Natural Farming: A Practical Guide

Natural Farming carries a simple but widely overlooked message: healthy soil makes healthy plants, which in turn make healthy animals and healthy people. The book explores the consequences in the soil of applications of superphosphate and other artificial fertilisers over decades, and explains soil chemistry in terms that every farmer can understand. It describes the exact role of each mineral and vitamin, both in the soil and in the body, and it explains how to prevent expensive disease outbreaks and minimize the use of costly artificial sprays and fertilisers. The prescriptions are simple and can be applied to any farming enterprise market gardens, orchards, broadacre crops and pasture to restore the natural balance and fertility of the land, improve soil health, and increase productivity. The book is enlivened with accounts of spectacular successes in regenerating degraded land and curing animals that, in many cases, had been given up for dead. Natural Farming is an essential handbook for any farmer, with detailed information on: understanding a soil analysis; establishment and management of pasture; treatment of compacted soil and erosion; alternatives to artificial fertilisers, herbicides, and pesticides; the significance of weeds; strategies for drought; diagnosis of diseases and deficiencies in stock; remedies for common diseases, including Johne's disease and immune-system disorders; and rearing orphan animals. Natural Farming equips the farmer to get the best from the land using environmentally sustainable methods that save time, expense, and worry — and to supply the rising global demand for pure food.