The One-Straw Revolution - Multiworld India

Farming Among the WeedsMany different kinds of weeds are growing with the grain and cloverin these fields. Rice straw spread over the field last fall has alreadydecomposed into rich humus. The harvest will yield about 22 bushels(1,300 pounds) to the quarter acre.Yesterday, when Professor Kawase; a leading authority on pasturegrasses, and Professor Hiroe, who is researching ancient plants, saw thefine spread of barley and green manure in my fields, they called it awonderful work of art. A local farmer who had expected to see my fieldscompletely overgrown by weeds was surprised to find the barley growingso vigorously among the many other plants. Technical experts have alsocome here, seen the weeds, seen the watercress and clover growing allaround, and have gone away shaking their heads in amazement.Twenty years ago, when I was encouraging the use of permanentground cover in fruit orchards, there was not a blade of grass to be seenin fields or orchards anywhere in the country. Seeing orchards such asmine, people came to understand that fruit trees could grow quite wellamong the weeds and grasses. Today orchards covered with grasses arecommon throughout Japan and those without grass cover have becomerare.It is the same with fields of grain. Rice, barley,41