Fukuoka gets better soil with no-till
www.permies.com Larry Korn spent three years with Masanobu fukuoka and did the translation for the excellent book “One Straw Revolution”. He is now a permaculture instructor in Ashland, Oregon. Larry gives a bit of his background especially as it reflect on his time with Fukuoka. He explains how he studied soil and plant nutrition in college. I think the key point in this video is where he talks about in college how bad plowing is. His college professor says “we just don’t know how to grow food any other way”. Years pass and he meets Fukuoka. Who has far superior soil and is growing food without plowing. Larry explains the sustainability of living there. They produced 95% of their own food from an edible food forest. Relevant threads at permies www.permies.com music by Jimmy Pardo
25 Responses to Fukuoka gets better soil with no-till
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@Mueiwark Today we CAN feed 9 billion people. 3 billion are starving because we trow 50% of are own production away, and we can double the food production if we only use the soils better. no gen-tech needed. So is is possible to substain large amounts of people like this. Problems are tranport and storage
DhrBob
March 9, 2012 at 4:13 pm
At the end, is he saying “off farm food, I would say 5%”
ToolsnFire
March 9, 2012 at 4:53 pm
What is barley used for and where can i buy rice seeds? I would love to grow a back yard crop of rice
TheRastaRick
March 9, 2012 at 5:51 pm
Im not quite sure what you mean when you say not tilling your soil. I have a front lawn and raked up a square patch and laid down a perimeter of wooden 2by4’s then applied mushroom compost and sowed my seeds in the ground. On my fence theres these old dried vines on there, basically straw and i took them off and applied it above the soil like mulch. But Where can i find more information about growing naturally like this.
TheRastaRick
March 9, 2012 at 6:18 pm
Interesting Larry Korn interview and background about Fukuoka. “Edible food forest”. Before investigating permaculture I never considered what he’s saying about plowing–and yeah, I imagine you would have to know what you’re doing before really reaping a decent crop w/ plow-less farming, and it would need to be holistic in practice.
freddietz96
March 9, 2012 at 7:05 pm
@MarkProffitt i do not think is the most important question….it’s an important question….for example could be very important know how many nutrients you have in an industrial product or in an organic one
Skizchun
March 9, 2012 at 7:20 pm
@MarkProffitt u l probably get highest calories from growing sugarcane per acre.how many calories for how many years or even generations.?at what cost as far as external inputs are concerned?the inflation rate at which price of of the external inputs is going , all will have to also b considered to get a correct method.one more thing,;when over 50 edible items r grown simultaneously,vitamins,minerals and fibre also can b considered .sinse we need those too very much.
vidaripollen
March 9, 2012 at 7:23 pm
the myth.
otacon451
March 9, 2012 at 7:41 pm
@MarkProffitt Probably less, but production rates are in my opinion not what matters, is sustainability coupled with less humans on the world. Sure you could probably increase the Planet’s population to 12 billion and feed them with ultra efficient gen-tech plants and animals, but that is a practically a dead world no one want to live in. Heck even now there is a food-crisis looming over the horizon despite ever increasing production rates and China buying up land in Africa and South America..
Mueiwark
March 9, 2012 at 8:22 pm
@MarkProffitt
Fukuoka never used machines. He did seeding, dam management and maintenance himself and only truly required help during harvest- 5 young people from around the town would help him. He had access to free labor only after his property became an example of how prosperous a natural farmer could be.
2Halifaxion2
March 9, 2012 at 9:12 pm
— great upload. Thanks^^
cantecleer
March 9, 2012 at 9:17 pm
sounds like it was very exciting and a great experience. I would love to have a nice sized piece of land to raise a food forest on.
Khepramancer
March 9, 2012 at 9:56 pm
@2Halifaxion2 The other major question is how many man hours of labor are needed.
Fukuoka had a lot of free manual labor. Must it be done by hand? Populations grew dramatically since the use of mechanized equipment. In 1930 one US farmer produced enough food for 3 people. Today one farmer can feed 155 people.
An alternative is if people could grow, harvest, and prepare all their food with the same amount of work as buying it the total # of hours needed could be a lot more.
MarkProffitt
March 9, 2012 at 10:21 pm
sooooo cool. thumbs up.
soil erosion and burn-out is aweful.
Livinggreen100
March 9, 2012 at 10:44 pm
YES!
geordiemilne
March 9, 2012 at 11:02 pm
@MarkProffitt Fukuoka was producing as much or more rice/barley than his competitors. It might make more sense if you look at things from the other side of the balance sheet. If your wealth is tied up in liquidity then you really don’t “have” anything. Once you establish a permaculture or a system that gives you what you need, not only does it provide for you, but it serves as an asset forever, not like stock options or gold or cash.
2Halifaxion2
March 9, 2012 at 11:22 pm
@MarkProffitt Fukuoka was producing as much or more rice/barley than his competitors. It might make more sense if you look at things from the other side of the balance sheet. If your wealth is tied up in liquidity then you really don’t “have” anything. Once you establish a permaculture or a system that gives you what you need, not only does it provide for you, but it serves as an asset forever, not like stock options or gold or cash.
2Halifaxion2
March 10, 2012 at 12:12 am
@ChrisGilliam39 Yeah thanks, and i think i’ll get the books!
Rhinoch8
March 10, 2012 at 12:35 am
@marthale7 this should not be mechanized there is no reason
simonk512
March 10, 2012 at 1:17 am
Thanks for having Larry share. This is really cool. Keep it up Paul!
guitarpodcast
March 10, 2012 at 1:18 am
great video
Quranite
March 10, 2012 at 1:28 am
@Rhinoch8 You can download several great permaculture vids at PirateBay.
ChrisGilliam39
March 10, 2012 at 2:09 am
How many kilocalories per acre per day does this produce as compared to the industrial methods?
This is the most important question and one I have not been able to get answered.
MarkProffitt
March 10, 2012 at 2:24 am
awsom video, ATB john
bigjohntightlips
March 10, 2012 at 2:43 am
I have been wondering if one can mechanize this method. Say… the sowing of the seed, and the cutting of the crops. I love the idea of not using pesticides / fertilizer in production. Yet on large scale it would take years to get this into full production to get the quality of the soil up. I am trying to do this in my back yard, and I want to learn how to get plants to fertilize plants, the right companion plants.
marthale7
March 10, 2012 at 3:23 am