

It is an inspiring, necessary book about agriculture because it is not just about agriculture.” As Wendell Berry writes in his preface, the book “is valuable to us because it is at once practical and philosophical. 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. Fukuoka is also the author of The Natural Way of Farming and The Road Back to Nature.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. This work is described in detail in Sowing Seeds In The Desert (2012). His interest turned to rehabilitating the deserts of the world using his natural farming techniques. Fukuoka traveled to Africa, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and the United States. He continued farming until shortly before his death in 2008, at the age of 95.Īfter The One-Straw Revolution was published in English, Mr. Fukuoka a leader in the worldwide sustainable agriculture movement. This book has been translated into more than 25 languages and has helped make Mr. In 1975 he wrote The One-Straw Revolution, a best-selling book that described his life’s journey, his philosophy, and farming techniques. He did not plow his fields, used no agricultural chemicals or prepared fertilizers, 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. Over the next 65 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 decided to quit his job, return to his home village and put his ideas into practice by applying them to agriculture. While working there, at the age of 25, he had an inspiration that changed his life.

He studied plant pathology and spent several years working as a customs inspector in Yokohama.


Masanobu Fukuoka (1913-2008) was a farmer and philosopher who was born and raised on the Japanese island of Shikoku.
