We respect nature and the natural energy of the soil
Nature Farming, like organic farming, does not utilize artificial fertilizers or pesticides. However, Nature Farming does not incorporate animal manure or waste products as soil amendments. Based on the views of Japanese philosopher Mokichi Okada, Nature Farming adherents profess five principles.
1) Produce safe and nutritious food that ensures good health.
2) Be economically and spiritually beneficial to both producers and consumers.
3) Be sustainable and easily practiced.
4) Conserve and protect the environment.
5) Produce sufficient food of high quality for an expanding world population.
These five requirements of Nature Farming reflect Mokichi Okada's goals for food safety, quality, and nutrition. Additionally, environmental conservation is a high priority and utilization of soil microbes is extensive. Mokichi Okada’s scientific perspective includes a spiritual dynamic not commonly encountered in contemporary scholarship but practiced for thousands of years in Eastern cultures. In 1941 Okada did some experiments and concluded, "If we grow crops with love and respect towards the natural power of the soil, the soil will function to an astonishing degree. All the difficult problems and troubles that harass both farmers and consumers today can be solved through this method of cultivation."
n 1953 Japan, Mokichi Okada was concerned about the farmers and peasants suffering from a scarcity of crops. He printed up one million copies of a newspaper on Nature Farming, and distributed it to all those involved in food production in any way. In this paper he stated that for a long time human beings had polluted the living earth by using artificial fertilizer and pesticides, which these poisons had brought about damage to crops by blight and noxious insects, and that serious human diseases had been caused by these poisons. While growers may produce large crops using pesticides temporarily, in the course of time such synthetics will cause plants to become diseased and will result in poor or ruined crops. Also, that with continued use of fertilizers and chemicals, the land will become exhausted and will not be able to produce good crops of any kind.
While it is encouraging to see an increased awareness of organic farming and the availability of naturally-grown crops, the majority of farms in our communities adhere to the chemical-pesticide practice of growing of crops. The continued use of pesticides and insecticides has questionable effects on our food, soil, air, and water.
Our solution to pesticide-insecticide use is the practice of nature farming (Naturfarming®) first advocated by Mokichi Okada in 1936. It is a method of growing delicious fruit, vegetables and grains free from pesticides and other unnatural substances. Nature farming brings out the power of the living soil in a way that sustains the earth and supports true health of the human family. This method can be applied to container gardening, backyard plots and large acreage farms.
Nature farming represents a spiritual activity and is as much a philosophy as it is a means of growing healthy crops. From this perspective, it contributes to the organic movement. It teaches us about the physical and spiritual connections that exist in all aspects of the growing of healthy foods: energy from the sun, moon, earth, water and the people growing the crops and the consumers that support the farmer.
Evidence presented suggests that Nature Farming improves soil diversity, reduces levels of pests, lessens the need for artificial fertilizers, and reduces soil toxicity. The latter two advantages are closely tied to the practice of using microbial inoculates which act as living fertilizer. It has been reported that microbial fertilizers can increase crop yields, improve biodiversity and soil fertility, reduce the need for chemical fertilizers, recycle organic wastes, and, consequently, abate environmental pollution. Microbial fertilizers are ideal for 'green food' and using microbial fertilizers is a simple and economical way to improve ecological agriculture.
The principles of Nature Farming are essential to our future. More scientific and social research is needed to make production level Nature Farming a reality in the first quarter of the 21st Century.
The idea and principle of Nature Farming, according to Okada, is “BY LOVING THE SOIL AND MAINTAINING IT AS PURE AS POSSIBLE, THE SOIL CAN GIVE FULL SCOPE OF ITS GREAT ABILITY.”
A new prototype nature farm is being developed in Northern California near Chico, on 5 acres of farm land for growing crops, education and training.
