One Straw Revolution Evaluation

Peter DiStefano

9 April 2018

Book Evaluation

English 102

In Masanobu Fukuokas' The One-Straw Revolution, Fukuoka describes human nature and how that applies mostly negatively to the crops we grow. He talks about how scientists attempt to grasp how nature works, but will never succeed simply because of its complicity. He fears we are treating nature like a lab rat, with no respect or emotion. Fukuoka has a great view on how crops should be handled but it is foreign to many farmers and large food companies. He believes that because we are so distant from the understanding of nature, we shouldn't take short cuts like using machinery and chemicals. For example, Fukuoka grows his crops all organic, no chemicals, pesticide or fertilizer. He also lacks machinery on his farm to ensure nature can take its full course, do its job by providing food. Fukuoka provides alternatives detailed and backed by research on how chemicals can be cut out all together and be replaced by nature. In the chapter "Humanity does not know nature" Fukuoka really opened my eyes when he explained how science needs to be more in depth if we want to understand nature when he said "It is impossible for specialized research to grasp the role of a single predator at a certain time within the intricacy of insect inter-relationships" (27). After saying this he goes on to apply it to his situation. If scientists came to understand why spiders are a big part of the insect population in a farm one year, defending against harmful insects and non existent other seasons, they study only spiders. Fukuoka explains that to get a full understanding they would need to study past the spiders, looking at food, predator and habitat. The world could then go on using natural pesticides such as spiders instead of chemicals to safely grow the food.

It is difficult to find a bad review of this book purely because it has no flaws. Fukuoka provides great examples of how farming can and should be much less complicated, as one review puts it Fukuoka "advocates an agriculture and a way of life based on observation, simplicity, and heightened receptiveness to nature as it is, rather than as we might want it to be." Fukuoka tells us how as humans we want to have everything under our control. By speeding up the process we are trying to make a natural occurrence in nature the way we want it to be. He advocates for a plant then sit back and watch way of farming which is why I believe he has become a man who is looked upon for advice. This why I would also recommend this book to anyone who wants to know how to help the food crisis or anyone thinking of starting a farm or a small garden. 

https://www.acresusa.com/more/the-one-straw-revolution/