Many of us in the permaculture and organic movements have read Japanese farmer Masanobu Fukuoka’s One Straw Revolution, which lays out his ingenious (though hard to replicate) no-till organic rice production system. I was surprised and pleased when, in my job as librarian for the New England Small Farm Institute in the late 1990s, I stumbled on his Natural Way of Farming, a translation of his 1976 book Shizen Noho. At that time he had already been running his orchard as an organic polyculture food forest for over three decades – since the 1940s! Natural Way of Farming offers much detail about Fukuoka’s methods of grain, vegetable, and fruit production. It was a major inspiration to me as I worked on writing Edible Forest Gardens.

Fukuoka’s food forest (he refers to it his orchard) is a fantastic example of a warm temperate/subtropical food forest featuring multiple layers, abundant nitrogen-fixers, a diversity of fruits, nuts, and perennial vegetables, with sophisticated use of self-sown and broadcast annual crops. There is much for us to learn from his lifetime of experimentation in his humid, warm-temperate to subtropical climate. This is a good-sized operation, covering ten or more acres. In the 1980s Fukuoka was shipping 200,000 pounds (about 90 metric tons) of citrus annually from 800 citrus trees.[i]

The book is full of fantastic color photos of his no-till grain, vegetable, and food forest systems. I don’t have rights to them, so get a copy of the book and check them out! Used copies of several editions are available online.

Food Forest Design

Fukuoka recommends diverse polycultures, starting with mixing deciduous and evergreen fruits. “Never forget to plant green manure trees[ii]”. Fukuoka’s nitrogen fixing trees include acacias, alders, autumn olive, wax myrtle (Myrica) and podocarpus. He advocated maintaining a productive and diverse understory. “Using the open space in an orchard to raise an undergrowth of special-purpose crops and vegetables is the very picture of nature.[iii]” “A natural orchard in which full, three-dimensional use of space is made in this way is entirely different from conventional orchards that employ high-production techniques. For the individual wishing to live in communion with nature, this is truly a paradise on earth.[iv]”

Food Forest Establishment

“When starting an orchard, the main goals initially should be prevention of weed emergence and maturation of the soil[v].”(144) Fukuoka also advocates for terracing and the use of contour berm-and-basin systems (known as contour swales to many of us in permaculture).

Fukuoka set out his orchard in forest land he had recently cleared. Trunks and branches from land clearing were laid out in windrows on contour – like the hugelculture technique popular in permaculture today. “To establish a natural orchard, one should dig large holes here and there among the stumps of felled trees and plant unpruned saplings and fruit seed over the site, leaving these unattended just as one would leave alone a reforested stand of trees[vi].” Resprouting stumps and weeds were cut or coppiced with a sickle.

He offers some sophisticated ecosystem mimicry advice, listing weed crops by family and replacement crops in the same family. For instance, wild morning glories might indicate planting of sweet potato. Fukuoka advocates a minimal pruning strategy (see below). At establishment, he aims to set up the tree for a lifetime of minimal pruning by establishing a form like its wild character. After 5-6 years, Fukuoka came in and built terraces uphill from each tree row. Then he transitioned the understory to ladino (white) clover (Trifolium repens).

Food Forest Understory

“What helps to rehabilitate depleted soil? I planted the seeds of thirty legumes, crucifers, and grasses throughout my orchard and from observations of these came to the general conclusion that I should grow a weed cover using ladino clover as the primary crop and such herbs as alfalfa, lupine, and bur clover as the secondary crops. To condition the deeper strata in the hard, depleted soil, I companion-planted fertilizer trees such as black wattle, myrtle, and podocarpus.[vii](188)” Fukuoka found that ladino clover would fully suppress weeds within 2-3 years, and would not need to be reseeded for 6-8 years. Drawbacks included less shade tolerance than he wanted, and the requirement for regular mowing. In winter he sowed brassica vegetables, and in summer legume vegetables and millets. Perennial vegetables were introduced and annual crops seed broadcast, with some annuals allowed to reseed themselves, producing strong-flavored feral offspring.

Table: Fukuoka’s Companion Crops

Adapted from table on page 144, Natural Way of Farming.

Crop Type Sample Crops Understory Evergreen Fruit Trees Citrus, loquat Fuki (Petasites), buckwheat Deciduous Fruit Trees Walnut, persimmon, peach, plum, cherry, apricot, apple, pear Devil’s tongue (probably an aroid), lilies, ginger, buckwheat Fruit vines Grape, kiwi, akebia Millets Nitrogen fixing trees Acacia, wax myrtle, alder Green manures*, vegetables

Table: Fukuoka’s Green Manure Crops

Annual crops (mostly) broadcast seasonally. Adapted from page 144, Natural Way of Farming.

Crop Spring Summer Winter Ladino clover, alfalfa Yes Yes Yes Bur clover Yes Mustard family vegetables Yes Lupines, vetches Yes Soybeans, peanuts, adzuki beans, mung beans, cowpeas Yes

Management

Black wattle trees (Acacia mearnsii) were his favorite nitrogen fixer as they were evergreen and grew to the size of a telephone pole in 7-8 years. At this point he cut down the wattles and buried them in trenches (more hugelculture). The wattle trees, fast-growing and evergreen, always served as a home for aphids and scales, and as a home to their predators like ladybugs, which provided pest control through the food forest. He ran poultry and other livestock in the orchard understory once it was established.

Pruning

Fukuoka has a lot to say about pruning in Natural Way of Farming. He sought minimal pruning styles to allow his fruit and nut trees to grow as close as possible to their natural shape. To this end he grew many seedlings of citrus and other species to observe their natural form. Almost half of the trees he inherited from his father died in his quest for a low-maintenance, natural pruning regime, about 400 trees!

Fukuoka’s Food Forest Today

Masanobu Fukuoka died in 2008 at the age of 95. Today his children and grandchildren maintain the farm, including the food forest area. Citrus and ginkgo are thriving, and mango, avocado, and feijoa have been added. Shiitakes are cultivated in the understory on logs. Wild vegetables still grow beneath the orchard in some areas[viii].

Species in Fukuoka’s Food Forest

I’ve done my best to extrapolate from the translated common names in Natural Way of Farming. Some were nailed down with assistance from my Yama-Kei Pocket Guide to wild edibles of Japan. Surely there were many, many more which did not make it into the books, but this is a pretty good start.

LARGE TREES Latin Name Common Name Uses Functions Acacia mearnsii Black wattle Nitrogen fixer Alnus japonica Japanese alder Nitrogen fixer Castanea spp. Chestnut Nuts Ginkgo biloba Ginkgo Nuts, medicinal Juglans spp. Walnut Nuts

MEDIUM TREES Latin Name Common Name Uses Functions Amygdalus communis Apricot Fruit Aralia elata Japanese angelica tree Shoots and young leaves Citrus maxima Shaddock, pummelo Fruit Citrus reticulata Mandarin orange Fruit Citrus x. sinensis Orange Fruit Cydonia oblonga Quince Fruit Eriobotrya japonica loquat Fruit Malus domestica Apple Fruit Prunus avium cherry Fruit Prunus persica Peach Fruit Prunus salicina Plum Fruit Pyrus spp. Pear Fruit Zizyphus jujuba Jujube Fruit

SHRUBS AND SMALL TREES Latin Name Common Name Uses Functions Eleagnus umbellata Oleaster, autumn olive Fruits Nitrogen fixation Ficus carica Fig Fruit Fortunella japonica Kumquat Fruit Myrica rubra Wax myrtle, yumberry Fruits Nitrogen fixation Podocarpus spp. Podocarpus Nitrogen fixation Punica granatum Pomegranate Fruit Ribes spp. Currant Fruit

VINES Latin Name Common Name Uses Functions Actinidia deliciosa Kiwifruit Fruit Akebia quinata Akebia Fruit, shoots Dioscorea japonica Japanese yam Tubers, aerial tubers Dioscorea polystachya Chinese yam Tubers, aerial tubers Peuraria lobata Kudzu Tuber starch Nitrogen fixation, weed suppression Sechium edule Chayote Squash, shoots, tubers Vitis vinifera Grape Fruit

PERENNIAL HERBS Latin Name Common Name Uses Functions Allium fistulosum Welsh onion Scallions Allium sativum Garlic Garlic Allium tuberosum Chinese leek Greens Aralia cordata Udo Shoots Asparagus officinalis Asparagus Shoots Colocasia esculenta Taro Tubers Crambe maritima Sea kale Leaves, broccolis Cryptotaenia japonica Honewort Culinary Dactylis glomerata Orchardgrass Weed suppression Lilium spp. Lilies Bulbs Medicago sativa Alfalfa Nitrogen fixation Mentha spp. Japanese mint culinary Panax ginseng Ginseng Medicinal Petasites japonicus Fuki Stalks Phleum pratense Timothy grass Weed suppression Zingiber mioga Mioga ginger Shoots Zingiber officinale Ginger Spice, shoots

GROUNDCOVERS Latin Name Common Name Uses Functions Ipomoea batatas Sweet potato Tubers, leaves Weed suppression Medicago spp. Bur clover Nitrogen fixation, weed suppression Trifolium pratense Red clover Nitrogen fixation Trifolium repens Ladino clover, white clover Nitrogen fixation, weed suppression Vicia spp. Vetches Nitrogen fixation

ANNUALS: SELF-SOWN AND BROADCAST Latin Name Common Name Uses Functions Arachis hypogaea Peanut Peanuts Nitrogen fixation, weed suppression Brassica napus Rapeseed Oilseed Weed suppression Brassica rapa Turnip Roots, greens Weed suppression Brassica spp. Indian mustard Greens Weed suppression Echinochloa spp. Japanese barnyard millet Grain Weed suppression Fagopyrum esculentum Buckwheat Grain Weed suppression Glycine max Soybean Beans Nitrogen fixation, weed suppression Hordeum vulgare Barley Grain Weed suppression Lupinus spp. Lupine Nitrogen fixation, weed suppression Melilotus spp. Sweet clover Nitrogen fixation Panicum mileaceum Proso millet Grain Weed suppression Perilla frutescens Shiso Culinary Pisium sativum Garden pea Peas Nitrogen fixation, weed suppression Raphanus sativus Daikon Roots, greens Weed suppression Setaria italica Foxtail millet Grain Weed suppression Trifolium incarnatum Crimson clover Nitrogen fixation Trifolium subterraneum Sub clover Triticum aestivum wheat Grain Weed suppression Vicia faba Broad bean Beans Nitrogen fixation, weed suppression Vigna angularis Adzuki bean Beans Nitrogen fixation, weed suppression Aster Family crops Burdock, lettuce, edible chrysanthemum Greens, roots Brassica Family crops Chinese cabbage, cabbage, leaf mustard, potherb mustard, black mustard Greens Carrot Family crops Carrot, parsley, celery Culinary, greens, roots Chenopod Family crops Spinach, chard Greens Cucurbit Family crops Watermelon, cucumber, melons, winter squash, bottle gourd, wax melon Fruit vegetables, some greens Legume Family crops Kidney bean, asparagus bean, sword bean Beans Nitrogen fixation Potato Family crops Tomato, eggplant, potato, peppers, tobacco Fruit vegetables, tobacco