a book
Farmers of Forty Centuries: Organic Farming in China, Korea, and Japan
F.H. King · 2004 · 441 pages
How did Asian farmers work the same fields for 40,000 years without destroying the land's fertility and without applying artificial fertilizer? At the turn of the 20th century, a former official with the U.S. Department of Agriculture travelled to Asia to learn the answer. This landmark book chronicles his travels and observations on waste-free methods of cultivation that conserve natural resources. "One of the richest sources of information about peasant agriculture . . . one of the pioneer books on organic farming." — The Last Whole Earth Catalog.
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Wendell Berry
“This book, first published in 1911, is an account of King’s studies of the enduring small peasant farms of three Asian countries. How did the people keep their land productive for 4,000 years? By returning all ‘wastes’ to the soil, leaving the fertility cycle intact.”↗