Natural farming

[2] Fukuoka saw farming both as a means of producing food and as an aesthetic or spiritual approach to life, the ultimate goal of which was, "the cultivation and perfection of human beings".

[7] Such ideas radically challenged conventions that are core to modern agro-industries; instead of promoting importation of nutrients and chemicals, he suggested an approach that takes advantage of the local environment.

Rather than offering a structured method, Fukuoka distilled the natural farming mindset into five principles:[15] Though many of his plant varieties and practices relate specifically to Japan and even to local conditions in subtropical western Shikoku, his philosophy and the governing principles of his farming systems have been applied widely around the world, from Africa to the temperate northern hemisphere.

For summer rice and winter barley grain crops, ground cover enhances nitrogen fixation.

He re-states the core values of natural farming as: Kawaguchi's recognition outside of Japan has become wider after his appearance as the central character in the documentary Final Straw: Food, Earth, Happiness, through which his interviews were translated into several languages.

Ancient soils possess physical and chemical attributes that render them capable of generating and supporting life abundance.

It can be argued that tilling actually degrades the delicate balance of a climax soil: Fukuoka advocated avoiding any change in the natural landscape.

For example, Sepp Holzer, an Austrian permaculture farmer, advocates the creation of terraces on slopes to control soil erosion.

[25] Recent research in the field of traditional ecological knowledge finds that for over one hundred centuries, Native American tribes worked the land in strikingly similar ways to today's natural farmers.

"[24] Japanese farmer and philosopher Mokichi Okada, conceived of a "no fertilizer" farming system in the 1930s that predated Fukuoka.

[26] Agriculture researcher Hu-lian Xu claims that "nature farming" is the correct literal translation of the Japanese term.

[27][28] The Rishi Kheti use cow products like buttermilk, milk, curd and its waste urine for preparing growth promoters.