Spring reflections on agriculture

The Biblical story begins and ends in a garden.

In Genesis 2 verse 15, we are told that God put Adam in the Garden of Eden to work and take care of the garden.

Revelation 22 verse two tells of a tree of life on both sides of a river “bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month.”

During the spring, farmers in the Northern Hemisphere are entering one of their busiest seasons. They are ramping up to grow the grains, vegetables, fruits and animals that feed and sustain us throughout the year.

In this time, it's worth reflecting on how frequently agriculture is referred to throughout both the Old Testament and New Testaments of the Bible. There are a multitude of references, both literal and metaphorical, in prose and poetry.

For ancient Palestine, the year was divided into six seasons related to agricultural production: sowing time, which began around the autumnal equinox; unripe time; the cold season; harvest time; summer (with a total absence of rain); and the sultry season, with the attendant in gathering of fruits. Put more simply, half the year was occupied with tasks related to cultivation, the other half with harvest.

In the agrarian society of Biblical times, blessings were often expressed in terms of successful crops. Genesis 27 verse 28 reads: “May God give you heaven’s dew and earth’s richness — an abundance of grain and new wine.”

As Deuteronomy 8:10 says, this blessing comes with a reminder to remember the source of the good that comes from the earth: “When praise the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you.”

Bounty is named as a reward for obedience in Deuteronomy 28.

But hard work and obedience do not guarantee successful results, as any farmer can tell you.

Jesus used agricultural metaphors to teach spiritual principles about God’s Kingdom in his stories, such as the parables of the sower, weeds, and mustard seed in Matthew 13 and discussion of the vine in John 15.

Jesus used those images as he knew they were part of his audience’s day-to-day life, unlike the majority of people in the Global North today. Subsistence agriculture is something that is not part of the life experience of most readers of this magazine. Yet in the Global South, that precarious existence is still all too common for many.

As business ventures go, farming is among the riskiest of entrepreneurial endeavors.

In much of the world, the industry has come a long way from the practice thousands of years ago of tilling the ground and raising cattle without aid of mechanization, soil samples or hybrid varieties to combat pests.

Still, even with modern equipment, seeds, chemicals and weather forecasting, farmers remain at the mercy of the elements.

Last August, an inland hurricane, known as a derecho, swept through the Midwestern US state of Iowa, causing $11 billion in damage over a two-hour storm. The event flattened barns, grain elevators and equipment, a staggering blow to farmers already struggling due to the effects of drought and the pandemic.

It was ever thus. The land provides a good living for many, and remains a constant struggle for countless others who depend upon it.

More severe and unpredictable storms, more frequent droughts in some areas and torrential rains in others intensify the challenges for the most vulnerable farmers.

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Enjoy delectable firsts from this year’s agricultural production — whether your favorites be asparagus, strawberries or later season basil, tomatoes, corn, and peaches.

Pause in life’s pleasures to reflect for a moment. Spare a prayer for the people who grow those crops and tend the animals consumed on summer barbeques.

The migrant workers separated from family and friends for months on end. The family farms trying to negotiate a way to helping the next generation live on and work the land. The subsistence farmers, often female, who work desperately to scratch a living out of small parcels of land in the Global South, often without access to capital training, or markets that would allow them to create a better life for their families.

What actions can we take to make life less challenging for our farmer neighbors, both here and around the world?