rice gr</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">owing, and uses no chemical</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">fertilizers, herbicides, or pest</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">icides</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">.</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">However</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">,</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">after many years of practicing natural farming</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">,</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">his rice yield</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">s</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">relative to his acreage were some of</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">the highest in all of</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Japan</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">. S</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">ince</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Japan</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">leads the world in rice</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">production;</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">his</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">rice yields</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">were</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">among</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">the best in the world.</font></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Fukuoka</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">visited the</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">United States</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">,</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Europe</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">,</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Somalia</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">,</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Tanzania</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">,</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">The Philippines,</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">India</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">, and</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">China</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">giving seminars on natural farming and discussing his philosophy. He was shocked to find how much of the world was undergoing desertification.</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">He concluded that the cause of desertification was deforestation, over grazing, poor water management an</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">d other agricultural practices.</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">The solution he proposed was</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">revegetation of</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">the deserts using any seeds that would grow there, and possibly even using airplanes to drop seeds over wide areas. One technique which could prove useful was one which Fukuoka practiced on his farm - an ancient seeding technique known as seed pellets, or seedballs (the Japanese script translates as ‘</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">e</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">arth dumplings</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">’. These are</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">small balls of clay and compost (or manure) which contain seeds for direct broadcasting. By concealing the seed within a pellet, it is protected from being eaten by rodents and birds before it has a chance to germinate. The germination is initiated when rain begins to melt away the clay, and the compost or manure helps to fertilize the emerging seedlings. Fukuoka commonly used this technique on his farm, but today it is catching on not only with natural farmers, but also with environmentalists who are practicing guerilla gardening. By tossing ‘seedbombs’ into vacant lands and urban settings, one might find vegetables, native plants, and wildflowers growing where one might not expect.</font></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt">
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">In addition to being a natural farmer, Masanobu Fu</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">kuoka is renowned for</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">his unique philosophy. His farming and philosophy are</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">in fact inseparable, as is</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">evident in his</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">book “The One-</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Straw Revolution.” It is not just a book of natural farming</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">techniques; it is also a philosophical text which has inspired many thousands of people to change their perspectives about science,</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">nature, G</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">od, civilization, agriculture, and existence.</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">(</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">These are extensive topics</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">on which I can barely scratch the surface of</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">in this summary, if</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">you</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">have further</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">interest</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">,</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">please read</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">his books.</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">)</font></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">The basis</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">of h</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">is philosophy centers</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">on a belief</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">that humanity</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">cannot understand nature; that</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">we are in no position to ever arrive at any conclusions regarding nature because it is far more vast and incomprehensible than we can possibly imagine.</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">This is combined with a view</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">that fundamentally there</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">is no v</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">alue in human intellect - leading to</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">an</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">assert</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">ion</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">that science has not uncovered</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">anything about</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">even the simplest aspects of nature</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">.</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">“Scientists are incapable even of knowing that they are in no position to understand the soul of a flower in the meadow</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">.</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">” His writings make it clear that he</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">rejects the direction which science has taken us</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">, and he cites</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">its</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">many</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">inherent failures</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">,</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">“</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">The irony is that science has served only to show how small human knowledge is.”</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Fukuoka</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">believed that a philosophical change in the world to be paramount to the implementation of natural farming – that is to say that positive change</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">in agriculture</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">will not happen without a change in global awareness.</font></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Althou</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">gh Fukuoka had many</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">visitors</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">who were interested in learning about his farming and philosophy, and many who actually stayed</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">and lived</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">in the mud huts on his land to study with him directly, he renounced his position as a philosophical leader; “Many people have come to live in my hilltop orchard, but I have not had the power to lead them, so I have not tried. I may have told them</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">:</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">go in this directio</font></i></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">n,</font></i></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">but I have never</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">said</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">:</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">believe me and do what I</font></i></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">tell you and you will meet God</font></i></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">. No means exist for describing nature and God, so I cannot possibly have disciples. I have never told anyone:</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">follow me, I shall lead you</font></i></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">. Perhaps I have said:</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">search for nature as you practice natural farming</font></i></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">.”</font></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Fukuoka</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">was t</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">rained</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">to be a scientist, but</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">refutes</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">the myth of science by putting his faith in nature instead. His fa</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">rming and his wisdom</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">reveal to the world that science is not necessary to grow wholesome food and to live a good and simple life.</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">He taught that e</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">ven if we cannot know or understand nature, we can realize that modern science and technol</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">ogy are leading us away from it, we can real</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">ize that there is a better way.</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">I</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">deas such as these could very well be the key to solving many of the world’s agricultural and environmental problems – if people were to only listen and learn from this teacher. Masanobu</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Fukuoka farmed</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">into his late 80’s and lectured into his early 90’s, he passed away in 2008 at age 95.</font></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt">
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">“</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Natural farming is not just for growing crops, it is for the cultivation and perfection of human beings.”</font></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt">
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt">
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><b><font size="4">Books:</font></b></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt">
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><b><font size="3">The One-Stra</font></b></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><b><font size="3">w Revolution</font></b></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">(1978)</font></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">His most well known book. Both a practical guide for growing rice, wheat, barley and vegetables in a natural way</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">,</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">and an introduction to his philosophy.</font></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><br/>
<br />
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><b><font size="3">The</font></b></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><b><font size="3">Natural Way</font></b></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><b><font size="3">of Farming</font></b></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><b><font size="3">-</font></b></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><b><font size="3">The Theory and Practice of Green Philosophy</font></b></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">(1985)</font></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">A more detailed how</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">-to guide for natural farming and philosophizing.</font></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt">
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Available for free</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">in PDF format</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">online at:</font></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><a href="http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/01aglibwelcome.html"><span style="COLOR:#874732; FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><u><font size="3">http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/01aglibwelcome.html</font></u></span></a>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt">
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt">
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><b><font size="3">The Road Back to Nature</font></b></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><b><font size="3">–</font></b></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><b><font size="3">Regaining the</font></b></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><b><font size="3">Paradise</font></b></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><b><font size="3">Lost</font></b></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">(1987)</font></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Details his insights into the troubles facing the lands he visited in his travels, as well as other global environmental, and philosophical concerns.</font></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt">
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Currently out of print. It is rumored that it will be republished in Summer of 2010.</font></span>
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt">
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt">
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt">
</p>
<p style="MARGIN:0pt">
</p>
</div>
<br/>Interview with Larry Korntag:transitionwhatcom.ning.com,2010-04-15:2723460:BlogPost:189822010-04-15T16:00:00.000ZDavid Pikehttp://transitionwhatcom.ning.com/profile/DavidPike
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">* Apologies for the lack of formatting in this interview. The Ning site unfortunately will not preserve spacing and formatting when publishing blog entries.</font></i></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">Larry Korn is a soil scientist, agricultural consultant…</font></i></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">* Apologies for the lack of formatting in this interview. The Ning site unfortunately will not preserve spacing and formatting when publishing blog entries.</font></i></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">Larry Korn is a soil scientist, agricultural consultant</font></i></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">/activist</font></i></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">and permaculture designer who lives in</font></i></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">Ashland</font></i></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">,</font></i></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">Oregon</font></i></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">. He lived in</font></i></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">Japan</font></i></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">for four years, two of them on the farm of Masanobu Fukuoka. Mr. Fukuoka developed a unique way of natural farming that involves no plowing, no agricultural chemicals, no mechanical weeding or prepared compost. He doesn’t flood his rice fields as farmers in</font></i></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">Asia</font></i></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">have done for thousands of years and yet his yields are comparable or exceed the most productive farms in</font></i></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">Japan</font></i></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">. Mr. Korn translated and edited Mr. Fukuoka’s landmark book, The One-Straw Revolution.</font></i></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">I met Larry during a permaculture course at the</font></i></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">Sahale</font></i></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">Learning</font></i></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">Center</font></i></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">in southwest</font></i></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">Washington</font></i></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">in February. Following is a slightly edited version of our conversation.</font></i></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">David: What led you to get involved in sustainable agriculture?</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Larry: I grew</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">up</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">a city boy in</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Southern California</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">and was always interested in Asian culture. I studied Chinese history at UC Berkeley in the late 1960’s. After I graduated I decided to travel to</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Asia</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">for an adventure to see what it was like there. I met</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Japanese</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">friends from the back-to-the land movement while I was in</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Japan</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">and spent time hitch hiking from one rural commune to another. I fell in love with nature and with gardening and farming. I returned to</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Berkeley</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">and got a degree in soil science and plant nutrition. Everything I have done since then has involved plants and soil.</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">David: How did</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">you happen to meet Mr. Fukuoka?</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Larry: I had heard of Mr. Fukuoka on my first visit to</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Japan</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">from the commune people and from friends who were studying at spiritual centers. They all had great respect for him, but no one had actually been to his farm. When I returned to</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Japan</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">in 1974</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">I lived with friends on a farming commune in the mountains north of</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Kyoto</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">. We used the organic techniques farmers used there until the end of World War II.</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Finally I decided to travel to</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Shikoku</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Island</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">to see Mr. Fukuoka’s</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">farm for myself.</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">David: Why did you decide to live there?</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Larry:</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">At the time Mr. Fukuoka was accepting students to live on his farm to learn abo</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">ut his techniques and his back-to-nature</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">philosophy. When I saw his rice fields, which hadn’t been plowed for more than 25 years, and his citrus orchard, which included a riot of plants such as weeds, clover, vegetables and herbs growing</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">in the spaces</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">beneath</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">the commercial Mandarin orange trees</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">I pretty much stopped what I was doing to learn more about it. Besides, it seemed like a lot of fun and I was out for adventure.</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">David: What was it like living on Mr. Fukuoka’s farm?</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Larry: There were about six or eight of us living in crude mud walled huts at any given time. We worked in the orchard chopping</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">firewood, cutting</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">the groundcover back, thinning fruit, harvesting, taking care of the chickens and the goats or whatever the seasonal jobs were at the time. We also m</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">anaged the rice fields</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">. Mr. Fukuoka grew rice and barley in the same fields each year. He had a continuous groundcover of whi</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">te clover growing under the grain</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">and returned all the</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">straw to the surface to act as</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">mulch</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">and create green manure</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">.</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Mr. Fukuoka i</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">nstructed us on things like</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">farming techniques, how to care for tools, and most importantly the philosophy that led him to farm in his unusual way. He gave us 10,000 yen each month (about $35 then) to buy things like soy sauce and vegetable oil which are not practical to produce on a small scale. Otherwise we lived entirely on what we produced in the rice field and the orchard. It was a lot of work but all together a wonderful time and a great experience.</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">David: Tell me about</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">The One-Straw Revolution</font></i></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">. How did you decide to translate it and how did you get it published in the</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">United States</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">?</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Larry:</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Mr. Fukuoka was respected as a philosopher in</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Japan</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">at the time but his farming techniques were generally considered</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">eccentric. His orchard and fields did not look like the neat well-kept farms of the typical Japanese. But those of us who worked there knew</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">how important his example could be</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">to the rest of the world.</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">The One-Straw Revolution</font></i></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">had just come out in Japanese so three of us decided to translate it into English.</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Once we had a decent manuscript I brought it to the</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">United States</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">to find a publisher. I managed to get a copy to Wendell Berry. He took the book under his wing and made sure that everything went right with it. Besides writing the preface, Wendell also worked with me for over a year on the copy editing. The book has now been translated into about 25 languages, all from our English language edition.</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">David: You had an opportunity to study both with Mr. Fukuoka and Bill Mollison, the fo</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">under of permaculture.</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">What is</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">the difference</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">between natural farming and permaculture</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">?</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Larry:</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Fukuoka</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">began his work in natural farming in the late 1940’s.</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">Permaculture One</font></i></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">, Mollison and Holmgren’s first book about permaculture</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">,</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">came to the</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">United States</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">in about 1980. One could say that</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Fukuoka</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">’s farm is a perfect permacultural model. It incorporates all of the interconnected features and functions that permaculture teaches. But there is a fundamental difference. Permaculture is a design methodology. The designer, after careful observation</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">, taking into consideration the various characteristics of the</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">site,</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">the soil</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">and</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">the water situation, the influence of the sectors such as aspect, wind, danger from fire and so forth, consciously creates a design. Then the design is implemented with the knowledge that the design will change over time in line with natural succession.</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Fukuoka</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">sees the human intellect as the main culprit in separating humanity from nature. He would rather keep human decision making as far out of the picture</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">as possible</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">.</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">“People use their intellect to try to improve upon nature and you see the result.”</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Sure, he tried experiments but only to allow nature to show him the way. And yet he and permaculture arrived at essentially the same place. I think that is because they both use nature as their model and it can only lead to an ecological way of farming.</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">I wrote an article about this which is posted on my website <a href="http://www.onestrawrevolution.net">www.onestrawrevolution.net</a></font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">David: What are your favorite plants?</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Larry: That’s a little like asking which is my favorite child or niece or nephew. Wait a</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">minute;</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">I</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">do have a favorite plant. It’s</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">the coast redwood (</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">S</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><i><font size="3">equoia sempervirons</font></i></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">). It is probably because I spent so many family camping trips to the redwoods</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">when I was a kid. If you have never visited the old growth redwoods in</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Northern California</font></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">you should. For me it is the closest place to heaven on earth.</font></span></p>Summary of Wendell Berry; The Unsettling of America, Culture and Agriculturetag:transitionwhatcom.ning.com,2009-10-31:2723460:BlogPost:98592009-10-31T21:43:11.000ZDavid Pikehttp://transitionwhatcom.ning.com/profile/DavidPike
Just finished reading “The Unsettling of America, Culture and Agriculture” by Wendell Berry. His writings make so much sense as to make a complete mockery of what commercial agriculture has become in our modern age. I doubt anyone has done such a thorough job of explaining just how deep the erosive fissures run in industrial agriculture, or “agri-business” as it is known in his book. He weaves together the failed policies and practices of the “get big, or get out” era of farm consolidation…
Just finished reading “The Unsettling of America, Culture and Agriculture” by Wendell Berry. His writings make so much sense as to make a complete mockery of what commercial agriculture has become in our modern age. I doubt anyone has done such a thorough job of explaining just how deep the erosive fissures run in industrial agriculture, or “agri-business” as it is known in his book. He weaves together the failed policies and practices of the “get big, or get out” era of farm consolidation during the ‘70s which caused a landslide in the numbers of small farmers and a consequential detriment to the quality of the farms and food they produce. His book is a scathing account of how farms have been forced into our cultural impression of a succesful capitalist business, to take any means necessary to gain the highest possible profit margins at the expense of all else; health of the land, health of the food, health of the people. In order to survive the pressures of the political policies and capitalism - and because farmers where advised by virtually every agricultural “authority”, farmers began using machinery to do the work of human hands and horses. They were sold these devices to “save labor” while Berry argues that these “labor saving” devices where actually just putting thousands upon thousands of people out of work, and they were not asked if they wanted their labor to be replaced by machines in the first place. The work which machines have replaced on the farm was hard work, but it was also good work, work which many people earned their living by and which some even enjoyed doing. The machines have also caused harm to the land; when tractors replaced horses and the means of cultivating a field, the incredible weight of the tractor and the type of plow used causes severe compaction of the soil. He notes interestingly that the when the Amish (who use only traditional horse-drawn chisel plows) begin farming on land which was formerly tractor plowed, their harvests increase dramatically year after year as the land is restored from the damage caused by the tractor plowing.<br />
Of course his book also includes critical essays on the abuse of chemical fertilizers - their negative impact on the land, and the pollution they cause from runoff. Also included is the astronimical harm caused by leaving fields barren and the consequential erosion of top soil, and a chapter on the abuse of energy, specifically fossil fuels, but more interesting to me are how he ties together these problems with our inherant social and cultural ideals. For instance, he makes a point of critiquing the modern human concept of “the future” as a utopian fantasy brought true by the saving graces of technological advancement. He insists that our culture is obsessed with “the future” as a space age place of ultra convenience where no one has to work and all of our needs are met by technology. Another example is the modern human interpretation of “nature” as now being a place to “get away to” a place to “go view the scenery”, we (mass culture, not you and I!) now consider ourselves to be apart from nature and not a part of nature.<br />
Although a bit of a stretch, he delves right into such topics as body and soul, and romance and marriage as related to agriculture, he certainly has a way of relating just about anything…his ultimate point being: Everything is connected.<br />
I recommend this book to anyone deeply interested in how agriculture relates to American culture, but I caution also that this book is thick reading chock full of 1970’s political policies and the long drawn out raving rants of a man who cares deeply for the land and can’t stand to see it being destoyed through ignorance. His viewpoints and solutions may be highly idealized, but also insightful and best utilized as a manual to teach a new generation of farmers and re-educate our current farmers worldwide.<br />
<br />
“The care of the earth is our most ancient and most worthy and, after all, our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it, and to foster its renewal, is our only legitimate hope.”<br />
<br />
-Wendell Berry