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Traditional farming (of many particular kinds in different eras and places) was the original type of agriculture, and has been practiced for thousands of years. All traditional farming is now considered to be "organic farming" although at the time there were no known inorganic methods. For example, forest gardening, a fully organic food production system which dates from prehistoric times, is thought to be the world's oldest and most resilient agroecosystem. After the industrial revolution had introduced inorganic methods, most of which were not well developed and had serious side effects, an organic movement began in the 1940s as a reaction to agriculture's growing reliance on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. The history of this modern revival of organic farming dates back to the first half of the 20th century at a time when there was a growing reliance on these new synthetic, inorganic methods. ==Pre-World War II== The first 40 years of the 20th century saw simultaneous advances in biochemistry and engineering that rapidly and profoundly changed farming. The introduction of the gasoline-powered internal combustion engine ushered in the era of the tractor and made possible hundreds of mechanized farm implements. Research in plant breeding led to the commercialization of hybrid seed. And a new manufacturing process made nitrogen fertilizer — first synthesized in the mid-19th century — affordably abundant. These factors changed the labor equation: there were almost no tractors in the US around 1910, but over 3,000,000 by 1950; in 1900, it took one farmer to feed 2.5 people, but currently the ratio is 1 to well over 100. Fields grew bigger and cropping more specialized to make more efficient use of machinery. The reduced need for manual labour and animal labour that machinery, herbicides, and fertilizers made possible created an era in which the mechanization of agriculture evolved rapidly. Consciously organic agriculture (as opposed to traditional agricultural methods from before the inorganic options existed, which always employed only organic means) began more or less simultaneously in Central Europe and India. The British botanist Sir Albert Howard is often referred to as the father of modern organic agriculture, because he was the first to apply modern scientific knowledge and methods to traditional agriculture. From 1905 to 1924, he and his wife Gabrielle, herself a plant physiologist, worked as agricultural advisers in Pusa, Bengal, where they documented traditional Indian farming practices and came to regard them as superior to their conventional agriculture science. Their research and further development of these methods is recorded in his writings, notably, his 1940 book, ''An Agricultural Testament'', which influenced many scientists and farmers of the day. In Germany, Rudolf Steiner's development, biodynamic agriculture, was probably the first comprehensive system of what we now call organic farming. This began with a lecture series Steiner presented at a farm in Koberwitz (Kobierzyce now in Poland) in 1924. Steiner emphasized the farmer's role in guiding and balancing the interaction of the animals, plants and soil. Healthy animals depended upon healthy plants (for their food), healthy plants upon healthy soil, healthy soil upon healthy animals (for the manure).〔Lotter, D.W. (2003) (Organic agriculture ). Journal of Sustainable Agriculture 21(4)〕〔Biodynamics is listed as a "modern organic agriculture" system in: Minou Yussefi and Helga Willer (Eds.), (The World of Organic Agriculture: Statistics and Future Prospects ), 2003, p. 57〕〔Biodynamic agriculture is "a type of organic system". Charles Francis and J. van Wart (2009), "History of Organic Farming and Certification", in (Organic farming: the ecological system ). American Society of Agronomy. pp. 3-18〕 His system was based on his philosophy of anthroposophy rather than a good understanding of science.〔 To develop his system of farming, Steiner established an international research group called the Agricultural Experimental Circle of Anthroposophical Farmers and Gardeners of the General Anthroposophical Society.〔Paull, John (2013) ( A history of the organic agriculture movement in Australia. ) In: Bruno Mascitelli, and Antonio Lobo (Eds.) Organics in the Global Food Chain. Connor Court Publishing, Ballarat, ch.3, pp.37-61.〕 In 1909, American agronomist F.H. King toured China, Korea, and Japan, studying traditional fertilization, tillage, and general farming practices. He published his findings in ''Farmers of Forty Centuries'' (1911, Courier Dover Publications, ISBN 0-486-43609-8). King foresaw a "world movement for the introduction of new and improved methods" of agriculture and in later years his book became an important organic reference. The term ''organic farming'' was coined by Lord Northbourne in his book ''Look to the Land'' (written in 1939, published 1940).〔Paull, John (2014) (Lord Northbourne, the man who invented organic farming, a biography ) Journal of Organic Systems, 9 (1), pp. 31-53.〕 From his conception of "the farm as organism," he described a holistic, ecologically balanced approach to farming.〔Paull, John (2006). (The Farm as Organism: The Foundational Idea of Organic Agriculture. ) Journal of Bio-Dynamics Tasmania (80), pp. 14-18.〕 In 1939 Lady Eve Balfour launched the Haughley Experiment on farmland in England. Lady Balfour believed that mankind's health and future depended on how the soil was used, and that non-intenstive farming could produce more wholesome food. The experiment was run to generate data in support of these beliefs. Four years later, she published ''The Living Soil'', based on the initial findings of the Haughley Experiment. Widely read, it led to the formation of a key international organic advocacy group, the Soil Association. In Japan, Masanobu Fukuoka, a microbiologist working in soil science and plant pathology, began to doubt the modern agricultural movement. In 1937, he quit his job as a research scientist, returned to his family's farm in 1938, and devoted the next 60 years to developing a radical no-till organic method for growing grain and many other crops, now known as , nature farming, 'do–nothing' farming or Fukuoka farming. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of organic farming」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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