Farming In the New Millennium

by Keith Carey

At some point in time, someone noticed that grain grew where seeds had been spilled. Using a simple stick, he or she planted some of these seeds in the ground, and found that this made more grain grow. Through trial and error, these early farmers began to improve ways to grow food. As time progressed, local settlements were able to grow enough food that some people were freed for other activities. Some specialized in making farming tools, and eventually they were able to do things that were not related to growing food. Wooden tools gave way to stone, then to bronze and other metals. When farmers were able to get oxen and other animals to do their work, it freed even more people.

Today, we associate farming with combines, tractors, and other farm machinery. Yet many people in the two–thirds world still use simple tools or farm animals to do what John Deere equipment does in the developed world. These are the farming people that we will pray for this month: The farmers of the two–thirds world.

AGRICULTURAL CHALLENGES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
As colonialism began to crumble starting in the middle of the last century, it appeared that there would be more equality between the prosperous West and the two–thirds world. This has not been the case. It almost seems that the “haves” are having more and the “have nots” are having less. While the developed world enjoys the fruit of new communication breakthroughs and more electronic products, the rural parts of the two–thirds world are facing some serious challenges. Here are a couple of them:

Water
Today we have a world population of just over six billion. A recent report by the Global Water Policy Project based in Amherst, MA tells us that more than one billion people today lack safe drinking water. Rural agricultural areas are threatened the most according to this report. A combination of global warming, wasteful practices, and pollution is drying up some of the world’s key rivers including the Yellow River of China, the Nile in Africa, and the Indus and Ganges rivers in South Asia.

Agriculture uses up the lion’s share of water, accounting for about 80 percent of water use. Irrigation has become a key way to provide crops with needed water. But what happens when farmers in the two–thirds world cannot pay for irrigation? Will they wind up selling their land to agribusinesses that can afford irrigation equipment?

The Green Revolution continues
In the 1960s, much of South Asia was on the verge of a food crisis that could have led to widespread starvation. Fortunately, the stage had been set for higher grain productivity. Norman E. Borlaug introduced dwarf high–yielding varieties of wheat. It started with experimental programs funded with the help of the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations and the Mexican and Filipino governments. By the mid 1960s, Borlaug was allowed to introduce these high yield seeds to India’s Punjab state. At first, there were demonstrations all over India. After the Indians watched the new seeds double their wheat production, there was a rush to get more of them. A nation that was on the brink of starvation suddenly had to find new places to store their excess grain. Indian scientists indigenized the Mexican varieties, and production continues to climb to this day. The term “Green Revolution” was not an exaggeration.

In the next 23 years, we probably will have about 8.3 billion people, up from 6.1 billion today. By the end of this century, we probably will have 10–11 billion people. Will farmers be able to continue to produce enough to feed all these people as this century continues? Norman E. Borlaug thinks so. But it will mean that farmers and ranchers must use new technology, including the controversial genetically engineered crops which he believes could require less land use and less–polluting fertilizers.

But how are small farmers in the two–thirds world going to afford new agricultural technology? An August 15 story in the Christian Science Monitor reports that “rising production and falling demand for coffee is bankrupting farms from Indonesia to Mexico.” Ashford Miriti, the general manager of the Coffee Board of Kenya, said that Kenyan farmers are not able to pay for chemicals and fertilizers. The resulting poorer quality coffee lowers the amount of money they can earn.

Such things happen all the time. And who will be able to weather the supply and demand storms better, the local farmer, or the multinational corporation? If we do indeed see multinational corporations use up more agricultural land worldwide as this century progresses, more of the wealth from the land will go to the developed nations, not the people in the two–thirds world.

The flight to the cities
It is very common for farming peoples who can’t make a living to flee to the cities in a desperate attempt to find work. Last month we quoted an article in the San Jose Mercury that compared China’s situation with apartheid. The rural poor are forcibly kept in the rural areas while the urban centers continue to develop economically. Most countries don’t have an authoritarian government that can keep the rural poor out of the cities. How do people survive in places like Rio de Janeiro? There will need to be a way for the world’s agriculturally dependent people to earn a living 100 years from now. Will multinational corporations fill this need?

What will make a difference?
According to Norman E. Borlaug, “the biggest bottleneck that must be overcome is lack of infrastructure, especially roads and transport, but also potable water and electricity. Improved transportation systems would greatly accelerate agricultural production…” Who is to blame for this lack of infrastructure? Could it be the corrupt government officials who siphon off resources that should be used for roads and other public projects? Without roads, schools, and other public needs being met, the rural areas of the two–thirds world fall further behind. How can they get their goods to markets without adequate roads?

Here we have to ask ourselves, what can we do to make a difference? Are we as Evangelicals willing to pay a fair price for goods produced in the two–thirds world rather than find the best bargain? Will we view justice on a worldwide level as an important issue?

Spreading the gospel among the rural poor in the 21st century
Is it easier to take the gospel to people in rural areas or urban areas? The hardest peoples to reach are the nomadic peoples who constantly move. Rural peoples are generally more conservative than those in the cities. They are also more likely to only speak a local language rather than a widely–used trade language. And the rural areas are harder to reach than urban ones. All in all, it will be easier to reach the unreached people groups as they increasingly move to the cities during this century. And hopefully, Christians will help teach migrants to the cities how to deal with their new world.

Pray that Christians will be salt and light to the rural poor among the unreached people groups by helping them to meet both their physical and spiritual needs.