# Natural Farming
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[Introduction and Overview](/en/home/0_Einstieg-und-Überblick) › [Glossary for the Networking Language](/en/home/0_Einstieg-und-Überblick/Glossar) · 7 min read
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## Definition
**Natural Farming** describes an agricultural approach and practice shaped by **Masanobu Fukuoka**.
It assumes that natural life processes possess their own order, intelligence, and regenerative capacity.
Humans therefore do not intervene first with control, correction, or regulation.
Instead, they observe and learn. They ask: Which interventions are truly necessary? And which create problems in the first place?
Natural Farming is also described as **"do-nothing farming."** This does not mean inactivity.
It refers to a conscious decision not to interfere in processes that can sustain themselves through the living interplay of soil, plants, animals, water, climate, microorganisms, and seasons.
## Origin
The term is closely associated with the Japanese farmer, researcher, and philosopher **Masanobu Fukuoka**.
Fukuoka developed his practice on his farm in Japan and made it internationally known through books like **The One-Straw Revolution**.
His work has been adopted, adapted, and further developed in many places around the world.
What matters is this: Natural Farming is not a rigid method that can be applied uniformly everywhere.
It is a way of seeing agriculture.
Every place has different soils, plants, animals, climatic conditions, cultures, tools, and people.
Therefore, Natural Farming must always emerge from the observation of the specific place.
## Do-Nothing
The "do-nothing" in Fukuoka’s approach does not mean that people do no work.
It means they do no more than is necessary.
The central question is:
> What can I refrain from doing so that natural processes become visible, effective, and sustainable again?
This attitude changes the role of humans.
Humans do not stand above the field.
They stand within it.
They work with the place, not against it.
They do not attempt to immediately control every plant, insect, growth, or deviation.
They observe which relationships already exist and which interventions disrupt the balance.
## Wu Wei and Non-Forcing
Natural Farming is often linked to the Daoist concept of **Wu Wei**.
Wu Wei can be understood as non-forcing, non-straining, or acting in harmony with the flow of things.
For agriculture, this means: action arises from perception. It follows the place and does not impose a ready-made order on nature.
Humans act where their actions support the living process.
They let go where control causes more harm than benefit.
This attitude requires attention, patience, and experience.
It is demanding because it does not rely on quick technical solutions but on deep understanding.
## Core Principles
Natural Farming is often described through several core principles:
- no or minimal soil cultivation
- no chemical fertilizers
- no pesticides or herbicides
- no weeding in the sense of constant soil disturbance
- no unnecessary pruning
- no mechanical control as a basic attitude
- as few external interventions as possible
- building soil cover and living cycles
- working with diversity instead of monoculture
- precise observation of the specific place
These principles are not recipes—they are pointers in a direction.
The actual practice always emerges through observation, experience, and adaptation.
## Observational Skill
The most important skill in Natural Farming is observation.
Observing does not just mean looking at something but perceiving relationships.
For example:
- How does the soil behave after rain?
- Which plants appear on their own?
- Which insects are present?
- Which birds, animals, and fungi appear?
- Where does water pool?
- Where does the soil dry out?
- Which plants protect other plants?
- Where does competition arise?
- Where does balance emerge?
- What effects of past interventions still linger?
- What happens if no immediate action is taken?
Through this observation, knowledge is gained. This knowledge is local.
It cannot be fully derived from books, tables, or general methods.
## Soil
In Natural Farming, soil is not merely a production medium.
Soil is a living system.
It consists of minerals, water, air, roots, fungi, bacteria, insects, worms, organic matter, and many invisible relationships.
Constant soil cultivation can disrupt this system.
Natural Farming therefore aims to keep soil covered, rooted, and undisturbed as much as possible.
Fertility arises not only by adding nutrients but through living cycles.
## Plants and Diversity
Natural Farming works with diversity.
Plants are not viewed solely as crops or weeds.
Even spontaneous vegetation can provide clues.
It can cover soil, indicate nutrients, attract insects, retain moisture, or loosen the soil.
The question is not immediately:
> How do I remove this plant?
The question is first:
> What does this plant tell me about this place?
This changes the perspective.
The field is not seen as an empty space that humans must fully order.
It is understood as a living space where relationships can be read.
## Seed Balls
A well-known practice from Fukuoka’s approach is **seed balls**.
Seeds are coated with soil or clay and then sown.
The coating protects the seeds from drying out, birds, or direct stress.
Germination occurs when conditions are right.
Seed balls embody a core idea of Natural Farming:
Humans set an impulse.
Nature decides on the timing, location, and success of germination.
Here, too, the focus is not on complete control but on a prepared trust in natural processes.
### From Practice: Notes on Seed Balls and Natural Farming
*Handwritten course notes by Felix (June 2025), updated on 21.10.2026. Empirical values, not professionally verified.*
**Making Seed Balls**
- Prepare seeds: Soak carrots, celery, and parsley for about 48 hours in water, then dry and form into clay balls. Soak beans, peas, and lentils for half an hour to four hours depending on size and use directly.
- Form clay balls and dry in the sun or shade.
- For gardens: 30 to 40 parts clay to 1 part seeds, plus water.
- For deserts and reforestation: additionally mix in sheep’s wool, cut human hair, coconut fibers, or cotton as water storage, depending on location also humus, forest soil, and microorganisms as fertilizer for the young plant. If the pH of forest soil is too low, add lime (dolomite).
- Test whether a clay is suitable: Form balls from different clays, dry them, and then place in water. The one that lasts the longest is best suited.
- If seed balls are to be stored, they must be completely dry. For safety, break open one ball.
- Do not mix in wood (chips or flour).
**Further Notes**
- Two types of white clover: a low-growing variety in the vegetable garden, a tall variety as a displacer.
- Do not grow alfalfa directly next to vegetables; it has complex roots (up to 40 m deep).
- Four to five acacias per hectare are enough to improve the soil.
- Cut potatoes into pieces, coat the cut surfaces with ash, let dry for two to three days, then plant.
- Sweet potatoes: cut a roughly 1 m long shoot into 10 cm pieces, bury again, and leave one leaf exposed.
- Always plant seedlings at ground level, not deeper, and do not press down.
- Preservation: leeks in damp sand; root vegetables in grain husks in a pit; sourdough starter in flour, buried in it.
- Insight of the day: The combination of knowledge and techniques is stronger.
- Natural Farm, Natural Man, and Natural Diet are interconnected and influence each other.
- Open question from the notes: Do beans need to be cut to fully utilize nitrogen fixation?
## Difference from Neglect
Natural Farming must not be confused with neglect.
Non-intervention is only meaningful when it arises from observation, experience, and responsibility.
Leaving a field to itself without understanding the place is not Natural Farming.
Natural Farming requires:
- attention
- patience
- experience
- a sense of responsibility
- long-term observation
- willingness to learn
- humility toward the place
It is an active form of stepping back.
## Difference from Technical Agriculture
Technical agriculture often attempts to control conditions.
Natural Farming attempts to understand conditions.
Technical agriculture frequently asks:
> What must I add, combat, or optimize?
Natural Farming asks:
> Which disturbance can I stop so that the place can rediscover its own vitality?
This changes the direction of work.
The work does not simply become less.
It becomes more refined.
It shifts from control to perception, from intervention to accompaniment, from standardization to relationship.
## Significance for TEIKEI
For TEIKEI, Natural Farming is important because it understands agriculture as a relationship.
It shows that a farm does not only produce food.
A farm is a place where soil, people, plants, animals, water, climate, knowledge, and responsibility come together.
Natural Farming can help ask the following questions:
- Which processes does the place already sustain on its own?
- Which interventions are truly necessary?
- Which interventions create new dependencies?
- How can soil remain alive?
- How can diversity be strengthened?
- How can agriculture be observed locally and understood communally?
- How can people learn to work with a place instead of against it?
In TEIKEI, Natural Farming connects with community-supported provision. Because such a practice requires time, trust, and long-term responsibility.
It cannot be evaluated solely by short-term quantities or prices.
It needs people who are willing to support a farm as a living system.
## Guiding Questions
These questions can help in working with Natural Farming:
- What happens at this place on its own?
- Which natural processes are already effective?
- Which interventions are necessary?
- Which interventions can be omitted?
- Which plants, animals, or soil processes indicate the condition of the place?
- Where does balance emerge?
- Where does overburdening occur?
- What needs time?
- What does not need to be solved immediately?
- How can human work be supportive rather than controlling?
## Summary
Natural Farming is a practice of precise seeing.
It begins with the assumption that nature is not empty, chaotic, or passive.
It is full of relationships.
Humans can learn to recognize these relationships and work with them.
Masanobu Fukuoka’s "do-nothing" therefore does not mean withdrawing from responsibility.
It means a deeper form of responsibility:
less forcing,
more observing,
less disturbing,
more understanding,
less controlling,
more working with life.
## Related Terms
- [Regenerative Agriculture](https://wiki.teikei.us/de/home/0_Einstieg-und-Überblick/Glossar/regenerative-landwirtschaft)
- [Soil Fertility](https://wiki.teikei.us/de/home/0_Einstieg-und-Überblick/Glossar/bodenfruchtbarkeit)
- [Biodiversity](https://wiki.teikei.us/de/home/0_Einstieg-und-Überblick/Glossar/biodiversitaet)
- [Agriculture](https://wiki.teikei.us/de/home/0_Einstieg-und-Überblick/Glossar/Landwirtschaft)
- [Humus](https://wiki.teikei.us/de/home/0_Einstieg-und-Überblick/Glossar/humus)
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By the TEIKEI editorial team, with support from AI (ChatGPT)
Created on June 22, 2026 · Last updated on October 10, 2026
Questions or suggestions? [support@teikei.us](mailto:support@teikei.us)
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