Four Principles of Natural Farming 33cannot rejoice in the knowledge that immediate damage from the weevil has been
reduced by chemical spraying. Using agricultural chemicals is the most inept way
to deal with problems such as these, and will only lead to greater problems in the
future.
These four principles of natural farming (no cultivation, no chemical fertilizer
or prepared compost, no weeding by tillage or herbicides and no dependence on
chemicals) comply with the natural order and lead to the replenishment of nature’s
richness. All my fumblings have run along this line of thought. It is the heart of my
method of growing vegetables, grain and citrus.
Notes
1 For fertilizer Mr Fukuoka grows a leguminous ground cover of white clover, returns the threshed
straw to the fields, and adds a little poultry manure.
2 Mr Fukuoka grows his grain crops without chemicals of any kind. On some orchard trees he
occasionally uses a machine oil emulsion for the control of insect scales. He uses no persistent or
broad-spectrum poisons, and has no pesticide ‘programme’.
3 Ground cover crops such as clover, vetch and alfalfa which condition and nourish the soil.