Masanobu Fukuoka (2 February 1913 – 16 August 2008) who was a farmer and a philosopher lived in Japan. He was known with the natural farming method he developed and the re-vegetation of desertified lands. He was a proponent of no-till, no-herbicide grain cultivation farming methods traditional to many indigenous cultures, from which he created a particular method of farming, commonly referred to as “natural farming” or “do-nothing farming”.

Fukuoka called his agricultural philosophy shizen nōhō (自然農法), most commonly translated into English as “natural farming”. It is also referred to as “the Fukuoka Method” or “Do-Nothing Farming”. The system is based on the recognition of the complexity of living organisms that shape an ecosystem and deliberately exploiting it. Fukuoka saw farming not just as a means of producing food but as an aesthetic and spiritual approach to life, the ultimate goal of which was “the cultivation and perfection of human beings”.The five principles of natural farming are that:

 • Human cultivation of soil, plowing or tilling are unnecessary, as is the use of powered machines

• Prepared fertilizers are unnecessary, as is the process of preparing compost

• Weeding, either by cultivation or by herbicides, is unnecessary; instead, only minimal weed suppression with minimal disturbance should be used

• Applications of pesticides or herbicides are unnecessary

• Pruning of fruit trees is unnecessary