Masanobu Fukuoka Quotes
-
When it is understood that one loses joy and happiness in the attempt to possess them, the essence of natural farming will be realized. The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.
→ -
If we throw mother nature out the window, she comes back in the door with a pitchfork.
→ -
The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.
→ -
The healing of the land and the purification of the human spirit is the same process.
→ -
Many people think that when we practice agriculture, nature is helping us in our efforts to grow food. This is an exclusively human-centered viewpoint... we should instead, realize that we are receiving that which nature decides to give us. A farmer does not grow something in the sense that he or she creates it. That human is only a small part of the whole process by which nature expresses its being. The farmer has very little influence over that process... other than being there and doing his or her small part.
→ -
By raising tall trees for windbreaks, citrus underneath, and a green manure cover down on the surface, I have found a way to take it easy and let the orchard manage itself!
→ -
The final principle of natural farming is NO PESTICIDES. Nature is in perfect balance when left alone.
→ -
When a decision is made to cope with the symptoms of a problem, it is generally assumed that the corrective measures will solve the problem itself. They seldom do. Engineers cannot seem to get this through their heads. These countermeasures are all based on too narrow a definition of what is wrong. Human measures and countermeasures proceed from limited scientific truth and judgment. A true solution can never come about in this way.
→ -
Life on a small farm might seem primitive, but by living such a life we become able to discover the Great Path. I believe that one who deeply respects his neighborhood and everyday world in which he lives will be shown the greatest of all worlds.
→ -
Gradually I came to realize that the process of saving the desert of the human heart and revegetating the actual desert is actually the same thing.
→ -
Unless people can become natural people, there can be neither natural farming nor natural food.
→ -
Straw mulch, a ground cover of white clover interplanted with the crops, and temporary flooding all provide effective weed control in my fields.
→ -
There is no one so great as the one who does not try to accomplish anything
→ -
We must find our way back to true nature. We must set ourselves to the task of revitalizing the earth. Regreening the earth, sowing seeds in the desert--that is the path society must follow.
→ -
The simple hearth of the small farm is the true center of our universe.
→ -
Modern research divides nature into tiny pieces and conducts tests that conform neither with natural law nor with practical experience. The results are arranged for the convenience of research, not according to the needs of the farmer.
→ -
One of the most important discoveries I made in those early years was that to succeed at natural farming, you have to get rid of your expectations. Such "products" of the mind are often incorrect or unrealistic . . . and can lead you to think you've made a mistake if they're not met.
→ -
If you do not try to make food delicious, you will find that nature has made it so.
→ -
The person who can most easily take up natural agriculture is the one who doesn't have any of the common adult obstructing blocks of desire, philosophy, or religion . . . the person who has the mind and heart of a child. One must simply know nature . . . real nature, not the one we think we know!
→ -
In my opinion, if 100% of the people were farming it would be ideal. If each person were given one quarter-acre, that is 1 1/4 acres to a family of five, that would be more than enough land to support the family for the whole year. If natural farming were practiced, a farmer would also have plenty of time for leisure and social activities within the village community. I think this is the most direct path toward making this country a happy, pleasant land.
→ -
Of course, I have made mistakes . . . just as every grower does. However, I never really think of them as mistakes!
→ -
I wonder how it is that people's philosophies have come to spin faster than the changing seasons.
→ -
I believe that a revolution can begin from this one strand of straw. Seen at a glance, this rice straw may appear light and insignificant. Hardly anyone would believe that it could start a revolution. But I have come to realize the weight and power of this straw. For me, this revolution is very real.
→ -
As we kill nature, we are killing ourselves, and God incarnate as the world as well.
→ -
Farming is not just for growing crops, it is for the cultivation...o f human beings!
→ -
The increasing desolation of nature, the exhaustion of resources, the uneasiness and disintegration of the human spirit, all have been brought about by humanity's trying to accomplish something.
→ -
One thing is all things. To resolve one matter, one must resolve all matters. Changing one thing changes all things. Once I made the decision to sow rice in the fall, I found that I could also stop transplanting, and plowing, and applying chemical fertilizers, and preparing compost, and spraying pesticides.
→ -
There is no time in modern agriculture for a farmer to write a poem or compose a song
→ -
The irony is that science has served only to show how small human knowledge is.
→ -
Since I turned the fields back to their natural state, I can't say I've had any really difficult problems with insects or disease.
→
Related Authors
-
Paul Stamets Author -
Ruth Stout Author -
Lester R. Brown Environmentalist -
Janine Benyus Science writer -
John Perkins Author -
Toby Hemenway Author -
Joel Salatin American farmer -
Amory Lovins Physicist -
Rachel Carson Marine biologist -
David Holmgren Writer -
Jacque Fresco Futurist -
R. Buckminster Fuller Architect -
William McDonough Designer -
Sepp Holzer Author -
Geoff Lawton Designer -
Wendell Berry Novelist -
Albert Howard Botanist -
James Lovelock Scientist -
Larry King Radio host -
Bill Mollison Author