Masanobu Fukuoka

The essence of this method of organic farming is to reproduce natural conditions as closely as possible. There is no plowing, as the seed germinates quite happily on the surface if the right conditions are provided. There is also considerable diversity, with a ground cover of clover growing under the grain plants to provide nitrogen and the weeds are also considered as part of the ecosystem. They are periodically cut and allowed to lie on the surface, so the nutrients they contain are returned to the soil. Ducks are let into the grain plot at certain times of the year to eat slugs and other pests.

The ground is always covered. As well as the clover and weeds, there is the straw from the previous crop which is used as mulch[?] and each grain crop is sown before the previous one is harvested. This is done by broadcasting the seed among the standing crop. Much less seed is used than in conventional growing, giving fewer but larger and stronger plants.

In Japan, the Fukuoka method has given similar yields to chemically grown crops and much work has already been done to adapt it to European conditions, including the work of French farmer Marc Bonfils. It is essentially a small-scale style of growing, suited to small-holdings, as it is one of those methods in which attention to detail replaces heavy work. It takes a great deal of skill to work with grain, clover and weeds in such a way that each fulfills its function in the system without becoming over-vigorous and crowding out one of the others. But all the work involved can easily be done by hand.

It is not suited to growing large quantities of grain, like those presently produced in the industrialised world by means of large-scale mechanisation. But the vast majority of this grain goes to feed animals, which could be more efficiently fed by diverse forage systems. Very little is directly eaten by humans and that amount could easily be grown by the Fukuoka method.

Links: The Fukuoka Farming Website - http://www.fukuokafarmingol.net

See also Marc Bonfils, permaculture