Should agricultural societies such as Indonesia pursue efficient Western farming methods to achieve production goals?
“Sustainable agriculture can be described in many ways — satisfying the food and income requirements of farmers, providing people with a healthy and affordable diet, protecting environmental quality and human health, and contributing to the vitality of rural and urban communities” (Matt O’Neal – ISU Sustainable Agriculture).
After learning more about the current state of the agriculture industry of the world, especially the US and Indonesia, I realized that we are very far from achieving these essential elements of sustainability just like with every other industries, especially regarding the environmental sustainability aspect. The extremely efficient industrial agriculture in the US is facing a lot of criticisms in its practice; it is predicted that the current highly mechanized food production (big tractors, single-crop farm, high pesticide and fertilizer use) will cause degradation of soil fertility, water pollution, and exploitation of fossil fuel that will hinder us from providing food for the world at the current level we are on in 2017.
Even though the transfer of knowledge and training of highly skilled individuals and capital assistance from the government has gotten much better in Indonesia, it is still deemed to be very slow, especially to reach the rural areas where agriculture solely happens in Indonesia. This has caused a perpetual problem of lacking in capital
and knowledge, which makes it very difficult for our farmers to thrive. The one problem that every farmer in Indonesia knows right now is the unfair conversion of farm lands to housing and business buildings.
It is my hope and passion to bring the message/knowledge of regenerative agriculture through equipping farmers in Indonesia with appropriate tools and knowledge that can help them to be more productive while sustaining the land that they farm. It will hopefully help us to resist soil degradation which has account for 40% of Java farm lands due to excessive use of pesticide and fertilizer (Daniel Kameo, 2017). Not all technology that we would call “advanced” is suitable for our (any) land if we are to preserve the land that God has entrusted to us. In my opinion, if we are to build a system and industry, we need to be able to think as far as possible for the long run. In order for a development to be sustainable, it ought not to disregard the essential elements of the
economic, social community, and environment.
FICA has been such a support system where I get to toss around ideas with other passionate and bright-minded friends and mentors on what works, what does not, previous experiences, and even just life in general. It is surely a place where I can seek discipleship and mentorship while together formulating concrete action plans to make ideas and prayers proceed to reality. I have been blessed to have such a family of Christ that is willing to work and strive together in FICA. A few meetings and conference calls have convinced me that I want to commit in FICA and participate in this team’s aspirations. This is a kind of group that I know I would want to work with, keeps on challenging me, and uplifting very high standards and goals to achieve.
My current projects now consist of preparing myself for graduate school, reading books and articles, experiments in my backyard home garden, and building networks through trips to Indonesia and conferences in the US. I have seen the importance of building networks and finding like-minded people who we can partner with effectively. In the long run, I am hoping to get my PhD in agricultural science while building on a venture of world-class quality and take a role of a teacher and researcher on a holistic farm training center or university, Kementrian Pertanian, or
International NGO research institutions in Indonesia. I seek to create a place where farmers, scientists, sociologists, and consumers can come together to find improvement endeavors for the local community that strive to impact on a domestic or even global level. It is crucial to have trustable experts of different fields to aspire for sustainable development endeavors.
For God has called us to be stewards, servants of the land he has given dominion over to us. Not to exploit them but to use them wisely. The environmental degradation that humans have caused is waiting to be healed as we hope in the redemption of Jesus Christ. Therefore, we, sons and daughters of God are to participate in the redeeming work of Jesus Christ and restoring what God has initially planned for us in the beginning of creation (Gen 1:26-28)
Thus, I am holding on to God’s calling based on Romans 8:19-23:
19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
About the Author
Hello! My name is Joshua Budi, but people call me Joey. I am originally from Tangerang, Indonesia. For the past year, I have been working as a research technician at a crop science lab at the University of Missouri, Columbia. I graduated from Calvin College, Michigan in 2016 with B.S. in Biology. With God’s help, I am going to start my Masters program in Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University in a few months, studying the effects of crop
rotation to disease susceptibility of soybean. It is going to be an interdisciplinary program where I get to hone in on my agricultural research skills while learning about environmental, social, and economic elements of sustainability.