Agricultural Christian Fellowship

Christopher Jones has now completed his major paper on Farmer/Government Relations.  Farmer/Government Relations paper

Susan Atkinson has just produced her new paper: “Bearing all their faults away” Scapegoats in Agriculture

 Editorial

     The practice of finding scapegoats has ancient and deep roots in rituals designed to restore relations between the people of Israel and God.

     “He (the priest) is to receive two goats for a sacrifice for sin from the community of the sons of Israel”.  After lots were drawn to determine the role of each goat, the first was offered “as a sacrifice for sin”.

     On the second, still alive, “Aaron must lay his hands on its head and confess all the faults of the sins of Israel. …(then) he shall send it out into the desert, under the charge of a man waiting ready, and the goat will bear all their faults away with it into a desert place”.  (See the book of Leviticus chapter 16).

     The modern practice of scapegoating is different in very significant ways.  There is no awareness and confession of wider responsibility and general atonement.  Rather there is, as it were, a rush to find the second goat and to heap all blame onto it, leaving nothing else changed.

     This is the story of a local “CJD cluster” – a small group of people afflicted by new variant Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease at the height of the BSE outbreak in cattle.  After careful enquiry Susan Atkinson came to believe that the search for the cause of the outbreak turned into an example of scapegoating.  The chosen scapegoats in this instance were people just like many of us – hard working small business people – suddenly officially named and shamed, albeit when they were no longer alive.

    We will be looking at a small number of farming scapegoats – not in order to take our turn in blame games, but because there are important lessons.  The chosen scapegoats are the unjustly blamed and suffer severe consequences, whilst the real causes of a problem remain undiscovered, or unacknowledged and therefore unremedied.  That, of course, goes a long way to ensure that the problem will recur.  Looking ahead, the challenge and complexities of climate change will offer many opportunities for scapegoating – pouring blame on the weak or inarticulate rather than confronting real problems and possibly powerful interests or cherished illusions.

 The Current Bank Crisis Explained

Young Billy bought a donkey from a farmer for £100.
The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day.
The next day he drove up and said, ‘Sorry son, but I have some bad news.
The donkey’s died.’
Billy replied, ‘Well then just give me my money back.’
The farmer said, ‘Can’t do that. I’ve already spent it.’
Billy said, ‘OK, then, just bring me the dead donkey.’
The farmer asked, ‘What are you going to do with him?’
Billy said, ‘I’m going to raffle him off.’
The farmer said, ‘You can’t raffle a dead donkey!’
Billy said, ‘Sure I can. Watch me. I just won’t tell anybody he’s dead.’
A month later, the farmer met up with Billy and asked, ‘What happened with that dead donkey?’
Billy said, ‘I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at two pounds a piece and made a profit of £898′
The farmer said, ‘Didn’t anyone complain?’
Billy said, ‘Just the guy who won. So I gave him his two pounds back.’ 

Billy now works for the Royal Bank of Scotland

Thank-you, ACF Members!

This year has seen ACF “turn the corner”. During the last few years, paid-up membership dropped to an all time low of around 75 or so, and, since we became independent of University & Colleges Christian Fellowship (UCCF), our financial situation was very “tight” for a while. Now, paid-up membership is up to nearly 100, and all have paid their subscriptions, and some have kindly given donations as well! This is reflected in subscriptions and donations increasing by £373 over last year.

     Thank-you for enabling ACF to improve its service to members, enhance, for example, its website, and be a better resource for its members culminating in an Annual Conference which presents a relevant Christian view challenging injustice and encouraging many in agriculture who feel exploited and marginalized.

     Looking forward to seeing you all at the ACF Conference on Thursday 25 November – if not before!

Malcolm Harrison, Treasurer

Farm Visit

Professor Martin Wolfe has a lifetimes history in plant breeding and a distinctive view on disease resistance and sustainable crop growing.  He now puts these views into practice on his own farm in Suffolk.  He would be happy to receive some ACF visitors in the week beginning July 12^th.  We strongly recommend this.  Would anybody interested get in touch quickly please.

Bearing all their faults away

 Summary

 In the late 1990’s it was realised that, of the then slightly more than one hundred cases of variant Creutzfeld-Jakob disease (vCJD), five had connections with north Leicestershire, particularly in the area around a small village called Queniborough, which soon found itself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.  An investigation was ordered and carried out by the Leicestershire Health Authority (LHA). As many had expected, it tried to prove the cause was BSE infected beef and pinned the blame on the methods used by local butchers.

 Susan was contacted by some local people and set out to examine what had happened.

 The LHA’s report’s findings hang on where the vCJD victim meat came from, how it was butchered, what cattle the meat came from and how these cattle were fed.

 It also rested on more general assumptions about the origin of BSE and its means of spreading, and the relationship between BSE and vCJD.  These were that however the BSE epidemic in cattle arose, the principal means of its spread was the feeding of meat and bone meal from cattle carcases to cattle as a protein supplement.  The second assumption, that was perhaps less certainly held, was that vCJD in humans resulted from infection from certain parts (e.g. brain and spinal column) of BSE infected cattle.  (I will look first at the particular assumptions of the report).

 In particular the report said that the meat was from locally reared Friesian cross cattle killed at above three years and which had been fed meat and bone meal.  They were slaughtered in small abattoirs, which used “pithing”.  There was also focus on the splitting of the skull and removal of the brain and carcass cleaning.

 Susan traced the history of the butchers and abattoirs pinpointed in the report and the habits of those who died of vCJD.  Her findings were that the cattle they used were almost certainly too young to be the source of infective material and that not all of the vCJD victims ate eat supplied to them.  In a detailed analysis of the slaughtering process, she refutes the assertion that these small butchers were more likely to be a source of infective material than a large abattoir.

 Queries are raised as to why the LHA did not look at the possible role of mechanically recovered meat (MRM) derived in large abattoirs from cull cows and used in manufactured meat products.  This would fit the dietary habits of some of the victims.

 Susan also points out that other factors were present in the Queniborough area, which feature in some other theories about vCJD and the initial causation of BSE:- for example, a high level of manganese.  She maintains that these should have been looked at, before conclusions were reached.

 Susan’s booklet is written with enough background information to make the issues clear to non-farming people.  She concludes:  “The LHA theory was trumpeted as a breakthrough when first published but all it has achieved is to tarnish the reputations of three well-respected men, two  already dead and one then in poor health so none can defend themselves.   It is more of a lost opportunity and appears likely to remain so unless real attempts are made to discover the truth.  It is also surprising that the investigation was left to the LHA alone, which presumably is as cash-strapped as any other local health authority.  This is the largest cluster of a disease that has affected people across the country.  Why weren’t all the theories tested thoroughly?

 By the time the LHA report was published, it was apparent that vCJD was thankfully not going to be the mass killer once predicted and the numbers of BSE cases in cattle was tailing off.  The general public was eating more beef and prices for the producers were staggering towards once again making a profit.  However, if the tide had not turned, this report, by finding explanations in the wrong place would have done nothing to counter vCJD or to point the way forward for public health or farming.  On the contrary, it would have deflected attention and effort into unhelpful directions”.

 This report was produced as part of the Agriculture and Theology Project and will be available on the ACF website and as hardcopy from the ACF Office.

ACF Conference  25 November 2010 Arthur Rank Centre, Stoneleigh  This will be about the grass root relations between farmers and governments.  Christianne Glossop, the Welsh Chief Vet, will give her reflections on the subject.  It is hoped that Reverend John Martin who chairs the Agriculture and Theology Project will lead reflection on the basic nature of relationships.  We will be looking for underlying principles to inform debate on the subject.

 Conference Reports

 “The Apostles and elders met to consider” (Acts 15 ⁶)

 UK Food Group

 Much is likely to change in farming and it is well that we follow the example of the Apostles and Elders – with pith, purpose and wisdom!

 “The UK Food Group (UKFC), to which ACF belongs, is the leading UK network for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working on global food and agriculture issues.  Their vision is a world free of hunger through sustainable agriculture.

 Rewriting the rules … to secure our future food

The conference title underlined the theme of the day’s discussions and at a global level it is an issue that will not be solved in a day!  BUT we are all affected by this whether we are producers or consumers.  The current methods of agriculture production serve to feed the West by the use of finite resources in the form of energy, land and mineral fertilizers.  This system has had little or not benefit to millions of smallholder farmers in poverty across the world.  An international panel of speakers led plenary sessions covering a number of topics.

World Trade

World trade has a major influence on food production.  For example subsidized tomato paste from Europe is undermining the production of tomatoes in Ghana.  Chicken carcasses with the breast removed, imported from Europe also undermine the poultry industry there. 

 Agriculture models of production

To reduce the vulnerability of the global food system, consider the following; 85% of the 525 million farmers across the world are less than 2 hectares.  These rely on genetic, species and ecological diversity to feed their households and generate income. 

Small farms use organic matter with absorbs and fix carbon rather than mineral fertilisers.

If total output is considered then small diverse farms tend to be more productive.

A small farm structure may be essential for feeding the planet in the future.

A University of Michigan study in 2007 concluded that an organic global food system could provide enough to feed in excess of 10 billion people.

 Sustainable Livestock Production

The impact of livestock production can be seen in the deforestation of South America to plant soya and pasture.  In 2007 the UK imported 1.7 million tones of soya meal for livestock feed. 

 Recognising and supporting rural women’s contribution

Agriculture is important to the economic development of Africa and women play a critical role in supplying 60-80% of the labour to produce food.  A number of constraints have hampered the role of rural women.  Examples are; high rates of illiteracy, maternal mortality, violence against women.  Poor access to justice and information on means of production, technical assistance, processing, technologies and markets.  Poor access to capital, land and water.

 Speculation in food prices

Between January 2007 and March 2008 FAO reported that the Global Price Index of food rose by 71%.  The consequence for the poor in developing countries was that income that had previously been spent on food was no longer sufficient to meet their needs.  A significant percentage of the commodity price rises was not due to shortages but driven by commodity speculators.

In the West we may be challenged day to day as producers by the fluctuations input and output prices in our farming businesses but the long term future of food production may mean changes to our farming systems that wean us off the dependence on fossil fuels, finite mineral fertilisers and simple monocultures.  Justice for the poor may be found through an approach that recognises the complexity of sustainable, diverse food production systems that include the smallholder farmers of the world.

 Mike Pepler

 Food Futures Day.

 In March a conference jointly arranged by Redcliffe College and the John Ray Initiative, together with ACF and the Church Mission Society looked at the future of food and farming at the field and plate level.  These are some highlights. 

 Food is found in the Bible in the first and last chapters (Gen 1 v29 and Rev 22 v2). Many references are symbolic (e.g. Adam and Eve). The Eucharist is also symbolic and it matters that bread and wine are used. In the early part of Genesis we see human behaviour as it should be. One speaker translated Adam to mean “compost”! His job was stewardship, not to exploit but to conserve creation.

 Justice is a major theme of the Bible, and many stories relate to food and in-justice to the poor (e.g. Amos). Injustice is linked to environmental catastrophe, and this is still the case; global warming hurts the poor more.

In the wilderness Israel was taught not to be greedy over food. Food can and should be enjoyable. Jesus was accused of being drunkard and glutton. At the wedding feast at Cana Jesus produced better wine and lots of it.

Food cannot be enjoyed out of its moral context, and Mike produced two types of food for participants to eat to illustrate this. Easy Cheese comes in a can. It cannot be bought in the UK but in the US. Its relationship to real cheese is doubtful, and it represents the reduction of food to its chemicals. This is nutritionally bad and not in the Bible! Mike also made a fruitcake for us as a gift, to the same recipe as he cooked for the baptisms of his daughters. It was delicious. There are five references to cake in the Bible. Comparing the two foods Mike said we should pay more attention to food taste and where it comes from.

 Patrick Mulvany (Chair of UK Food Group)

“How will farmers, herders and fisher folk do it?” was the title of Patrick’s presentation. He felt that agriculture was characterized by a number of disconnects, both in the developed and developing world. He sees disconnects between agriculture and the environment; between consumers and farmers or land and cities; and between policies and expectations. Patrick considered the question, “Who feeds us?”

  Most food is local not global. Most food is produced by farmers. The norm is local food production, and our system is the aberration. His next question was, “How many species had we eaten in the last week?” He said there were five big species (wheat, maize, palm oil, rice, soya) sold in supermarkets, so we concentrated on just a few species. But some eat 50 species or so in a week, and about 7-10 thousand plant species are eaten by people. Of these, however, very few dominate food systems. We have all our eggs in few baskets, and we need different varieties for different environments. Unfortunately breeds are being lost, biodiversity is being decreased and the future is bleak.

World agriculture has to be seen in the context of a number of factors: agricultural biodiversity; soils; water; climate change; agricultural development aid; and human population.

Patrick expanded a little on some of these factors.

Trade in virtual water is vast and tends to be from poorer drier places to richer humid places. Climate change could cause an increase of 3oC or more in the tropics this century. The contribution of agriculture to climate change is large: the food system 15-18%; land transformation 15-18%; and 10% from transport and other factors. The total contribution from agriculture alone is 30-50%. On human population the irony is that as population increases less are involved in agriculture. By 2050 we should reach 9 billion or so. Since 1985 the rate of increase is getting less. In the past 40 years we have fed the increased population, and we should be able to feed the next 40 years of increase.

To solve the above problems Patrick believes that we need better managed and more biodiverse agricultural systems. These are capable of a 30-100% yield increase. To illustrate this Patrick introduced us to three problems and their solutions:

1) In East African maize crops stemborer moths and the weed Striga, which weakens the roots, are important pests. The problem can be overcome by inter-cropping Desmodium between the maize rows. This releases chemicals that put off moths and controls Striga.

2) Drought in the Caribbean had led to successive harvest failures. By using rainwater harvesting technology, and drought tolerant varieties rapid results were achieved. In one year there was an engaged community, carbon in the soil was managed, and poverty alleviated.

3) In the UK Prof. Martin Woolf has shown the benefits of multi-cropping of varieties include in-creased productivity.

We need to aim at a low carbon, biodiverse, resilient ecological food provision, which can feed 9 billion people. It can be done.

 The International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) suggested 22 ways of moving towards more agriecological systems. However, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) has failed to implement any of the IAASTD recommendations after 4 years.

Patrick ended by quoting Colin Tudge “Agriculture is NOT a business like any other- it beats to the drum of biology.” The PowerPoint slides for Patrick’s presentation are now available at:http://www.jri.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/PatrickMulvany2010.ppt

 Devotional

 “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God”

2 Corinthians 5:21

 Since Adam blamed Eve and Eve the serpent for breaching the only God-given prohibition in the Garden of Eden, we have been masters at pointing the finger at others for all that might go wrong or trouble us.  And when there appears to be no earthly target for our self-justified gesticulation we aim our protestations at God himself.

    Scripture is littered with instances of such practice.  Examples include Cain blaming Able for God’s rejection of his sacrifice; the Israelites moaning against Moses and then God following the Exodus from Egypt; Aaron blaming the Israelites for his decision to create a golden calf while Moses was receiving the Ten Commandments; Balaam beating his donkey for refusing to pass an armed Angel sent to prevent Balaam from going in the wrong direction – but there are many more.

     It is Leviticus chapter 16, which introduces us to the concept of the scapegoat.  The High Priest was to take two goats and draw lots for the one that would be sacrificed as a sin offering leaving the other to act as the scapegoat.  Having sacrificed the first of the goats the high priest was to lay his hands upon the head of the second goat and confess all of the sins of the Israelites.  Given the number of people involved that must have taken some time!  When the task of confession had been completed goat was then to be led away into the desert to carry all the sins of the people.  The goat, which had been previously completely innocent, had become guilty through the God ordained ritual enacted by the High Priest.

     Paul’s description of Jesus in 2 Corinthians 5:21 resonates with the imagery of Leviticus 16.  However, whereas the goat had no choice, Jesus freely chose to stand in our place having won the battle in the darkness of a Gethsemane night when he declared, “not my will but Yours be done”.

     Paul also reminds us that we too are to respond as Christ did in the garden.  The famous and often quoted passage of Philippines chapter 2 records Paul’s exhortation that we should have the same attitude as Christ who “humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!” Whilst we are obligated to examine ourselves there is no similar dispensation made for us to examine others.  Indeed Jesus himself reminded us that it is not our place to judge but to be judged and that we should focus on the issues which blur and hinder our own vision rather than those items which seem to irritate us so much about the hampered vision of others.

     So as we go about our daily routines, employment and responsibilities let us not be quick to point the finger at others but to examine our own hearts and minds as we seek to take an attitude like that of Christ.

Feedback We would like to enliven and diversify the Update with comments and ideas from readers, so please respond.

 The people kept coming and eventually 170 people filled five trailers for the annual farm walk and barbecue of the Derbyshire group. What a great evening. After the ride/walk beef burgers, sausages, cake and tea/coffee was enjoyed by all. The evening concluded by Simon Walsh (Faith Mission) giving a challenging gospel message. Folks county groups do work!
 
The next event will be the annual autumn supper when we shall welcome John Plumb, a farmer/church leader from Warwickshire. The event will be held on Saturday 2nd October, starting at 7.45pn at Hulland Ward Millennium Hall. For further information contact Graham hinds on 07833 638562/grahamhinds@hotmail.com

The next ACF Conference will be held on 25 November 2010 at Stoneleigh on “Grass-root relationships between Farmers and Governments”.  Christianne Glossop, Chief Vet in Wales, will be speaking.