{"product_id":"the-onestraw-revolution-isbn-9781590173138","title":"The One-Straw Revolution","description":"Call it “Zen and the Art of Farming” or a “Little Green Book,” Masanobu Fukuoka’s manifesto about farming, eating, and the limits of human knowledge presents a radical challenge to the global systems we rely on for our food. At the same time, it is a spiritual memoir of a man whose innovative system of cultivating the earth reflects a deep faith in the wholeness and balance of the natural world. As Wendell Berry writes in his preface, the book “is valuable to us because it is at once practical and philosophical. It is an inspiring, necessary book about agriculture because it is not just about agriculture.”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003eTrained as a scientist, Fukuoka rejected both modern agribusiness and centuries of agricultural practice, deciding instead that the best forms of cultivation mirror nature’s own laws. Over the next three decades he perfected his so-called “do-nothing” technique: commonsense, sustainable practices that all but eliminate the use of pesticides, fertilizer, tillage, and perhaps most significantly, wasteful effort.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhether you’re a guerrilla gardener or a kitchen gardener, dedicated to slow food or simply looking to live a healthier life, you will find something here—you may even be moved to start a revolution of your own.\u003cp\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThe One-Straw Revolution\u003c\/i\u003e is one of the founding documents of the alternative food  movement, and indispensable to anyone hoping to understand the future of food and  agriculture.\"—Michael Pollan\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Only the ignorant could write off Fukuoka, who died two years ago at the age of 95, as a deluded or nostalgic dreamer...Fukuoka developed ideas that went against the conventional grain....Long before the American Michael Pollan, he was making the connections between intensive agriculture, unhealthy eating habits and a whole destructive economy based on oil.\" --Harry Eyres, \u003ci\u003eThe Financial Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Fukuoka's do-nothing approach to farming is not only  revolutionary in terms of growing food, but it is also applicable to other aspects  of living, (creativity, child-rearing, activism, career, etc.) His holistic message  is needed now more than ever as we search for new ways of approaching the environment,  our community and life. It is time for us all to join his 'non-movement.'\"—Keri Smith  author of \u003ci\u003eHow to be an Explorer of the World\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Japan’s most celebrated alternative  farmer...Fukuoka’s vision offers a beacon, a goal, an ideal to strive for.” —Tom  Philpott, \u003ci\u003eGrist\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eThe One-Straw Revolution\u003c\/i\u003e shows the critical role of locally based  agroecological knowledge in developing sustainable farming systems.” —\u003ci\u003eSustainable  Architecture\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“With no ploughing, weeding, fertilizers, external compost, pruning  or chemicals, his minimalist approach reduces labour time to a fifth of more conventional  practices. Yet his success in yields is comparable to more resource-intensive methods…The  method is now being widely adopted to vegetate arid areas. His books, such as \u003ci\u003eThe  One-Straw Revolution\u003c\/i\u003e, have been inspirational to cultivators the world over.” —\u003ci\u003eNew  Internationalist\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“Every now and then you read a book which is so inspiring and such a pleasure that you feel impelled to stride down the street shouting 'read this!' Well, I’ve just read \u003ci\u003eThe One-Straw Revolution\u003c\/i\u003e and I urge everyone to buy or borrow a copy without delay.“ —Tom Hodgkinson, \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Idler\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“[\u003ci\u003eThe One-Straw Revolution\u003c\/i\u003e is] about going with the flow. . . . What could happen if we stopped forcing everything to be perfect?” —Kristin Wong, Forge\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMasanobu Fukuoka (1913–2008) \u003c\/b\u003ewas born and raised on the Japanese island of Shikoku.  He was the oldest son of a rice farmer who was also the local mayor. Fukuoka studied  plant pathology and worked for number of years as a produce inspector in the customs  office in Yokohama. But in 1938 he returned to his village home determined to put  his ideas about natural farming into practice. During World War II, he worked for  the Japanese government as a researcher on food production, managing to avoid military  service until the final few months of the war. After the war, he returned to Shikoku  to devote himself wholeheartedly to farming. And in 1975, distressed by the effects  of Japan’s post-war modernization, Fukuoka wrote The One-Straw Revolution. In his  later years, Fukuoka was involved with several projects to reduce desertification  throughout the world. He remained an active farmer until well into his eighties,  and continued to give lectures until only a few years before his death at the age  of ninety-five. Fukuoka is also the author of The Natural Way of Farming and The  Road Back to Nature. In 1988 he received the Magsaysay Award for Public Service.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrances Moore Lappé \u003c\/b\u003eis author or co-author of sixteen books, including Diet for  a Small Planet and Getting a Grip: Clarity, Creativity, and Courage in a World Gone  Mad. She has co-founded three organizations, including the Institute for Food and  Development Policy and, more recently, the Small Planet Institute, which she leads  with her daughter Anna Lappé. In 1987, she received the Right Livelihood Award, also  called the “Alternative Nobel.” She has received seventeen honorary doctorates and  has been a visiting scholar at MIT.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eLarry Korn\u003c\/b\u003e is an editor, author, and agricultural educator. He lived and worked on Masanobu Fukuoka’s farm for more than two years in the early 1970s. He currently resides in Ashland, Oregon.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eWendell Berry\u003c\/b\u003e is an environmental activist and farmer, and the author of more than 40 works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. He lives and works with his wife, Tanya Berry, on their farm in Port Royal, Kentucky.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NYRB Classics","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46305277378789,"sku":"NP9781590173138","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781590173138.jpg?v=1767740794","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-onestraw-revolution-isbn-9781590173138","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}