Subject: do-nothing agriculture

From: Roberto Verzola <[email-masked]>
Date: 17 Apr 99 12:48:54

Here's an interesting exchange about an organic farming approach
pioneered by Masanobu Fukuoka, the Japanese rice farmer who called his
system "do-nothing" agriculture. Arnaldo is from Mexico. The exchange
is in the context of building "resilient" communities in preparation
for the Y2K crisis.

Some Philippine rice farmers have also tried Fukuoka's
weeding-by-flooding: when the first heavy rains arrive a few weeks
after planting, the farmer blocks the drainage outlets in her paddies,
until the young weeds are submerged. The water is released after a few
days. The weeds die or weaken, while the rice plants survive. The idea
is to simply give the rice an edge over the competing weeds. That's
it: no manual or mechanical weeding, no chemicals.

Roberto Verzola

-----Original Message-----
From: arnaldo [mailto:[email-masked]]
Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 1999 3:23 PM
To: [email-masked]
Subject: Y2K communities

Hello Halim,

Permission granted, of course. My only concern is my broken English
but if you feel it's understandable enough, it's OK with me. I like if
you can post the whole letter, maybe someone start to write to me from
there.

You were asking to know more about us. Yes we are organic farmers, but
again with a little twist. For years and years I planted more seeds
than necessary (being the seeds very un expensive) and using a
japanese technique of "zero labor".

My philosophy is: I plant five seeds when I need one. One for the
birds, one for the mice, one for the ants, one for me and one for
security. Suppose we're planning to plant a lot of 20 yards by 100
yards with corn. Instead of using a mechanical cultivator (expensive,
noisy, gasoline and a lot of sweat) I make a lot of 20 by 20 with
electrical fence and put some pigs in there. They will eat all the
grass and roots upturning all the earth and at the same time
fertilizing it and making hams and bacon. If there is any strong bush
I throw a handful of corn or rice in it and they will destroy
anything. After two weeks I move the pigs to the next 20 by 20 lot and
I plant the first one. When we plant corn we also plant at the same
time beans. The beans will hold to the corn stalk and we don't need to
use any other support, necessary if we were planting beans alone. And
so on. At the end I have five lots planted with two weeks difference
between them and a at harvest time I have fresh corn and beans for two
months and a half, the pigs are growing fine, happier than being
confined in a pen with cement floor and I was able to read a book
under a tree instead of sweating under the tropical sun roto-tilling
the soil. Of course after we eat as much fresh corn and beans we can,
give away by the bushel, and put to dry the rest from each 20 by 20
lot the process starts again, this time we bring the cows into the
first lot and when we move the cows to the second lot we put the pigs
in the first one. The second harvest could be potatoes. This will give
you a brief idea how we manage our farm. We don't care about
incubators, the hens are doing it for thousands of years and they are
doing it fine for me. Of course I'm told the incubators are more
effective, but usually the people saying this is also selling
incubators. I 've raised thousands of chickens and the only time I
didn't enjoyed it was when I did it at an industrial level. I believe
in windmills, photovoltaic cells, refrigeration, air conditioning if
necessary, good food, good wine, sometimes cuban cigars and use my
time in our carpentry and stained glass shops, at the kitchen and
shooting the breeze. I despise agro-chemicals, politics and big
cities' rat race. Once upon the time I was there, I was a bank
president, but those are sins of youth, forever behind and forgotten.

I would like to say we're developing a truly democratical organization
but unfortunately I can't put my family future in the hands and whims
of a group that when formed I knew little about. Maybe with time we'll
evolve in something like that, but now is a kind of feudal system
where the lord has his say and everybody can discuss all subjects and
decisions but my word is final. Of course I'm not a tyrant, and is an
obligation of anyone trying to join our group to find out about it. We
screen all candidates. First they must be interested in the same basic
premises we have. No religious, political or supremacy fanatics. In
fact no fanatics of any kind. No chemicals, no raising of dangerous
animals like emotionally unstable dogs like dobermans, fight dogs,
lions or big cats, falcons and eagles, et cetera. i.e.:If they want to
raise minks they must get their installations approved, mainly the
fence, because I've seen 15 turkeys and a bulldog slaughtered in one
night by a loose mink. They can't put the stables and pigs next to the
neighbor house. The lots are 5 acres each and they can buy more than
one, we don't want people to live next to each other. Of course we're
all equals and every one owns his land, but we're trying to find
people sharing the same goals we have.

After the first screenings, questionnaires and a lot of correspondence
exchange, a visit to the farms is a must and after that if we approve
them and they approve us, we invite them (the whole family) to spend a
couple of weeks with us. That's the final test. If we and them are
mutually and finally approved we sell them a lot and help them to
build their place. They are the lords of their land, but I'm the lord
of the group. It's interesting refer here to the wording of
submission(I don't like the word)the nobles of Spain use to say to
their king:"We, being equal to you, and together being stronger than
you, swear our submission to you..." That's the idea. I take the
general decisions, the ones who may affect the whole group, with their
consent and knowing that if I became a tyrant they will overthrow me.

As a final comment, we see the world going down on one of the cyclical
waves humanity have. Nothing will be totally lost at the end, but we
refuse to live the time we have to live, suffering, in fear or in
need, just because we were unlucky to live at this time. We are really
concerned about the religious fanatics around the world. We despise
all fundamentalist(of any creed) who feel is an act of God to kill the
unbelievers. We don't feel superior to anyone but we won't accept to
be inferior to anyone either. I hope this helps a little to start to
understand who we are and I like to know about your groups and what
their ideas are, about farming, about life in general and about the
world and the universe. You have permission to post and share this
letter and any other we may exchange.

Thank you for your help. I hope to know more about you and your people
and maybe we can develop a "second front" here. Remember we can
harvest the whole year, we don't have snow or freezing temperatures
and that the animals grow steadily the 12 months of the year. i.e.: A
one hectare pond, 5 ft deep produces 5 tons of fish a year!

Good luck,

Arnaldo

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