{{Short description|Organic agricultural system founded in Japan}} {{Distinguish|Natural farming}} [[File:Sun Rice Kitchen organic bento opened.jpg|thumb|right|An organic bento made from ingredients grown using Nature Farming, sold at Kyusei Kaikan (the Church of World Messianity's headquarters in Atami)]] {{nihongo|'''Nature Farming'''|自然農法|shizen nōhō}} is an organic agricultural system established in 1936 by Mokichi Okada, the founder of the Church of World Messianity. It was also originally known as "no fertilizer farming".<ref>Sustainable Agriculture: Definition and Terms. Special Reference Briefs Series no. SRB 99-02, September 1999. Compiled by: Mary V. Gold, Alternative Farming Systems Information Center, U.S. Department of Agriculture</ref>
Offshoots such as the Sekai Kyusei Kyo, promoting ‘Kyusei nature farming’, and the Mokichi Okada Association formed after his death to continue promoting Nature Farming in Japan and Southeast Asia.<ref>Setboonsarng, S. and Gilman, J. 1999. Alternative Agriculture in Thailand and Japan. HORIZON Communications, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.</ref>
ZZ2, a farming conglomerate in South Africa has translated the term to Afrikaans, "Natuurboerdery".<ref>{{Cite thesis|last=Silent|first=Taurayi|title=An investigation of natuurboerdery (natural farming) approach : a ZZ2 case study|date=March 2011|publisher=Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch|url=http://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/6694|language=en-ZA}}</ref>
According to the International Nature Farming Research Center in Nagano, Japan,<ref>Scientific Proof of Mokichi Okada's Nature Farming Theories by Xu, Hui-lian. Agricultural Experiment Station, International Nature Farming Research Center, Nagano</ref> it is based on the theories that: * Fertilizers pollute the soil and weaken its power of production. * Pests would break out from the excessive use of fertilizers * The difference in disease incidence between resistant and susceptible plants is attributed to nutritional conditions inside the body. * Vegetables and fruits produced by nature farming taste better than those by chemical farming. The term is sometimes used for an alternative farming philosophy of Masanobu Fukuoka.
==Natural Farming== {{Main|Natural Farming}} Another Japanese farmer and philosopher, Masanobu Fukuoka, conceived of an alternative farming system in the 1930s separately from Okada and used the same Japanese characters to describe it.<ref name="NATURE FARMING-Xu1">{{cite book|last=Xu|first=Hui-Lian|title=NATURE FARMING In Japan|type=Monograph|year=2001|publisher=Research Signpost|location=T. C. 37/661(2), Fort Post Office, Trivandrum - 695023, Kerala, India.|isbn=81-308-0111-6}}</ref> This is generally translated in English as "Natural Farming" although agriculture researcher Hu-lian Xu claims that "nature farming" is the correct literal translation of the Japanese term.<ref name="NATURE FARMING-Xu1" />
==See also== * No-dig gardening * No-till farming
==Bibliography== * Okada, Mokichi. 1951. 自然農法解說 / Shizen nōhō kaisetsu. Tōkyō: 榮光社出版部 / Eikōsha Shuppanbu.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{Official website|http://www.infrc.or.jp/}}
Category:Environmental conservation Category:Organic farming Category:Agriculture and the environment Category:Rural community development Category:Systems ecology Category:Church of World Messianity Category:Sustainable food system Category:Organic farming in Asia
{{agriculture-stub}}