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The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming (New York Review Books Classics) by [Masanobu Fukoka, Larry Korn, Frances Moore Lappe, Wendell Berry, Masanobu Fukuoka]

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Masanobu Fukoka

The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming (New York Review Books Classics) Kindle Edition

by Masanobu Fukoka (Author), Larry Korn (Editor, Translator), Frances Moore Lappe (Introduction), Format: Kindle Edition

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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.

Print length

226 pages
Language

English
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Publisher

NYRB Classics
Publication date

September 8, 2010
File size

21791 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"The One-Straw Revolution is one of the founding documents of the alternative food movement, and indispensable to anyone hoping to understand the future of food and agriculture."—Michael Pollan

"Only the ignorant could write off Fukuoka, who died two years ago at the age of 95, as a deluded or nostalgic dreamer...Fukuoka developed ideas that went against the conventional grain....Long before the American Michael Pollan, he was making the connections between intensive agriculture, unhealthy eating habits and a whole destructive economy based on oil." --Harry Eyres, The Financial Times

"Fukuoka's do-nothing approach to farming is not only revolutionary in terms of growing food, but it is also applicable to other aspects of living, (creativity, child-rearing, activism, career, etc.) His holistic message is needed now more than ever as we search for new ways of approaching the environment, our community and life. It is time for us all to join his 'non-movement.'"—Keri Smith author of How to be an Explorer of the World

“Japan’s most celebrated alternative farmer...Fukuoka’s vision offers a beacon, a goal, an ideal to strive for.” —Tom Philpott, Grist

“The One-Straw Revolution shows the critical role of locally based agroecological knowledge in developing sustainable farming systems.” —Sustainable Architecture

“With no ploughing, weeding, fertilizers, external compost, pruning or chemicals, his minimalist approach reduces labour time to a fifth of more conventional practices. Yet his success in yields is comparable to more resource-intensive methods…The method is now being widely adopted to vegetate arid areas. His books, such asThe One-Straw Revolution, have been inspirational to cultivators the world over.” —New Internationalist

About the Author

Masanobu Fukuoka (1913-2008) was a farmer and philosopher who was born and raised on the Japanese island of Shikoku. He studied plant pathology and spent several years working as a customs inspector in Yokohama. While working there, at the age of twenty-five, he had an inspiration that changed his life. He decided to quit his job, return to his home village, and put his ideas into practice by applying them to agriculture. Over the next sixty-five 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. He did not plow his fields, used no agricultural chemicals or prepared fertilizers, and did not flood his rice fields as farmers have done in Asia for centuries, and yet his yields equaled or surpassed the most productive farms in Japan. In 1975 he wrote The One-Straw Revolution, a bestselling book that described his life's journey, his philosophy, and farming techniques. This book has been translated into more than twenty-five languages and has helped make Mr. Fukuoka a leader in the worldwide sustainable agriculture movement. He continued farming until shortly before his death in 2008, at the age of ninety-five. After The One-Straw Revolution was published in English, Mr. Fukuoka traveled to Africa, India, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the United States. His interest turned to rehabilitating the deserts of the world using his natural farming techniques. Mr. Fukuoka is also the author of The Natural Way of Farming and The Road Back to Nature. In 1988 he received the Magsaysay Award, often referred to as the Nobel of Asia, for Public Service.

David Shih is an actor who has done voice-over work and has worked in television, film, and theater. He has appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Unforgettable, and Law & Order, among others. His voice can be heard in video games in the Grand Theft Auto series, on History.com and the History Channel, and as the narrator for several books, including 47 Ronin and The Third Son. He is the winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award.

--This text refers to the audioCD edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B003WUYP74
Publisher ‏ : ‎ NYRB Classics (September 8, 2010)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 8, 2010
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 21791 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 226 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #96,367 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #4 in Crop Science (Kindle Store)
- #5 in Sustainable Agriculture (Kindle Store)
- #13 in Organic Gardening & Horticulture (Kindle Store)

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4.7 1,717 ratings

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4.7 out of 5

1,717 global ratings

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3 star		5%
2 star		1%
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JG

Growing w/o chemicals, using a natural way makes growing easier cheaper & more nutritional. GENIUS!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 25, 2021

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This is an awesome book for numerous reasons, waayyy too many to count. The original author is perhaps a genius who was way ahead of his time. It is very interesting to learn that you can 'farm" without a ton of Chemical fertilizers, sustain a family of 5 on about 1.25 acre plot, do not need a rice Paddy for growing rice and can grow it in a "dry field", typically "green manure" and some animal &/or human manure (yes, human) are enough to replenish the nutrients in a field or growing plot (if I understood that part correctly), vegetables grown without chemical fertilizer in a "natural setting" taste much better and have more nutrients for your body, when sowing seeds you can do so "randomly" instead of in rows and can/will get better results, daikon radish and other vegetables can/will resow themselves year after year if done so properly (how?? read this book), it is actually cheaper to grow organic vegetables, however, consumers typically think a lower price means lower quality and vice versa, I could go on and on but I'm f
Done writing this. If you enjoy farming or growing vegetables then this book will not disappoint you, especially if you would prefer to grow them more naturally and healthier for you and your family, plus easier too!. The author of this book makes many good points about farming, growing vegetable sustainably, and how to do so much easier than the typical farmer/person does these days. You ask Who should you blame this on? The chemical companies, of course. The "big pharma" of the farmer. He said in the past Farmers in Japan would typically take off 3 months during the winter time to go hunting animals/game for food because they had the time to do so and it was enjoyable. As chemicals became more prevalent in the farming process the farmers work actually got harder and took more time. Sounds crazy to me but I 100% believe it. I can't say enough good things about this book I wish the author were still alive and I was able to meet him. After reading this book I am now
even more interested in a "living off the grid lifestyle" & growing food sustainably for myself, without all the backbreaking work I thought was involved with farming. This 'new method' of farming the author describes is actually a very very old method & by not using chemicals & using a more natural approach to farming, it will actually make things easier for you the farmer/grower, plus make the food you grow taste better and be better ( nutritionally) for you.

5 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

amazingly simple

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 3, 2023

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It must read, the simplicity of living light, and in our true existence. To all youth they are pillars in this book that we have to make them our own.

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Just a guy and his family

Great gardening info

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 29, 2021

Verified Purchase

Since I don't want to get cancer from my own garden, I have been researching ways to make the vegetables grow without poisoning them/us. Excellent book here. I started experimenting with cover crops, then grew things amidst the native plants that were already in the field. When I have success with a certain crop, say red beans, I know they work well with my cover crop (red clover for the honey bees). I no longer have to water the garden -- watering it just attracts things that prey on my vegetables, so it never made any sense, but the stuff can't get dry... Then I planted native edibles like plantain, chicory, and dandelions. They bring in pollinators, too. We had a great crop of beans, bitter melon, mints, lavender, and sweet potatoes, along with tons of dandelion salad. And, almost NO WEEDS. The soil looks healthier, too. I'll put the leaves from the parking area on the garden later.
A spring tip: Plant garlic and bitter greens of some type (healthy) first. The animals will sample it and become disgusted. Start bitter melon indoors, add that next. The deer hate it -- they nibbled the tips, only one time, hehe. Fry the bitter melon with pork/meat/ghee.
The American translator added a note that said you can't do this in the US...that makes no sense, I implemented it just fine. I doubt that gardens in Maryland and New York are different from the rest of the country.

15 people found this helpful

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Jiang Xueqin

The Zen Farmer

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 7, 2013

Verified Purchase

Masanobu Fukuoka was a government research scientist when he decided to become a farmer, and as a farmer what he practiced completely contravened the modern industrial agricultural complex that was slowly taking over Japan and the rest of the world. And as a farmer he planted a farming ideology and philosophy that can be best described as zen farming.

Yes, weeds grow, plants die, and nature takes, but so modern farming uses fertilizers, pesticides, and crop rotation to counter-act the effects of nature. But the problem is not nature, Masanobu argues, but rather man's obsession with defying and controlling nature. Like a true Buddhist, Masanobu argues that the source of man's unhappiness is his greed -- his craven desire to take more than he needs, which causes pollution, soil degradation, and disease. What man needs to do is to fundamentally question economic growth as ideal, and learn to trust and to work with nature once again -- plant what you need, let nature grow the food for you, and do nothing more.

Responding to the criticism "If you did nothing at all the world could not keep running. What would the world be without development?" Masanobu responds, "Why do we have to develop? if economic growth rises from 5% to 10%, is happiness going to double? What's wrong with a growth rate of 0%? Could there be anything better than living simply and taking it easy?"

In a damning critique of economic growth and the folly of man, he writes:

"People find something out, learn how it works, and put nature to use, thinking this will be for the good of humankind. The result of all this, up to now is that the planet has become polluted, people have become confused, and we have invited in the chaos of modern times. At this farm we practice 'do-nothing' farming and eat wholesome and delicious grains, vegetables, and citrus. There is meaning and basic satisfaction just in living close to the source of things. Life is song and poetry."

8 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Tom Watson

The classic introduction to no till farming and much more

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 11, 2019

Verified Purchase

This book introduced me to the concept of no till farming and gardening; the notion of permaculture and how nature being in balance should be a patient aspiration.

4 people found this helpful

G

Ever thought about escaping the rat race? This book is for you.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 28, 2016

Verified Purchase

This is such an amazing book, all that I had hoped for and more. It's not just about farming, more about a completely different way of seeing the world. Beautifully written, the simple insights will change the way you think about the world we live in and our place with them. Highly recommended.

8 people found this helpful

Stefano Mazza

Fukuoka's rural revolution

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 28, 2012

Verified Purchase

Fukuoka's text aims to demonstrate how we lost the appropriate and natural approach to agriculture. The process of industrialization had deeply affected the way of dealing with food supply, producing draught, pesticides pollution, and the loss of biodiversity. Fukuoka wishes not to make the reader aware there is a different choice, especially for smaller estates of land, for private gardens and public spaces, to implement a more respectful (and however profitable) approach to Nature. This book is not only suggesting a practical solution, but it is offering a different perspective on life and on the civilization of waste and consumption.

4 people found this helpful

Simon Barber

An interesting mix of farming, enviromentalism and philosophy.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 12, 2022

Verified Purchase

Fascinating tale of how the Japanese farming system changed over the years, and why. And why much of the change was Not a good idea.....

Paul Baker

Truly inspirational.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 30, 2022

Verified Purchase

I have been meaning to read this book for sometime but had preconceived ideas that it would be hard work to read. Not in the slightest and it has been a real page turner. Every page is full of wisdom and insight that is as relevant today as when it was written. Highly recommended.

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