Hi there! Today, we will look at what some may consider to be a subset of organic farming – natural farming. This is an approach established by Japanese farmer and philosopher Masanobu Fukuoka in his book, The One-Straw Revolution, released in 1975.
Over time, the natural farming approach has evolved to meet the needs of present-day farmers around the world, but it continues to place emphasis on the following:
- no tilling the soil
- no pesticides and chemical fertilisers
- no large machinery involved
- no monocropping
(adapted from Lydon and Kang (2018))
Essentially, the key rule is to allow the the plants to grow as naturally as possible by minimising human interference. The farmers who adopt these strategies often do so for environmental and health (both physical and mental) benefits, and their experiences with natural farming can be found in the documentary Final Straw: Food, Earth, Happiness (2015), which may be purchased from this link (Final Straw, 2015). A 20-minute trailer is also available via the same link, for those who wish to just get a short glimpse of the contents.
One of the key advantages of natural farming is its ability to reduce anthropogenic pollution. We can break this down into a few sections, based on the four main principles mentioned above:
- No tilling the soil/large machinery involved —> less disruption of the soil’s structure, which translates into less erosion and loss of topsoil, and lowers the chance that nearby waters may be affected by anthropogenic sedimentation and chemical pollution (see my previous post on sedimentation)
- No pesticides and chemical fertilisers —> minimises the risk of chemical pollution by pollutants which are commonly found in commercial pesticides and fertilisers (e.g. nitrogen, phosphorus, heavy metals)
- No monocropping —> soil is deprived of nutrients at a slower rate as compared to commercial farming; less need for large quantities of pesticides and fertilisers, which are capable of both air and water pollution
Although natural farming seems like an ideal solution for small-scale farmers, I think there’s still a long way to go before the adoption of these practices become much more widespread. In order to feed the world, we could possibly use a combination of cost-effective (yet not too destructive) mass farming techniques to cater to the booming demand for food, while having smaller farms switch to less pollutive ways of operation to better sustain our food system.
Best wishes,
Jialing
Reference List
Final Straw (2015) Final Straw: Food, Earth, Happiness – Natural Farming Documentary. Available at: https://www.finalstraw.org (Accessed: 5 October 2020).
Lydon, P. and Kang, S. (2018) What is Natural Farming | Final Straw: Food, Earth, Happiness. Available at: https://www.finalstraw.org/what-is-natural-farming/ (Accessed: 5 October 2020).