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ATP News
 Christopher Jones, the ATP co-director, was presented with his MBE by the Queen at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday 30th November 2011. The picture shows left to right: daughter Annabel; wife Ita; Christopher MBE; and daughter Catherine. Congratulations again!
 Why farming matters: what is at stake
Food production: This is the most obvious concern. It is not just a matter of total global food production, though this is obviously important. It is also about where food is produced, what kind of food is produced and who controls it – as well as who can afford it. Closely linked are diet, health and much of local culture.
So much is obvious. What is not always remembered is that food security will be just as important in 10, 20 or 100 years time, and the way in which we nurture agricultural resources now will do much to determine future food security. It has been said that we face a “perfect storm” of growing population, shortage of energy and water and climate change.
An ATP Briefing paper from Christopher Jones. Download: GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD
 Last Thursday (3rd Nov. 2011) Christopher Jones MBE and John Martin from ATP ran a seminar at the Tent City University part of the Occupy London protest encamped around St. Paul’s Cathedral, London. The Tent City University organizers are casting their net widely to link upwith networks which can address some of their concerns. It’s a good example of how ATP, which seeks to bring biblical perspectives to problems besetting world agriculture, has a growing number of opportunites to join in public discourse. Around 30 people showed up, a combination of occupiers, curious visitors and city types. They had serious questions. Occupy London is essentially an urban movement but many had a keen interest in issues of food and farming: unfair trade systems, speculation in food futures, commodification of food staples, feeding an exploding world population in future decades. They wanted to know more about whether GM or hydroponic cultivation could feed the world. Was there a legitimate place of meat in the human food chain? What of the ethics of factory farming? Was it right for a multinational company to patent Basmati rice to insert a non-repeater gene so every year the farmer is compelled to buy seed from that company? Farming and the debate about the environment. Like a lot of church people they seem to share a common view that the systemwe have isn’t working and is failing people who are the poorest and weakest. Media research is tracking a shift from preoccupation with deficit to wider issues of justice, fairness and sustainability that is down to these Occupy movements springing up all over the world, particularly in North America. We can stand back and chide the protesters because their views are hardly coherent. Or like Paul in Athens (Acts 13) we can to engage in the conversation.
John Martin
 We are pleased to announce the publication of Climate Change, Faith and Rural Communities by Martin J. Hodson and Margot R. Hodson. This attractive 40 page booklet is a product of ATP, which is a joint project involving the John Ray Initiative (JRI), the Church Mission Society (CMS) and the Agricultural Christian Fellowship (ACF). The abstract is below. Copies can now be ordered from THE JOHN RAY INITIATIVE (JRI), Room PH201, Francis Close Hall, University of Gloucestershire, Swindon Road, CHELTENHAM, GL50 4AZ. Please make out cheques for individual copies to the John Ray Initiative for £3.50 (inc. P&P). For multiple copies please enquire at admin@jri.org.uk
ABSTRACT
Climate change is a major issue for this century with significant impact on the future of the countryside. The first part of this paper considers the expected impacts of climate change on rural communities in the UK and the contribution that these communities make to climate change. Climate change is complex and interacts with many other factors. One aspect is exposed through a consideration of the impact of Peak Oil. Having presented the interaction between physical, biological and human issues, the paper has at its heart a reflection on the cosmic nature of Christ (Colossians 1.15-20). The theological reflection explores the themes of interconnectedness and eschatological hope. An ethical analysis builds on the theology to develop a Christocentric model for holistic mission. The authors propose their model as a faith-based framework for responding to climate change within a UK rural context. The final part of the paper shows how engaged faith can have a major role in helping rural communities both mitigate and adapt to climate change. Practical examples lead on to discussion of the value of a faith based approach. The authors conclude that faith in the countryside for this century needs to be sustainable in its praxis and holistic in its mission. They recommend relocalisation of rural communities and call for the church to support community regeneration.
The Agricultural Theology Project (ATP) is a joint venture between the Agricultural Christian Fellowship (ACF), the Church Mission Society (CMS) and the John Ray Initiative (JRI). The project aims to reach a clear understanding of trends in farming worldwide and of the factors and forces behind them, alongside a Biblical understanding of the human relationship with Creation, of poverty and justice, and of food, family and culture – Theology and reality in juxta position.
The project seeks to investigate, illuminate and analyse, and to use the findings to inform and challenge thought and action at all levels, witnessing to the existence and nature of Christian perspectives.
Background (or Context)
i) A large proportion of the worlds’ people are rural and live from farming and in a culture largely framed around it. Many urban dwellers in the “global South” are rural people attracted or coerced into towns.
ii) The majority of this majority are poor and powerless and subject to injustices global and local.
iii) Many farming people in the “North” feel marginalized and misunderstood, their lives constrained by many of the same forces bearing down on their southern colleagues, though often they do not recognise this.
iv) Many young people in the “North” are acutely aware of environmental issues. It is often where they are closest to a God’s eye view.
v) Food is a necessity for all – a necessity with familial, social, cultural and religious resonance. Agriculture controls much of the Earth’s surface and with it landscape, wild life habitats, water catchments and future food availability. It is a principal expression of the human relationship with the rest of Creation.
vi) Mission requires understanding of and incarnation among the people it would woo. In addition a clear view is needed of injustices and of the idols enticing the strong, coercing the weak and damaging the Creation.
 Margot Hodson has just (2011) produced a Grove Booklet entitled “Uncovering Isaiah’s Environmental Ethics”. The book of Isaiah is rich in natural imagery and would seem ideally suited to provide a source for an environmental ethic; but how do we use these images, given that they were metaphors for theological ideas?This booklet uses perceptual analysis to uncover an ecological understanding underlying the natural metaphors in Isaiah: respect for nature as God’s creation combined with a mandate for active management as responsible stewards. Creation is damaged through human sin but will be redeemed in the new creation. See http://www.hodsons.org/Isaiah/ for more details.
Christopher Jones, the Co-Director of ATP has been awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List announced on Saturday 11 June 2011. “For services to Agriculture”. Christopher was a founder member of ATP, and has been very influential in agriculture both in the UK and further afield. Perhaps his biggest contribution has been the founding of Farm Crisis Network (FCN), for whom he is now Honorary President. FCN have given their appreciation at: Christopher Jones awarded MBE in Queen’s Birthday Honours list Many congratulations, Christopher, from all those involved in ATP!!
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Around the world...
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Climate Change and Farming: How Not to Go Hungry in a Warmer World
25 Jan 2012
Climate change might hit us in the most vital place of all — the dinner plate Why do we care about climate change? Read more
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Analysis: Agriculture in a changing environment
25 Jan 2012
Agriculture has been seen either as a cause or victim of global warming at the UN climate change talks over the past few years – something that has thwarted efforts to attract the investment it needs, say scientists. Read it all
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‘Farmers have responsibility to look after countryside’
11 Jan 2012
The vast majority of the British public believe farmers have a responsibility to protect the countryside for future generations, a survey has found. Read it all
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‘Must do better’ says report on UK agriculture
11 Jan 2012
UK AGRICULTURE “punches above its weight” in terms of trade, corporate and political power but is well down the league compared with other major trading blocks around the world, according to a unique analysis by SAC’s rural policy division of where the real power lies in global agriculture and trade. Read it all
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Nepal’s Monsanto debate spotlights seed sovereignty
11 Jan 2012
An effort by US donors and multinational agribusiness Monsanto to partner with Nepal to boost local maize production with imported hybrid seeds has met civil society opposition calling – instead – for home-grown solutions. Read it all
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Creation’s Own Inherent Value
4 Dec 2011
For the vast majority of history, human beings have exercised limited power over nature. With the advent of modern industry and globalization, however, this power has grown swiftly, often resulting in great environmental abuse. In Living with Other Creatures: Green Exegesis and Theology (Baylor University Press), Richard Bauckham writes for the church in this context, [...]
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Museveni Discovers Bovine Economics
27 Nov 2011
After months during which Ugandans have endured endless bickering among their politicians about stolen elections – now finally, some potentially good news:The government is cooking up something exciting; in a move one might christen “cows for all,” it is planning to give six cows to every homestead. Read it all
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Elephants and farmers – can they co-exist?
10 Nov 2011
This film focuses on the plight of farmers living close to the Bannerghatta National Park whose crops are often raided by Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus). See it here
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The 2050 challenge to our global food system
10 Nov 2011
Remarks of Jim Harkness National Food Policy Conference, organized by Consumers Federation of America. Read it all
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Ex-climate sceptic now backs global warming
24 Oct 2011
A climate sceptic has said that it is now time to end the debate over whether global warming is real after the most definitive study into temperature data gathered by weather stations over the past half-century. Read it all
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African Green Revolution ignoring downsides of intensive farming
13 Oct 2011
Lessons learned from Asia’s Green Revolution about the damage intensive farming can cause are being ignored in the race to help Africa feed itself, Christian Aid warns Read it all
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Climate Conversations – Who’s most vulnerable to climate change?
6 Oct 2011
Which countries are going to suffer most from climate change? It’s a hard question to answer, as any U.N. climate negotiator can tell you.
But there’s now an excellent guide that suggests some answers. The Washington-based Global Adaptation Institute has released its annual look at climate vulnerability – a data-rich trove of interactive maps, statistical [...]
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