Natural Farming or Who Cares About Rats?
By: Mari Storozheva
Tags: Agriculture Technology, Sustainability, Buddhism

A few years ago I had a unique chance to learn about “natural farming” with Buddhist monks. It was one of the first meaningful connection with Japan I had experienced in Taiwan.

Early Saturday morning group of enthusiasts including me lead by a nun of Dharma Drum Mountain went to the rural district on the north of Taipei to visit a “natural farm”.

The method of natural farming was established by a Japanese philosopher Masanobu Fukuoka. The method suggests bringing agriculture closer to wild nature conditions with a focus on sustainable growth process. And here is a difference with organic agriculture: organic supposes purity of products without focusing on the way of farming itself and the whole ecosystem, so purity can be achieved by very unnatural ways (like growing plants without soil or using some special fertilizers). Natural farming is all about cooperating with nature and copying the natural ecosystem. This method is also called “do-nothing farming” because it’s based on minimal human intervention in to the plant growing process.

Consumers unwillingly encourage farmers to use chemicals and fertilizers by choosing the most beautiful fruits and vegetables. However, the plants grown in natural conditions are very differed by size and outlook and seldom have ideal shape or color.

Farming area on the north of Taipei

Natural farming excludes using fertilizers. For example, on the natural farm in Beitou a mountain spring water rich with minerals is used at the farm. The water also spread above the plants imitating raindrops for aeration of the water itself.

Weeds and other dead plants are used as natural fertilizers so that nutrition stays within the ecosystem.

Lines of beds are covered with weeds instead of plastic

There is no spudding before seeding. Weeds are being slightly pulled and its roots remained in the soil for further aeration and fertilizing without damaging the soil structure itself.

Outside of Taipei you often can see pineapple farms where farmers use plastic cover in between pineapple lines. This method is widely used to fight weeds. And the plastic film often remained in the ground for tens and hundreds of years polluting the soil.

In natural farming, monoculture planting is avoided. Different kinds of vegetables and fruits are grown together as in the wild which often creates conditions for beneficial cohabiting.

As a proof of achieved strength the nun showed us a banana tree which survived undamaged in typhoon while banana trees of neighbor’s farms (not “natural” ones) are all was seriously damaged.

If no chemicals used, what about pests?

Surprisingly, natural farmers simply do not care about it because nature already has its own response. Everything in nature is in balance and wild plants survive successfully. Yes, some of the plants can be damaged by a huge number of insects but it’s still beneficial for the whole garden in the long-term because survived plants become stronger. For the harmful insects there are natural enemies: as in the case with aphids and ladybirds.

Monks illustrated some of the concepts of natural farming, I will call this example “The Rat and the Corn”.

There is a rat that often visits a corn bed. A natural farmer welcomes the rat with a pealed corn ear instead of poison. So that the next time the rat won’t anxiously bite new corn ears but calmly will continue to eat the prepared one.

When farmers try to kill rats with poison or rat traps the animals feel danger, so they are biting many vegetables on the way in anxiety.

Moral of the story: farmers can try peacefully share a little part of their harvest with other creatures instead of fighting for every seed.

This farming method contradicts the concept of the most popular and efficient way of intensive agriculture where farmers are like soldiers in the battle for harvest.

However, if to look from the perspective of a desirable future ethical and sustainable world isn’t the Earth originally belonged to all creatures and not only to selfish humans? Why don’t we try to accept the interests of animals and plants in the farming process?

Even if this way is much less efficient than intensive agriculture what if there will be customers who are willing to pay extra for these sustainable farming products?