Building on Failure – A Discussion with Global Leader Allan Savory

Brenda with young business entrepreneurs from Canada, UK and Australia visit
with Dr. Allan Savory.  

According to Allan Savory, mankind is failing himself – and he is doing it with agriculture. If that has grabbed your attention, then you are not alone.  Our team meeting with Savory this month was a challenge to the very core of our existence.  And although modern day agriculture may be the problem in the loss of 4 tons of soil for every human being today – it is also the solution.

At the core of the discussion is the context on which we base our lives and is the very reason for our being and the core principles and beliefs that guide us.  From that point we base decisions that encourage economic growth of our businesses and of our communities and the continued improvement of our natural  world.  It might seem like a pipe dream but any complex problem is simple to solve.

Every civilization has evolved around food production.  As of this moment, there is no other way to sustain mankind.  But the combination of urbanization and desertification is pressuring land use in the country and the city.   That pressure results in high production practices that may not build soil or keep it cool.  Livestock play a role in the plant cycle and the fertilizer cycle to rejuvenate all soil and grasslands are great carbon sinks.  Understanding the whole of nature allows farmer to think about their business in a different way.  For healing,  going back to the elderly and the elders gives us a clue of where to start again.  As Savory explains the solutions lie with those that know the land and one should  “never underestimate the intelligence of illiterate people.”  Together, as a collective conscious we have the solution.

The future is ours to build.  If we did not have failures, we could not build on them.  And so we are challenged as those who grow the world’s food to do so in a respectful way that honors our earth, feeds our hungry and aligns with our core values and beliefs.  This we can do!