The One-Straw Revolution

Yesterday I got a copy of Fukuoka Masanobu's The One-Straw Revolution. I haven't been able to put it down.

Fukuoka is a farmer and an agricultural guru of sorts. He is well known to people interested in natural farming, and has pioneered some revolutionary ideas in permaculture. As a young man he was employed as a scientist, and seemed to be enjoying his life when he contracted pneumonia. After a miserable stay in a hospital, where he contemplated his own mortality, he became depressed. He finally gave up his old life for the life of a farmer.

You can find out more about his life and farming philosophy at The Fukuoka Farming website. Rarely an idea or theory fully captures my attention, but when it does, it is usually from a book. My guess is that this will be one such book.

Biofuels News, Japan jumps on the bioethanol bandwagon

Looks like Japan is going to a variety of high-yield rice in order to produce ethanol. There are loads of rice paddies out there that are being neglected because rice-for-food production is becoming a losing proposition. I hope this is good for the farmers. I know there are problems, like jerking up the cost of food, but if farming something becomes more valuable, then farmers and their land will also be more valuable.
Biofuels News (Green Portal)