Ideas - and where they come from

“The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.”

JM Keynes

Some of the people I've read and who have had an influence on me would probably object to being categorised as either economists or political philosophers.  No matter - I should acknowledge those who have influenced, and are influencing, me.

I grew up on a farm and spent time on other farms where the farmers did their best to farm according to what might be loosely described as 'best practice'.  Their conception of best practice was dominated more than anything by diligence and hard work - but the technologies and systems deployed were largely conventional / modern.  

My respect for where I came from and the way in which my parents and extended family worked and cared for their properties means that I certainly didn't start out with a negative attitude to 'modern' agriculture.

That said, I've always been curious about how economic systems work - and don't work.  Farming is no different.  I always knew that there has been a disconnect between the way our economy values agricultural endeavour and my own perception of what it properly should be valued at.  

Michael Pollan (in The Onivore's Dilemma) wasn't the first person I read who raised major questions about the sustainability of conventional / industrial agriculture, but he was the person who bought the argument together in such a way that I could really buy in.  His extended section on Joel Salatin and his Polyface Farm did it for me.  I got to the end of those chapters - and went right back to the start to read them all again.

I've since read various books by Salatin - and the more I read the better I like him and his whole approach to life.  http://www.polyfacefarms.com/books.aspx

Pollan and Salatin then take me back to things that I have followed for many years, but regarded more as one way of thinking about things rather than the way to think about things.  

I think particularly of Permaculture.  I bought Permaculture One in the 80s and various other books along the way, but found it difficult to apply to my own circumstances.  Just before Christmas I bought Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability .  Perhaps I'm now ready for it, perhaps Permaculture has evolved, but I found it flat out inspiring.  

Part way through it I gave my copy to my son John and his fiance Shelley.  I've now got to get another copy so I can continue using it as an inspiration for what we are doing and will do at Moora.

There are other books I've read that have had a substantial influence on me.  They include:

• Farmers of Forty Centuries by F H King
• A couple of books by Helena Norberg-Hodge - who I met in Bali last year - Bringing the Food Economy Home: Local Alternatives to Global Agribusiness and Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh
• A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction and A Timeless Way of Building by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa and Murray Silverstein
• Back from the Brink by Peter Andrews