From igg@igg.com Wed Feb  2 15:46:59 2000
Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2000 13:09:11 -0400
From: Allan Balliett <igg@igg.com>
Reply-To: bdnow@envirolink.org
To: bdnow@envirolink.org
Subject: Fwd: Quantum Agriculture

    [ The following text is in the "iso-8859-1" character set. ]
    [ Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set.  ]
    [ Some characters may be displayed incorrectly. ]

>Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2000 07:44:40 -0800
>From: Shannan and James Johnson <shanjam@pop.igc.org>
>Reply-To: shanjam@igc.org
>To: Allan Balliett <igg@igg.com>
>Subject: Quantum Agriculture   
>
>Dear Allan,
>
>I have been having a tough time re-enlisting on the BDNOW! listserv.  I
>thought maybe you'd be kind enough to pass along the attached proposal
>to the group by forwarding this email on.
>
>The concept of Quantum Agriculture came to me over the holiday season
>when I actually sat down and wrote it out on paper but the idea for an
>alternative food system has been years brewing in my mind.  I think it
>has a lot of similarities to biodynamic agriculture but what I wanted to
>emphasize was the unseen factors of agriculture.  The subtle energy
>component is dearest to my heart and reading books by Tompkins and Bird,
>Reich, Burr and others the BDNOW group discusses influenced this in me.
>But the "clean" alternative energies such as solar, wind, cold fusion,
>water are "unseen" in the sense that their force can not be outright
>perceived and they are somewhat suppressed by the political system.  The
>economic externalities are another example of hidden costs, unseen in
>the farmer's account book but felt by our environment.
>
>I have one other request if you could possibly help.  I have a list of
>other names who I have no way of contacting.  If you do not feel
>comfortable sending me their email or physical address, then perhaps you
>could just forward this post onto them.  The people I was hoping to
>contact and invite to participate in the project are:
>
>Joel Salatain
>Elisabet Sahtouris
>Julio Valladolid (Andean Peasant Restoration Project (PRATEC)
>Jay Baldwin (Buckminster Fuller architect)
>Ralph Metzner - "Well of Remembrance"
>Jeremy Narby - "The Cosmic Serpent"
>Alex Pololinsky
>Donald Weaver
>Otto and Dorothy Solbrig
>Allan Savory
>Susan Meeker-Lowry
>Christopher Day
>Dr. George Macleod
>Harvey Lisle
>
>My apologies for my ignorance if any of these authors have since passed
>away.
>
>I will insert the Quantum Agriculture Project proposal in the body of
>this text as well just in case you can't open it.
>
>Thank you sincerely for your help in forwarding this message.
>
>James
>
>James Johnson
>2555 Mark West Station Road
>Windsor, CA  95492
>707/836-0699
>shanjam@igc.org
>
>
>
>Title: The Quantum Agriculture Project
>
>Goal: Create a Technical Committee to review literature on complementary
>sustainable agricultural practices in order to procure research funds
>from funding agencies and offer advice to local agricultural advisors
>for further studies.
>
>Duration: Three years from the first meeting of the Literature Review
>committee, May 6, 2000.
>
>Terms Defined: Webster's[1] defines quantum theory as "a branch of
>physical theory based on the concept of the subdivision of radiant
>energy into finite quanta and applied to numerous processes involving
>transference or transformation of energy in an atomic or molecular
>scale."  Agriculture is defined as "the science and/or art of
>cultivating the soil, producing crops and raising livestock." A
>complement is "formal and respectful recognition." Culture is "a
>particular stage of advancement in civilization." Phenomenology is "the
>philosophical study of the progressive development of the mind".  On the
>UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program web site
>sustainable agriculture is said to "integrate three main goals:
>environmental health, economic profitability, and social and economic
>equity"[2].
>
>Issue Statement: What does Quantum Agriculture look like and what
>research has already been done? Over the millennia, historical record
>has revealed to us the presence of a universal subtle energy or life
>force associated with all living organisms. Scientists, philosophers and
>theologians have identified and explored these energy principles and
>applied them to their daily lives and culture.  The question most often
>asked is "what peer-reviewed research has been done involving these
>energies in (which we will call) complimentary or quantum agriculture?"
>The answer lies with those that form the committees in research
>institutions and funding foundations and usually generates a Catch 22
>for the researcher by creating a question/answer dialog something like
>this: Can we design and conduct an experiment between a biodynamic farm
>and an organic farm to see if the influences of preparations have any
>significant affect in yield or soil quality?  The University system does
>not conduct that type of research.  Why not?  Because there are no
>scientific journals that substantiate biodynamics as being valid.  Why
>is that?  Because no one has done any formal research.  Why hasn^Òt
>anyone done formal research?  Because it is not a respectable field of
>research.
>
>But what^Òs really at issue here?  Why have expert committees and
>university personnel continually and consistently refused to support
>highly innovative complimentary lines of research?  What are the
>options?  In agricultural terms, the time is ripe for a change at the
>grassroots research level.  This change should be in the choice of the
>researcher, the research and the allocation of funding.  Every proposal
>of grant-sponsored research can be actively aimed at conducting
>"functional" science (i.e. doing something useful for all levels of
>agriculture and food systems) or what E.F. Schumacher called "science
>for understanding"[3].  Currently, we have a system where if a competent
>researcher discovers an innovative discovery, that researcher is
>typically blocked from publishing results of something new.  Why? Within
>the scientific community in question, the innovator can be seen as a
>threat to the status quo.  Someone who demonstrates a solution to the
>problem takes a problem out of the realm of research and places it into
>peer review.  What this fosters is a loss of "experts" who rely on the
>system to continue as it always has, and potentially results in the very
>same experts being asked to also do functional research.  Stating the
>obvious, the main goal of any respectable researcher should not be the
>recognition of their own stature in science through "science for
>manipulation", but a positive advancement in practical knowledge and
>wisdom.
>
>Yet over the years industrial agriculture has turned a blind eye toward
>any advancements made in a science that could not be easily measured.
>The science that Burr, Piccardi, Reich and others like Steiner were
>promoting was "far out" or "out there", phrases which in themselves
>require a belief in exclusion rather than inclusion.  One^Òs viewpoint of
>another can not be "far out" without the viewer being subjectively
>"closed in".  Similarly, for an idea to be rejected as "out there", a
>reference point "in here" must first be the traditional scientist^Òs home
>base.  Hence, in order to not be completely marginalized, alternative
>agricultural research has focused on the socially just, environmental
>stewardship, and economic viability aspects of a food system but not the
>major spark behind life itself.  As stated, the goals of the Quantum
>Agriculture Project are devoted to "inclusive" scientific investigation
>to help explain phenomenon and other life giving resources and energy.
>Its mission focuses on the influence these findings will have with
>regards to agriculture and food systems.
>
>Where should future funding be directed in order to generate the
>research findings to substantiate complementary or quantum agricultural
>practices?  In the results of the Organic Farming Research Foundation^Òs
>National Organic Research Policy Analysis Project, Searching for the
>"O-word",[4] the author concludes that Federal funding for organic
>agriculture was not only inadequate but shameful.  Of the 34 "strong
>organic" projects reviewed in FY95, 15 received funding for a total of
>$1.52 million in USDA funding.  This constitutes less than one tenth of
>one percent of USDA^Òs annual expenditures for research and extension.
>In the final report recommendations to the USDA on December 17, 1996,
>the Foundation asks for basic policy recognition plain and simple,
>recognition that organic systems can play an important role in meeting
>the nation^Òs agricultural, environmental and economic development
>needs.  These efforts spurred Congress to pass the Organic Agricultural
>Research and Extension Initiative in 1998 but have yet to substantially
>secure appropriations toward organic agriculture.
>
>How can industrial agriculture shift to a community food system based on
>the principles of sustainable, resource enhanced, socially and
>environmentally benevolent, practices?  We are imagining a tolerant
>science and a different kind of food system.  One where it is acceptable
>and in fact practicable to use alternative or uncommon methods to farm
>and even encouraged to secure food with the help of phenomenological
>assistance.  Where local advisors and government agencies encourage the
>use of "specialty" pest control practices such as infrared radiation
>confusion and radionics.  Where subtle energy and enhanced life renew
>organic agriculture through the practice of biodynamic farming.  Where
>an industrial method of food production is weighed against its external
>or hidden cost to the environment and social structure before being
>permitted.  It has to do with a shift in thinking, one that embraces
>what culture presently defines as quantum in its philosophical quest to
>understand functional science and a functional culture.
>
>The simple fact that the term agribusiness is void of the word culture,
>creates cause for a re-examination of our current food system. When our
>food system entrusts itself in science for manipulation rather than
>science for understanding as the means to an economic end, events such
>as the Dust Bowl, global warming and ozone depletion are the outcome. In
>a vertically integrated corporate agriculture where economic gain is the
>dominant paradigm, the art and culture of agriculture seems lacking in
>the many ways on which a truly sustainable community food system
>relies.  Conversely, a horizontally-integrated system relies on holistic
>reciprocity of resources (seen and unseen), considers externalities, and
>embraces the forces in the natural world as an ally to be reckoned with.
>Thus, short-term profit-driven research for superficial gain must be
>balanced with research taking a broader-based, holistic viewpoint.
>
>Justification: The Quantum Agriculture Project is being formed in
>response to the lack of sustained support by institutions and
>governments across the United States for complementary research of
>quantum agriculture as described in the previous section.  Although
>there is relatively little documentation of the experimentation related
>to enhanced life, subtle energy, and anomalous phenomena in agriculture,
>historical record verifies such dynamic systems exist.
>
>Since the 1920^Òs and 30^Òs, when electrodynamic and biodynamic theory was
>introduced to US farmers, agriculture has had to quite literally support
>itself in raising the funds and disseminating results of any research
>findings associated with sustainable Food and Farming Systems.  When a
>country allocates $1.8 billion per year on agricultural research and
>only $1.52 million makes it into the hands of farmers who model a
>philosophy of social and environmental responsibility, it appears
>reasonable to request financial support for implementing even more
>benevolent complementary practices.
>
>Through networking with other competent researchers to coordinate a
>review of literature, the Quantum Agriculture Project will serve as a
>clearinghouse for resources in complementary agriculture.  A literature
>review is necessary in order to procure the funds to conduct the
>research and disseminate information.
>
>Objectives:
>1. Gather together quarterly, regional researchers and individuals
>involved in or committed to obtaining further funding for research in
>complementary agriculture practices.
>
>2. Compile a thorough literature review of all research to date related
>to Quantum Agricultural Food Systems/ Complementary Practices.
>
>3. Suggest areas of research in need of funding and procure funds in
>order to coordinate with local agricultural advisors to conduct valid
>scientific experimentation using quantum agricultural practices to
>influence crop yield, pest management, and overall economic and
>community health through measurable results.
>
>
>Procedures:
>1. A letter of invitation will be mailed out to individuals involved in
>quantum agricultural principles.  The letter will identify the venue and
>time for the first gathering and a list of invitees will be enclosed.
>
>2. The first task of the review of literature committee is to collect
>research abstracts, articles, books, masters and doctorate thesis, post
>doctorate work, and presentations related to Quantum Agriculture/Food
>Systems based on a list of keywords most likely to match research
>articles.  These include but are not limited to:
>
>* Biodynamic agriculture
>* Agricultural solar technology/agricultural engineering
>* Community Food Systems business economics, externalities and
>opportunity costs
>* National Organic Standards/ Alternative Agricultural Legislation
>* Orgonomy, subtle energy, Kirlian photography, electrodynamics
>* Enhanced Natural Resources (energy, air, water, soil)
>* Food/Ag-related Philosophy, poetry, social-science
>* Phenomenology (phenomenal psychology, prayer research)
>
>3. The second task of the committee is to consider how these research
>findings can be used to procure funding for further research. The
>committee would next recommend future research in such categories as:
>* Biodynamic vs. Organic vs. Conventional crop production trials
>* Solar powered tractor and solar weed flaming demonstrations
>* External costs of industrial agriculture vs. sustainable agriculture
>* Creation of a Regional Food Systems Policy Working Group
>* Magnetism^Òs influence on fuel economy and crop production
>* Orgone energy influence on seed germination and biodynamic
>preparations
>* Intercessory prayer to alter nutritional behavior in low-income people
>
>* Formal classroom education on quantum agriculture (i.e. Future Quantum
>Farmers of America, FQFA)
>
>Expected outcomes:
>1. The gathering of researchers and individuals committed to quantum
>agriculture is expected to attract from one half dozen to 24 people.
>The 4 four-hour facilitated roundtable discussions are hoped to connect
>regional scientists and others studying similar phenomenon/relationships
>of energy and matter in Food/Agriculture.  Participants will identify
>specific areas of interest and the direction the group will take.  By
>the end of this gathering, participants will be ready to gather
>bibliographies related to identified categories of interest to meet
>objective #2.
>2. The outcome of the literature review will be the culmination of the
>first of its kind resource guide to quantum agriculture.  A publication
>entitled, "What is quantum agriculture/food systems?" and related
>citations to other works will be the first generation of new information
>on this subject.
>3. To have identified the research areas most in need of funding in
>order to bring lasting changes to the practice of sustainable
>agriculture and to be in the position to advise funding agencies and
>organizations, and local agricultural advisors.
>
>Environmental benefits in the form of more efficient natural resource
>utilization and reduced air and water pollution are expected outcomes.
>Socio-economic benefits will be seen in economic growth afforded the
>practitioners of quantum agriculture/food systems for its innovative
>edge and its perception of being a healthier alternative to the
>industrial method of farming.  Taxpayer and food customers will realize
>measurable economic benefit from savings incurred via avoided external
>costs to their community.  Increased employment opportunities (impacts)
>in the quantum agricultural community will foster an environment of
>improved health and nutrition.  Finally, it is the responsibility of
>each of us to discover our enlightened self-interest.  We each prosper
>best when we fully integrate our efforts within the larger natural
>scheme of things.
>
>Organization:  It is suggested that the group process be guided by
>chaordic principles. The Pathfinding network as outlined by the
>Institute of Noetic Sciences[5] is intended to be chaordic. This word
>was coined by Dee Hock, founder of VISA and most recently the Chaordic
>Alliance, to mean "any self-organizing, adaptive organization the
>behavior of which harmoniously combines both characteristics of chaos
>and order."
>
>Five principles common to all chaordic networks:
>
>1. They are equitably owned by all participants.
>2. Power and function are distributed to the maximum degree.
>3. Governance is distributed.
>4. They are indefinitely malleable yet extremely durable.
>5. They embrace diversity and change.
>
>All present for the first meeting will have the opportunity to nominate
>themselves or someone else present at the meeting to chair the group.
>Of those names contributed, all will make up the executive research
>committee and any others who volunteer to head the various
>subcommittees.  Responsibilities are to be identified after the first
>meeting.  One person may volunteer to sit on as many subcommittees as
>they like keeping in mind the necessary responsibilities.
>
>Finally, a critical review by committee members is required for all
>completed parts of the literature review.  The review will provide a
>critical summary of: 1) work accomplished under the original proposal;
>2) the degree to which objectives have been met; 3) incomplete work or
>areas needing further investigation.
>
>REFERENCES
>
>1. Webster^Òs Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary.  1972. G & C Merriam
>Company.  Springfield, Massachusetts
>2. University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and
>Education Program (SAREP) website URL
>http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/concept.htm
>3. Schumacher, E.F.  1977.  A Guide for the Perplexed.  HarperCollins
>Publishers, Inc.  160 pages
>4. Lipson, Mark.  1997.  Searching for the "O-Word" What^Òs wrong with
>this Picture?  Organic Farming Research Foundation Information
>Bulletin.  Spring 1997 No. 4, PO Box 440, Santa Cruz, CA 95061
>5. Institute of Noetic Sciences website URL
><http://www.noetic.org/ions/community/pathfinding.asp>
>
>Content-Type: application/msword; x-mac-type="5738424E"; 
>x-mac-creator="4D535744"; name="The Quantum Ag Project8"
>Content-Description: Microsoft Word Document
>Content-Disposition: inline; filename="The Quantum Ag Project8"
>

--