Masanobu Fukuoka

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Masanobu Fukuoka bigraphy, stories - Japanese farmer and philosopher

Masanobu Fukuoka : biography

02 February 1913 – 16 August 2008

He was a proponent of no-till, no-herbicide grain cultivation farming methods traditional to many indigenous cultures,

from which he created a particular method of farming, commonly referred to as "Natural Farming" or "Do-nothing Farming".Sustainable Agriculture: Definition and Terms. Special Reference Briefs Series no. SRB 99-02, September 1999. Compiled by: Mary V. Gold, Alternative Farming Systems Information Center, US Department of Agriculture 

Setboonsarng, S. and Gilman, J. 1999. Alternative Agriculture in Thailand and Japan. HORIZON Communications, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.

Fukuoka was the author of several Japanese books, scientific papers and other publications, and was featured in television documentaries and interviews from the 1970s onwards.

 (Japanese only; Retrieved 30 November 2010) His influences went beyond farming to inspire individuals within the natural food and lifestyle movements. He was an outspoken advocate of the value of observing nature's principles.Scheewe W. (2000) , rev ed. Rex Bookstore, Inc. ISBN 9789712328954 

Life

Fukuoka was born on 2 February 1913 in Iyo, Ehime, Japan, the second son of Kameichi Fukuoka, an educated and wealthy land owner and local leader. He attended Gifu Prefecture Agricultural College and trained as a microbiologist and agricultural scientist, beginning a career as a research scientist specialising in plant pathology. He worked at the Plant Inspection Division of the Yokohama Customs Bureau in 1934 as an agricultural customs inspector. In 1937 he was hospitalised with pneumonia, and while recovering, he stated that, he had a profound spiritual experience that transformed his world view1992 1996 translation The Ultimatum of God Nature The One-Straw Revolution A Recapitulation -page 2. "In an instant I had become a different person. I sensed that, with the clearing of the dawn mist, I had been transformed completely, body and soul."2001 [(a title translate:) The One Straw Revolution: Recapitulation -Journeying [around Earth] with clay seed balls-] -biographical notes on page 271. and led him to doubt the practices of modern "Western" agricultural science. He immediately resigned from his post as a research scientist, returning to his family’s farm on the island of Shikoku in southern Japan.

From 1938, Fukuoka began to practise and experiment with new techniques on organic citrus orchards and used the observations gained to develop the idea of "Natural Farming". Among other practices, he abandoned pruning an area of citrus trees, which caused the trees to become affected by insects and tangled branches. He stated that the experience taught him the difference between nature and non-intervention.1975 1985 translation -updated 1987 The Natural Way Of Farming-The Theory and Practice of Green Philosophy -pages 132 and 190-216 – page 132 "There is a fundamental difference between nature and the doctrine of laissez-faire or non-intervention. Laissez-faire is the abandoning of nature by man after he has altered it, such as leaving a pine tree untended after it has been transplanted in a garden and pruned, or suddenly letting a calf out to pasture in a mountain meadow after raising it on formula milk."1992 1996 translation The Ultimatum of God Nature The One-Straw Revolution A Recapitulation -pages 5, 50, 97-8, 206-208 – page 98. "To put it very briefly, my theory is that human knowledge and actions have destroyed nature, and thus, if we abandon them and leave nature to nature, nature will recover on its own. This does not, however, mean nonintervention." His efforts were interrupted by World War II, during which he worked at the Kōchi Prefecture agricultural experiment station on subjects including farming research and food production.

Fukuoka’s farm in Shikoku was taken over by his son and daughter-in-law in the late 1980s, as Fukuoka reached an advanced age (blog page posted 2004 Dec) and his grandson also took up farming. Many of the farm’s iyokan and amanatsu mikan trees remain, although some old iyokan were replaced by new varieties of fruit. Woodlands remain along with orchards, including some areas of wild vegetables still growing amongst them. Some areas of straw-mulched cropping continue to produce grains and vegetables.