Essay On Natural Farming

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Recommended: Thesis for organic farming vs. conventional farming

Today’s modern conventional farming is heavily dependent on synthetic chemicals, fertilizers and pesticides. Organic farming is a method of crop production that has been in utilization since the early history of agriculture. “Natural farming” appeared as a relatively new term however its principles are similar to those in organic farming. It was proposed by Mokichi Okada, a Japanese philosopher, more than 60 years ago, when chemical agriculture began (Xu 2001).

Definition of natural farming

Natural farming is a style of agriculture that uses processes that seek to harness the power of nature, farm in harmony with rhythm of seasons in order to grow plants (Kimura 2014).

Natural farming is not a widely researched field however there is a number of famous advocates such as Mr Masanobu Fukuoka (1978), Mr Akinori Kimura (2010) and Mr Subash Palekar.

In general, natural farming follows 4 general principles proposed by Fukuoka (1978) in his book: One straw revolution.

(a) No cultivation, that is no plowing or tilling
(b) No chemical fertilizer or compost
(c) No weeding by tilling or herbicides
(d) No dependence on chemicals of any kind

The four general principles of natural farming overlaps with definitions of sustainable agriculture (Harwood 1990): Sustainable agriculture is a system that can evolve indefinitely towards greater human utility, greater efficiency of resource use and a balance with environment which is favorable to human and most other species. In fact Fukuoka’s book title: One straw revolution was born from the idea of recycling straw and husk from rice back into rice fields postharvest hence recycling biomass of system.

History of topic and examples of implementation in horticultural system

There are several t...

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...ility of natural farming. A total redesign of how our food should be grown is required and new technology is required. It seems like a herculean task but I like to remind myself that people has been manufacturing tools since beginning of civilization but it takes one Ransom Olds to think of the assembly line to revolutionize manufacturing processes.

In conclusion I feel natural farming could play a major role in sustainable horticulture. It fits perfectly in the people, planet and profit philosophy. Natural farming focus is to farm in harmony with nature, producing food that is safe and healthy for all to eat and with lower overhead cost, generates a nice profit for the farmers. Although many challenges stand in the way of implementation of natural farming in the large scale, however I believe they can be overcome by investment, research and ingenuity of farmers.

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