Why Farmers Always Win

The earth is in great peril, due to the corporatization of agriculture, the rising climate crisis, and the ever-increasing levels of global poverty, starvation, and desertification on a massive scale. This present condition of global trauma is not "natural," but a result of humanity's destructive actions. And, according to Masanobu Fukuoka, it is reversible. We need to change not only our methods of earth stewardship, but also the very way we think about the relationship between human beings and nature. Fukuoka grew up on a farm on the island of Shikoku in Japan. As a young man he worked as a customs inspector for plants going into and out of the country. This was in the 1930s when science seemed poised to create a new world of abundance and leisure, when people fully believed they could improve upon nature by applying scientific methods and thereby reap untold rewards. While working there, Fukuoka had an insight that changed his life forever. He returned to his home village and applied this insight to developing a revolutionary new way of farming that he believed would be of great benefit to society. This method, which he called "natural farming," involved working with, not in opposition to, nature. Fukuoka's inspiring and internationally best-selling book, The One-Straw Revolution was first published in English in 1978. In this book, Fukuoka described his philosophy of natural farming and why he came to farm the way he did. One-Straw was a huge success in the West, and spoke directly to the growing movement of organic farmers and activists seeking a new way of life. For years after its publication, Fukuoka traveled around the world spreading his teachings and developing a devoted following of farmers seeking to get closer to the truth of nature. Sowing Seeds in the Desert, a summation of those years of travel and research, is Fukuoka's last major work-and perhaps his most important. Fukuoka spent years working with people and organizations in Africa, India, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the United States, to prove that you could, indeed, grow food and regenerate forests with very little irrigation in the most desolate of places. Only by greening the desert, he said, would the world ever achieve true food security. This revolutionary book presents Fukuoka's plan to rehabilitate the deserts of the world using natural farming, including practical solutions for feeding a growing human population, rehabilitating damaged landscapes, reversing the spread of desertification, and providing a deep understanding of the relationship between human beings and nature. Fukuoka's message comes right at the time when people around the world seem to have lost their frame of reference, and offers us a way forward.

【福岡正信自然農園】粘土団子の制作風景　Making of seed balls 　/　Natural Farming―Masanobu Fukuoka Natural Farm

how terra preta was made

Terra preta, also known as Amazonian dark earth or black soil, was an anthropogenic (human-made) soil created by pre-Columbian Amazonian populations over centuries. Here's how it was made: - The indigenous people intentionally enriched the naturally nutrient-poor Amazonian soils by adding a mixture of charcoal (biochar), bone, broken pottery shards, compost, and manure.[3] - Charcoal or biochar was a key ingredient, produced by smoldering agricultural and forest residues in a low-oxygen environment.[2][3] This created a stable form of carbon resistant to decomposition. - Food waste, animal feces, fish and animal bones were also incorporated, providing organic matter and nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, zinc, and manganese.[3] - These ingredients were mixed into the soil, likely around living areas and kitchen middens, creating small plots of highly fertile terra preta soils.[3][5] - The charcoal content gave terra preta its characteristic dark color and helped retain nutrients, increase soil fertility, and support microbial life.[1][3] - Over time, this practice of amending soils with charcoal, organic wastes, and other materials created expansive areas of fertile terra preta soils, some up to 360 hectares in size.[3] So in essence, terra preta was an early form of sustainable agriculture, where indigenous Amazonians intentionally enriched and improved the soil's fertility and productivity by incorporating charcoal, organic matter, and nutrients over many generations.[2][3][5] Citations: [1]

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Masanobu Fukuoka