The Agriculture Seminar met at the annual meeting of the Association for Baha'i Studies (North America). As a special interest section, the Agriculture Seminar offered programs on the first two days of the conference, beginning Thursday.

On Thursday and Friday, Mary Anne Mathias (from Ontario), presented a paper written by Peter Calkins and Benoit Girard (Quebec), entitled "Adapting 'Abdu'l-Baha's Village Granary to Rural Development in North America." These two authors attempt to develop some direction to agriculture in the context of North America, based on 'Abdu'l-Baha's concept of a village storehouse and various principles gleaned from the Baha'i Writings.

On Thursday, Gary Colliver raised a number of significant questions for consultation:

- How important is agriculture, and what role does it play in our daily lives as we "strive to translate that which hath been written into reality and action"?

- Should Baha'is be concerned with the trend towards larger farms and fewer farms?

In fact, several additional sessions consisted of group discussion of a number of the issues Gary raised. And it seems, at this stage in the development of the Baha'i community, our conversations are really at a preliminary point of development, as we begin to reflect on how the Baha'i teachings can be applied to the difficult problems facing agriculture at this time.

Indeed, several talks at the general session Saturday consisted of reflection on economic issues. These presentations hinted at what possibilities our Writings offer in terms of our current economic problems (although agriculture as a particular topic was pointedly missing from these talks). Several of these sessions emphasized the significance of the recently distributed statement from the Universal House of Justice, The Prosperity of Humankind, in formulating Baha'i perspectives on economic issues in the greater context of social and economic development. This statement offers those of us focused on agricultural issues some real starting points.

Time was also spent by the agriculture folks getting to know one another. In fact, it was quite amazing to see the diversity of backgrounds and interests represented among us - from salmon-raising in Alaska, to agriculture projects in South America, to a business raising beneficial insects, etc. This continues to be a prime focus of the Agriculture Seminar - to help us get to know one another, to encourage one another, and to help us begin to reflect on our Baha'i Writings.

I wish to personally thank Peter Calkins and Benoit Girard for their paper, and Mary Anne Mathias, Gary Colliver and the many others who participated in our discussions in San Francisco.

The community at the Baha'i Louis Gregory Institute in Hemingway, South Carolina, has been eating from a large circular garden that has nine rays and is also a teaching tool, members of the LGI Agriculture Group have found. Affiliated with the Association for Baha'i Studies Agriculture Seminar, this regional group formed and began a comprehensive project last February with the help of Winnie Merritt, a seminar member from Barbados, who had by chance volunteered for two months of service at LGI. Within a few days of her arrival, new Baha'i Richard Pratt, John Gore, and others in the community were at work with her; and over the weekend of March l0th, LGI held a conference on agriculture for Baha'is and their friends. Included in the program was a study of the Writings on agriculture, led by John Bradley, and a workshop on an African bio-intensive field system that Clark Tibbits, a friend of the Baha'is, had worked with in Lesotho. A video crew from the National Center in the US included the already impressive garden in their summer filming at Louis Gregory for a Feast tape.

With Richard Pratt as facilitator, the LGI Agriculture Group meets monthly to work toward the goals of their three-year plan, which include growing most of the food eaten at the Institute and giving agricultural experience to youth. Plans are being made for a Baha'i youth from South Africa to apprentice with the project next season, and LGI is seeking other volunteers to participate in this learning experience and to assist in developing the gardens and other aspects of the project. (Contact Sophia Berhani at LGI, Rt. 2 Box 71, Hemingway, SC, 29554 or Eco-Ag Service.)

From a letter dated 25 May l994
"The idea of establishing pilot projects as a means of demonstrating practical applications for such concepts has merit, and could have beneficial results for Baha'is and others as well.. The Universal House of Justice will be requested to offer prayers in the Holy Shrines for your continued devoted service to our precious Faith and a sorely afflicted humanity." (For more information, contact Eco Ag Service, 339 Country Club Road, Mt. Airy, NC 27030.)

Following are excerpts from letters written by ABS Agriculture Seminar advisor Robert Stockman, Coordinator of the Research Office at the Baha'i National Center in Wilmette, Illinois, to the ABS Agriculture Seminar.

From a letter dated January l0, l995
"Be assured of my prayers at the House of Worship for the Agriculture Seminar. Yours is the most successful ABS special interest seminar by far, and shows potential for making a world-wide impact on the Baha'i community."

From a letter dated June 11, l995
"Thank you for the report about the agricultural projects. A very impressive list! It is amazing your committee is doing so much. Keep up the good work!"

The unit convention of the Baha'is of the Hebrides met October 15th on the Isle of Skye. My visit to these Western Isles of Scotland coincided, and I had opportunity during the convention weekend to talk with old friends and new. Eileen and Mike Sitito, new Baha'is, are drawing on Mike's experience as a forester and their work on other permaculture projects to start a project of permanent agriculture in the midst of the Baha'i community of Skye. (See contacts for the UK.) Baha'is over the islands talk about the importance of local food growing and there is much interest and activity by Baha'is of the United Kingdom in Agenda 21, the program that came out of the l992 United Nations Conference on the Environment in Rio and provides opportunity to consult and to cooperate with local governments. This northern journey, which preceded the ISARD conference in Italy, concluded with dawn prayers in a rock-walled garden of a Baha'i agricultural community on the mainland. Rosie and Gary Villiers-Stuart, Lorna Silverstein, and others formed the spiritually based community in Northumberland, England, to farm, to work in education and healing, and to participate in the arts. Burnlaw, as this organic beef farm is called, is a focal point for a strong Baha'i community that extends beyond the several Baha'is on the farm itself. A stone barn, where I slept and in the midst of renovation to a guest house, is dated l608 and is one of several beautiful stone buildings on the site of this former Quaker community. There are also ancient standing stones here and the Roman wall is visible in the distance.

A few days before the recent meeting of the International Society for Agriculture and Rural Development, Director Iraj Poostchi was hospitalized with a heart attack and subsequently underwent bypass surgery. In his place, Carolyn Wade, who has attended most ISARD meetings and is a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United Kingdom, chaired the October 23-29 ISARD meeting in Acuto, Italy. Though only fifteen or so Baha'is (and more papers) came to this meeting, it was an extraordinary coming together of people.

The mix of talents, the sharing and listening that took place, and the spirit of cooperation turned the group into a working group that has presented a plan for ISARD's future to Iraj Poostchi for his approval. Members of the group offered to take responsibility to put into action the following program: Yearly ISARD conferences to be held on different continents on a rotating basis, the listing of a worldwide network of Baha'is working in agriculture and rural development and various projects where qualified Baha'i youth could intern, an orientation program for the youth who would participate in such an exchange program as both a service and a learning opportunity, a continental database, and a biannual ISARD newsletter. The group also recommended that ISARD be structured with both active members and associate members, with different membership fees, and that there be a working group to help Iraj Poostchi with the planning and administration. Continental working groups and continental conferences were discussed briefly.

Repeatedly during the week, members of the group expressed a deep appreciation for the time that Dr. Poostchi has put into this organization and for his extensive research into the Writings on agriculture and rural development. The group also recognized the excellent job that Carolyn Wade did on short notice in chairing this meeting. Including Carolyn, four members of the ABS Agriculture Seminar attended the Acuto meeting, with presentations by Betty Moseley, Cecil Cook, and Nancy McIntyre. Cecil Cook also presented a paper by Crispin Pemberton-Pigott, who could not attend. There were a number of interesting papers on small rural businesses around the Baha'i world and on small-scale agriculture. One of the papers was about a project in Bolivia in which seminar member Ponyan (Paul) Mahboubi, a Baha'i student at the University of Guelph, has taken an active part.

The National Spiritual Assembly of Italy, a welcoming group that showed much interest in agriculture and rural development, had arranged for the group to meet with the local mayor and agricultural officials. Through a translator, we heard from these officials about the effects on Italian farmers of the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs and of the quotas of the European Community. Many Italian farmers have been forced to seek employment in factories; many vineyards have been cut down, as have been orchards in England and olive groves in Portugal, though they were in climatic areas particularly well suited for that crop. If we understood the officials correctly, laws to take effect in Italy in the year 2000 will prohibit the growing of any quota crop, even for one's own use, unless one has a quota.

Cecil Cook and I had the bonus of a visit to a local courtyard garden, where, instead of grass, the house was surrounded by a beautiful garden of vegetables and companion flowers, herbs, grape arbor, pear tree, chicken yard, seed bed and compost bin. This area 35 miles south of Rome was mountainous and picturesque, and the lovely Baha'i center where the conference took place served us delicious food.

To order a copy of the Proceedings of the l995 ISARD conference, contact Iraj Poostchi at 97 St. Mark's Road, Henley-on-Thames, United Kingdom, RG9 1LP.

The Universal House of Justice placed emphasis upon social and economic development (SED) in their message dated 20 October 1983. I recommend reading that Message.

An excellent book, Social and Economic Development - A Baha'i Approach, by Holly Hanson Vick is available from the Publishing Trust. I recommend a careful study of this book by individuals and communities considering SED projects.

Another document which mandates action for Baha'is in SED is the Universal House of Justice's The Prosperity of Humankind statement. Study of its provisions is essential for Baha'is in SED.

My point is to suggest a first course of action for individuals, as well as communities contemplating initiatives in Baha'i SED. Most of us here [on Noble-Creation, ed.] are somehow active in SED, but many people and communities remain just on the verge of action. We can assist them by showing them how to start.

As individuals (or communities) we cannot wait for others to act, we do not have to wait for the higher level of administration to act. We need to emphasize that we are a grassroots-oriented religion.

Our studies, as Baha'is, show that we are responsible only to God for our actions or inactions on this plane of existence. This includes the application of Baha'i principles to SED.

There are many areas of development (some quite easily instituted) which individuals may start immediately. We can make many suggestions for initiatives in this forum [Noble- Creation, ed.].

Here are some steps for getting started:

First, deepening and spiritual transformation of each person. This is not only a first thing to do - it is a continuing process. Action is a key component of transformation.

Second, unified actions accomplish more, by drawing spiritual forces which we may not understand, but are guaranteed to be there by the Blessed Beauty, Himself. It takes one individual to initiate unity by enlisting the second individual. Talk up your wants and needs with others, discuss your ideas and go forward in unity. (I recommend reading the Master's Tablet - God Loveth Those Who Work in Groups BWF pp. 401).

Third, attempt to enlist the support of your Administrative Order for your ideas, starting with the Local Spiritual Assembly (LSA). It is a Divinely ordained institution, not yet fully mature, perhaps; but it is the best help that you can enlist. The rewards in working with the guidance and approval of an LSA are high, as they add additional spiritual empowerment to your projects.

Fourth - Examine your human resources. Do not confine your planning activities and organizational makeup to Baha'is only. Set them up on Baha'i principles, enlist others, and proceed.

Fifth - and finally. Say prayers, sit down, get out paper and write down what you feel your strengths are, formulate a plan utilizing those strengths and resources - and just do it! The peoples of the world await these wonderful operating principles which we possess - and only YOU can give it to them.

Sometimes when I learn about world events in the news it seems like "deja vu all over again" because of the inside information that I have been given in the Sacred Writings of the Baha'i Faith.

Sometimes I feel like an inside trader on Wall Street. Most of us have often used that inside information source to guide us in some of life's decisions. As I was choosing a direction for my college career, Baha'u'llah's admonition to give "complete regard" to the matter of agriculture (Baha'i World Faith, pp. 176), and 'Abdu'l Baha's statement that such a path of study would be "an act of wors0hip" (Baha'i World Faith, pp. 377-78) greatly influenced me to choose the field of Agronomy. For the last twenty years I have been involved in both research and production agriculture and have seen much change in that short period. The mechanisms by which agricultural goods are produced, the identity of the producer, the destiny of the produce and the involvement of government have been significantly altered in recent times. While pondering the changing face of agriculture, I have been compelled to seek further inside information from the Sacred Writings. They tell me that we will enter a time of peace, that commerce will occur on an increasingly global scale, and that the sciences will figure prominently in our future.

However, as I become mired in the micro-issues of my particular field, it feels as if I am losing sight of where it is all going. That is why I am excited about the development of this newsletter and the Agriculture Seminar.

The recently published directory of the Agricultural Seminar shows the varied and impressive backgrounds among its members. There are people listed who are knowledgeable about crop production, animal science, forestry, finance, organic methods, environmental issues, etc. I am anxious to do some insider trading of questions, concerns, and ideas about agriculture with you. There will be a rich dialogue emerging from this group.

Agriculturists are facing a variety of perplexing questions. We as Baha'is should be able to bring a unique and helpful perspective to the table. Our world-embracing vision and concern for the earth and its people are truly unique in the annals of religious and social history. Baha'u'llah's injunctions to be fair-minded and proficient in the sciences will guide us as we navigate the murky waters of complex technical questions, such as whether to allow the release of a genetically altered nitrogen-fixing bacteria to be used in alfalfa production. A panel debated the question of whether the bacteria could be hazardous if they multiplied rapidly or moved to a different bioregion than where they were originally released. Then they weighed the risk-to-benefit factor. Eventually they concluded that the organism did not affect yields significantly enough to warrant the risk of unknown side effects. Thus the panel rejected the release of the bacteria into the marketplace.

I am sure that my friend on the panel, who is a true servant of humankind, called upon his own personal and religious beliefs in forming his opinion. I wonder what my opinion would have been had I been privy to the data presented to the panel.... How would my optimistic view about the long and glorious future of humankind have affected my decision-making process? How would that be contrasted to the views of my fundamentalist friends who believe that the world will be ending sometime in the near future?

There are many interesting questions facing humankind as to how we organize our global economic systems. Agricultural economics poses some truly challenging issues. 'Abdu'l-Baha in Foundations for World Unity (p 36-41) provides a detailed description of Baha'u'llah's vision for the economic life of a farm community. He shows that a Baha'i economic system for a farm community will be different from that used by any existing communities. Most developed countries have a national system for buffering the effects of natural disasters such as drought or flooding, most have a means of creating a strategic grain reserve, and all have a system of taxation.

Will village-based systems supersede large nationally organized systems in the future? The urban populations of North America and Europe are beginning to question the need to pay for farm-support programs that provide disaster relief, strategic grain reserves, production control incentives, conservation programs, and subsidies to aid against foreign competition. Others have expressed concerns that if all farm programs were abolished and global trade was undeterred by tariffs, farm communities would be destroyed, the environment would be ravaged, and agricultural production would eventually decline. Although we will surely not agree on all subjects, it will be helpful for Baha'i agriculturists to talk about these many challenging issues in light of the Sacred Writings of our Faith. I am currently researching the effect of agricultural subsidies on domestic and foreign economies and relating them to the Writings. I hope to have that essay ready for the next issue of this newsletter. I would encourage other readers to choose a subject of interest to them and do the same. I want to know what the insiders have to say about the future of agriculture. Don't you?

The Alternative Farming Systems Information Center (AFSIC), at the National Agricultural Library (NAL), maintains a gopher site and a World Wide Web site. Many important and comprehensive documents related to sustainable agriculture are available from these sites (see the List of Publications when you connect). Links are also available from the Web page to many other Sustainable Agriculture pages.

We have recently added links to the Western Region of the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program, and to the National Biological Control Institute (NBCI), which I mentioned in a post last week.

Other recent additions are full-text patents related to biological control and other alternative farming methods (mostly bio-control).

These are available at both gopher and WWW sites. Alternative Farming Systems Information Center

WWW: http://www.inform.umd.edu/EdRes/Topic/AgrEnv/AltFarm

or http://www.nalusda.gov
select Answers to Your Questions
select Alternative Farming Systems Information Center

Gopher gopher.nalusda.gov
select NAL Information Centers
select Alternative Farming Systems Information Center

Orders for publications can be made by e-mail:

afsic@nalusda.gov
Phone : (301) 504-6559
FAX : (301) 504-6409
Snail-mail:
Alternative Farming Systems Information Center
National Agricultural Library
10301 Baltimore Boulevard
Beltsville, MD 20705-2351
USA

There's a wealth of information available at these sites!

Andy Clark, SAN Coordinator, san@nalusda.gov

I'm happy to say that the BCCA is able to provide us with space for an archive of development-related documents. There's not much there yet (only two things) so if you have papers, articles or other documents that you would like to make available to the group and the general public we can put them up there. Though the general public won't know about the availability of this archive unless we tell them (might be a good thing to do someday), it is accessible by anyone on the net.

For the Internet pro's and those with WWW access (e.g., Netscape, Mosaic, AOL and others) the URL is ftp://ftp.bcca.org/pub/lists/noble-creation. If you just have ftp access, ftp to ftp.bcca.org and then change directories to pub/lists/noble-creation. Last, if you just have e-mail you can still access it, though it's more difficult. Send a blank message to get-faq4@bcca.org for detailed instructions on how to do it. Please write me if you have any questions.

Laurence Lundblade

Home:
The Bara-Bara and Lorenzo Island Resort
lgl@island-resort.com

Work:
Qualcomm Inc. 619-658-3584
lgl@qualcomm.com
San Diego -- California -- USA
http://oneworld.wa.com/laurence/home.html

Louhelen Baha'i School
3208 South State Road
Davison MI 48423 USA
Voice: (810)-653-5033

The document will be presented and used as a platform to generate ideas and review plans for sustainable development in rural and urban environments. A portion of the conference will be devoted to cultivating strong relationships between urban and rural Baha'is. The topics to be addressed will include rural youth camps, working retreats, farming apprenticeships, and small scale agriculture by non-agrarians. Those who wish to formally present material to the conference may contact Michael W. O'Shea:
22111 Natasha lane
South Lyon, MI 48178 USA
Voice: (810)-486-6657

Video Announcement

Biological Control: Learning to Live with the Natural Order.

The purpose of the 25-minute video is to introduce elementary, middle, and high school students to the fascinating world of biological control. It sequentially describes the phases of a classical biological control program against a serious agricultural pest, the Russian wheat aphid, and includes remarkable footage of natural enemies in action. Free copies are available from NBCI. Place an order at the new 'NBCI Store' on the World Wide Web:

(http://www.aphis.usda.gov/nbci/ nbci.html).

Michael Oraze
Supervisory Biological Scientist
National Biological Control Institute

  Add/Change Address
     Add __    Change __
  (please print clearly)
  Name ______________
  Street______________
  City _______________
  State/Province_______
  Zip Code___________
  Country____________
  Telephone__________
  Fax _______________
  EMail______________
  Special Interest in Agriculture:
  ______________________
  ______________________
  Mail to:
  Shireen Parsons, Secretary
  ABS Agriculture Seminar
  3431 Fairview Church Rd.
  Riner, VA 24149 USA
     
     Contacts
                               
Newsletter Editor
Tom Hodges
3030 W 4th Ave, #27
Kennewick WA 99350
USA
Tel. 509-786-2907
email: thodges@beta.tricity.wsu.edu
ABS Agriculture Seminar
Shireen Parsons
Corresponding Secretary
3431 Fairview Church Rd.
Riner, VA 24149
USA
Tel. 540-381-1576
email: sparsons@bev.net
Project Liaison
Nancy McIntyre
Rt. 3 Box 51D
Floyd VA 24091
USA
Tel: 540-745-2918
Association for Baha'i Studies
34 Copernicus St.
Ottawa, Ont.
Canada K1N 7K4
Tel. 613-233-1903
Fax 613-233-3644
email: as929@freenet.carleton.ca

* Baha'i SED project in Costa Rica and the culture of the BriBri people.

* The Science and Technology Seminar of the Association for Baha'i Studies.

* "A Baha'i Garden" by Dale Ramsdell.

* New Developments on the Internet.

* Updates on projects and regional groups associated with the Agriculture Seminar.

Reports on the UN World Summit on Social and Economic Development in Copenhagen and the Conference on Religion, the Land, and Conservation in Ohito, Japan.