What Is Nature Farming?

Nature Farming is a farming method for producing healthy quality crops abundantly by allowing the soil to exert its power to the maximum without using pesticides and chemical fertilizers. It was first advocated in 1935 by Mokichi Okada (1882 ~ 1955), a philosopher and religious leader. His philosophy and principle of Nature Farming are as follows.

Philosophy: Respect nature and conform to its laws.
Principle: Allow the living soil to exert its great power.

Based on these ideas, Nature Farming aims to sustainably produce crops by deriving the intrinsic power of nature heading for affluent living things without using chemical fertilizers and pesticides (both synthetic and natural), which disturb the ecosystem. It values the role of every living thing and improves the matter cycle function by enhancing the farmland ecosystem so that nature can exert its functions more. The farming method has been succeeded and practiced by those who have sympathized with Okada’s ideas even through the times of frequently using chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Today, more people are concerned with food safety than before, and influences of pesticides and chemical fertilizers on the environment, including ourselves, are widely recognized in the society. Nature Farming is now more demanded to protect the environment and our health.

INFRC has set the following five requirements for the desirable form of Nature Farming.

1. To produce high quality food to enhance human health.
2. To be economically and spiritually beneficial to both farmers and consumers.
3. To be practiced easily and to be sustainable.
4. To conform to nature and to protect the environment.
5. To produce enough food for an expanding world population.