Working with Nature: David Masumoto and Organic Farming Discourse

David Mas Masumoto, a third generation organic farmer, reflects on his experience substituting pheromones for chemicals in his organic peach orchard and suggests that organic cultivation is a practice through which farmers respond to the rhythmic order of nature. Like many organic enthusiasts, Masumoto defines organic farming as the antithesis of industrial agriculture––a mode of production that relies on synthetic herbicides, fertilizers, and other technological control of nature. However, this powerful dichotomy that Masumoto establishes between the organic and the industrial becomes less tenable when his stance against chemical pesticides and fertilizers comes into conflict with his attempt to work with nature’s order. Working with nature, Masumoto finds his organic approach depends as much on controlling nature and its irregularities as industrial ones, and his vision of a pristine organic farm devoid of human traces an unattainable dream. His fascination with organic naturalness manifests an obsession with the supposed pastoral innocence and moral order of the organic landscape in popular belief.