“No weeding by tillage or herbicides.

Weeds play their part in building soil fertility and in  balancing the biological community. As a fundamental  principle, weeds should be controlled, not eliminated.  Straw mulch, a ground cover of white clover interplanted with the crops, and temporary flooding provide effective  weed control in my fields.

Here are some key points to remember in dealing with  weeds:

As soon as cultivation is discontinued, the number of  weeds decreases sharply. Also, the varieties of weeds in a  given field will change.

If seeds are sown while the preceding crop is still  ripening in the field, those seeds will germinate ahead of  the weeds. Winter weeds sprout only after the rice has been  harvested, but by that time the winter grain already has a  head start. Summer weeds sprout right after the harvest of  barley and rye, but the rice is already growing strongly.  Timing the seeding in such a way that there is no interval between succeeding crops gives the grain a great advantage  over the weeds. Directly after the harvest, if the whole field  is covered with straw, the germination of weeds is stopped  short. White clover sowed with the grain as a ground cover also helps to keep weeds under control. The usual way to  deal with weeds is to cultivate the soil. But when you  cultivate, seeds lying deep in the soil, which would never  have germinated otherwise, are stirred up and given a  chance to sprout. Furthermore, the quick-sprouting, fast growing varieties are given the advantage under these  conditions. So you might say that the farmer who tries to  control weeds by cultivating the soil is, quite literally,  sowing the seeds of his own misfortune. “

Source:The One-Straw Revolution (Masanobu Fukuoka, October 1975)