Natural farming is an ecological farming approach established by Masanobu Fukuoka (1913–2008), a Japanese farmer and philosopher who described his agricultural philosophy as shizen nōhō (自然農法) in Japanese.[1] It is also referred to as "the Fukuoka Method", "the natural way of farming" or "do-nothing farming". The title refers not to lack of labor, but to the avoidance of manufactured inputs and equipment.
The system exploits the complexity of living organisms that shape each particular ecosystem. Fukuoka saw farming not just as a means of producing food but as an aesthetic or spiritual approach to life,[2] the ultimate goal of which was "the cultivation and perfection of human beings".[3] He suggested that if farmers closely observed local conditions, they could benefit from them.[4] Natural farming is a closed system demanding no outside inputs and mimics nature.[5]
Fukuoka's ideas challenged common agricultural conventions core to modern agro-industries, instead promoting an ethical and environmental approach.[6] Natural farming also differs from conventional organic farming.[7] which Fukuoka considered to be another modern technique that disturbs the natural ecosystem.[8]
Fukuoka claims that his approach prevents water contamination, biodiversity loss and soil erosion while still providing ample amounts of food.[9]
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The five principles of natural farming are that:[10]
Though many of his plant varieties and practices relate specifically to Japan, and even to local conditions in subtropical western Shikoku, his philosophy and the governing principles of his farming systems have applied around the world. They are practised in different places and climates from Africa to the temperate northern hemisphere. In India, natural farming is often referred to as "Rishi Kheti".[12][13]
Principally, natural farming minimises human labour or disturbance and adopts, as closely as practical, nature's reproduction of foods such as rice, barley, daikon or citrus in biodiverse agricultural ecosystems. Without plowing, seeds germinate well on the surface if natural conditions for each site meet the needs of the seeds planted there. Fukuoka used the presence of spiders in his fields as a key performance indicator of sustainability.
In the system, the ground always remains covered by weeds, white clover, alfalfa, herbaceous legumes, and sometimes additional deliberately sown herbaceous plants. Ground cover is seen as part of the ecosystem that includes grain or vegetable crops and orchards. Chickens run free throughout the orchards and ducks and carp frequent rice fields.[14]
Periodically some ground layer plants including weeds may be cut low and left on the surface, returning their nutrients to the soil, while shading and suppressing weed growth. This also facilitates the sowing of more seeds in the same area.
In the summer-rice and winter-barley grain crops, ground cover naturally provides nitrogen fixation from the atmosphere. In addition, straw from the previous crop covers the topsoil as mulch. Each grain crop is sown before the previous one is harvested by broadcasting the seed among the standing crop. The result is a denser crop of smaller but highly productive and stronger plants.
Fukuoka's practice and philosophy emphasises small scale operation and challenged the need for mechanised farming techniques for high productivity, efficiency and economies of scale. While his family's farm was larger than the Japanese average, he used one field of grain crops as a small-scale example of his system.
In ecology, climax ecosystems are mature ecosystems that have reached a high degree of stability, productivity and diversity (see old-growth forest). Natural farmers attempt to mimic all of those virtues and thus recreate a similar ecosystem that works to their benefit. Such task requires good knowledge of the fundamental physical, chemical and biological laws. Natural farming can also be described as ecological farming and is closely related to organic farming. However, it should not be confused with biodynamic agriculture.
As an example, one can consider aphids, a notorious insect pest. Conventional farmers would probably tackle the problem by amply using chemical pesticides. Organic farmers would probably use a so-called organic pesticide (e.g. one containing garlic and soap).
Natural farmers would someway introduce a beneficial insect that feeds on aphids (in this case the common ladybird). Although such course of action may take longer to take effect, in the long-run it may prove more efficient, sustainable and profitable.
Ancient soils possess physical and chemical attributes which render them capable of generating and supporting life abundance. It can be argued that tilling actually degrades the delicate balance of a climax soil in the following ways:
1. Tilling may destroy crucial physical characteristics of a soil such as water suction, i.e. its ability to send moisture upwards, even during dry spells. The effect is due to pressure differences between soil areas. For more on this subject see water potential. Furthermore, tilling most certainly destroys soil horizons and hence disrupts the established flow of nutrients.
2. Tilling over-pumps oxygen to a huge mass of local soil residents, bacteria and fungi. As a result, the chemistry of the soil changes. Biological decomposition accelerates and the huge mass increases even more at the expense of organic matter, causing an adverse effect to most plants, including trees and vegetables. It is well-known to gardeners and farmers that for plants to thrive, a certain quantity of organic matter (around 5 %) must be present in the soil.
3. Tilling totally uproots all the plants in the area and their roots become instant food for bacteria and fungi. However, the roots of those plants were the primary means of a very important function, soil aeration. Alive roots drill millions of tiny holes in the soil and thus provide oxygen. They also create room for beneficial insects and annelids (the phylum of worms). Some very advanced types of roots contribute directly to soil fertility by funding a mutualistic relationship with certain kinds of bacteria (most famously the rhizobium) that can trap nitrogen from the atmospheric air and insert some of it into the soil.
Another Japanese farmer and philosopher Mokichi Okada, conceived of a "no fertilizer" farming system in the 1930s which predated Fukuoka. Okada used the same Japanese characters,[15] which are generally translated in English as "nature farming". Agriculture researcher Hu-lian Xu claiming that "nature farming" is the correct literal translation of the Japanese term.[15]