Lindsay Falvey

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Lindsay Falvey

John Lindsay Falvey (born 23 May 1950) known as Lindsay Falvey, is an author who writes on topics concerning agricultural science and philosophy, religion, international development and more lately spiritual development. He is a member for life of Clare Hall, Cambridge, at the University of Cambridge, and is retired as a full Professor of the University of Melbourne, where he was previously Chair of Agriculture, Dean of Land and Food Resources, Dean of Agriculture, Forestry and Horticulture (now Faculty of Land and Environment). He is a recipient of national and international awards, has three doctorates [Ph.D., D.Agr.Sc., D.Agr.Techn. (honoris causa)] reflecting his work in Asia and Australia, and is a Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (FTSE).

Personal life

Falvey was born in Melbourne, Australia of Kenneth Robert Leslie Falvey and Dorothy Elizabeth Falvey (née Christopher). He has one brother Russell Leslie Falvey. From 1971 to 2002, Falvey was married to Janice Patricia Daly; they have two sons, Leslie Kenneth Falvey and Christopher John Falvey. In March 2006 he married Simone Lucie Behr (Bernhardt), an Alsatian ethnologist of the Council of Europe. His parents encouraged education from their working class origins and after completing schooling at Deepdene State School and Balwyn High School, Falvey studied agricultural science at the newly established La Trobe University in suburban Melbourne.

Summary of Works

During his initial degree, he took various in-term and vacation jobs, including labouring and mustering cattle at Douglas-Daly Experiment Station in the Northern Territory of Australia, while also taking a Methodist Local Preaching qualification with The Reverend Dr. A. Harold Wood at Deepdene Methodist Church. He was supported through his studies by his parents and a cadetship from the Government of the Northern Territory. He then moved to work for that government in Darwin, from where he conducted research and other work on the Douglas-Daly Experiment Station for five years to the beginning of 1976.

During those years, his research was awarded a master's degree through La Trobe University. Disrupted by Cyclone Tracy on Christmas Eve of 1974, Falvey began searching for international development positions that suited his perceived vocation, and was appointed to research livestock as an alternative to opium production in the northern Thailand highlands. The research uncovered a primary sodium deficiency through much of the region and this part of his research novely integrated with sociological research formed the basis of his Doctor of Philosophy, which was granted by the University of Queensland in 1980.

Falvey then joined a small commercial cooperative delivering international aid for rural development which became known as MPW Australia, of which he soon became Managing Director. With contributions from his professional colleagues, MPW grew into a sizable consulting company and was eventually purchased by the stock-exchange-listed Coffey International to become Coffey-MPW, of which he was Managing Director until 1993. During this consulting period, he maintained an active academic interest and published regularly in scientific journals, while also working in some 20 countries. His first books, on 'Cattle in northern Thailand' and 'Working Animals' were published in this period.

In 1995, he was asked by the University of Melbourne to assume the role of Dean of a combined faculty of eight campuses with the task of merging the six colleges of the Victorian College of Agriculture and Horticulture with the university's ongoing departments related to agriculture and forestry. Completing the merger task and setting in place the adjustments required by the merger, he stepped down as Dean while retaining the position of Chair of Agriculture. Falvey was awarded a higher doctorate of agricultural science by the University of Melbourne in 2004 for a 1,500 page combined selection from his books and papers which revealed a new evolving philosophy of international agricultural development over some thirty years. He has been elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering since 1997, of his profession's institute (Australian Institute of Agricultural Science) since 1971, and in 2003 was awarded the Australian Centenary Medal for his services to rural development internationally and at home.

His most significant writing began during his term as Dean. An evolution of thought is evident from his work on Food, Environment, Education, through his joint book with Barry Bardsley on Agricultural Education in Victoria ('Land and Food'), to his acclaimed work on Thai Agriculture. This last work includes the influence of his Buddhism-related philosophy applied to the agriculture of developing nations, a theme expanded in his subsequent book 'Sustainability Elusive or Illusory' and his 2005 text 'Agriculture and Religion: Sustainability in Christianity and Buddhism.

Falvey presents essential agriculture and food as something conceptually separate from all other non-basic needs and hence requiring different mindsets for development planning and economics, and hence policy, as included in his book on Sustainability. He relates his teachings of Buddha and Jesus including an interpretation of the Christian gospels into Buddhist language in his book, The Buddha's Gospel. He also relates religion and personal spirituality to the natural environment using agriculture, the most widespread human intervention in nature, as the example to draw from ancient scriptures and modern philosophy - as detailed in his book Religion and Agriculture, which has led into a consideration of agricultural spiritualism. In additional to his writings he is a poetaster and some of his works may be found on the web. His most recent book is a spiritual allegory, ['[Reaching the Top? All Paths are True on the Correct Mountain][1]']. His recent books include: a) 'Dharma as Man' published 2008 - a brave interpretation of the Christian Gospels in Buddhist language and concepts that represents interpretations of the meaning of both traditions; b) Buddhist – Christian Dialogue: Four Papers from The Parliament of the World’s Religions, 2-9 December, Melbourne, Australia, Pp45 (with John May, Vincent Pizzuto & Padmasiri de Silva), Uni-versity Press (2010); c) An open letter to Lindsay at 60: Five Cycles of Lindsay Falvey. Pp45. (2010); d) Small Farmers Secure Food: Survival Food Security, the World’s Kitchen and the Critical Role of Small Farmers. Pp 232. Thaksin University Press in association with the Institute for International Development. (2010), and e) Re-Cultivating Agricultural Science, or What I’ve Learned in 40 Years of Professional Life. Pp139. Institute for International Development. (2011). Most books are accessible gratis online at iid.org or google books.

He was appointed as a foundation Director of Hassad Australia in 2010. Hassad Australia is a Qatar owned Australia company that invests in sound agricultural developments and is part of a global strategy to improve international food production and trade through quality and technology. He also assists on a voluntary basis Thaksin University in Songkhla Thailand in the creation of an English-language International PhD Program.

Selected publications

• Lindsay Falvey (2011) Re-Cultivating Agricultural Science, or What I’ve Learned in 40 Years of Professional Life. Pp139. Institute for International Development. (2011)*
• Lindsay Falvey (2010) Small Farmers Secure Food: Survival Food Security, the World’s Kitchen and the Critical Role of Small Farmers. Pp 232. Thaksin University Press in association with the Institute for International Development. (2010)*
• Lindsay Falvey (2010) An open letter to Lindsay at 60: Five Cycles of Lindsay Falvey. Pp45. (2010)
• Lindsay Falvey (2010) Buddhist – Christian Dialogue: Four Papers from The Parliament of the World’s Religions, 2-9 December, Melbourne, Australia, Pp45 (with John May, Vincent Pizzuto & Padmasiri de Silva), Uni-versity Press (2010)
• Lindsay Falvey (2009) Dharma as Man: A Myth of Jesus in Buddhist Lands. Pp250. Uni-versity Press, Australia (2009)*
• Lindsay Falvey (2009) Pranja Anthology (The Book of Ecclesisates rendered into Buddhist concepts in rhyming couplets). Pp38 (2009)*
• Lindsay Falvey (2007) Reaching the Top? All Paths are True on the Right Mountain. Pp68. Uni-versity Press. (2007)*
• Lindsay Falvey, (2005). Religion and Agriculture: Sustainability in Christianity and Buddhism. Institute for International Development, Silkworm Books. ISBN 0-9751000-2-5 PDF
• Lindsay Falvey, (2004). Sustainability: Elusive or Illusory? Wise Environmental Intervention. Institute for International Development. ISBN 0-9751000-1-7 PDF
• Lindsay Falvey, (2002). The Buddha's Gospel: A Buddhist Interpretation of Jesus' Words. Institute for International 108pp. ISBN 0-646-42071-2
• Lindsay Falvey, (2000). Thai Agriculture: Golden Cradle of Millennia. Kasetsart University Press, White Lotus, Bangkok. ISBN 974-553-816-7. Translated into the Thai language as Karn Kaset Thai in 2005
• Charan Chantalakhana, Lindsay Falvey. Smallholder Dairying in the Tropics. International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya. ISBN 0-7340-1432-5
• Barrie Bardsley, Lindsay Falvey, (1997). Land and Food: Agricultural and Related Education in the Victorian Colleges and the University of Melbourne Institute of Land and Food Resources, University of Melbourne. ISBN 0-7325-1556-4
• Lindsay Falvey, (1996). Food Environmental Education: Agricultural Education in Natural Resource Management. The Crawford Fund and the Institute for International Development.
• Lindsay Falvey, (1994). International Consulting: Providing Services to International Development Agencies. Institute for International Development, Melbourne.
• Lindsay Falvey, (1988). Introduction to Working Animals. Falvey Consulting, Melbourne. ISBN 1-86252-992-2
• Lindsay Falvey, (1979). Cattle and Sheep in Northern Thailand. Tiphanetr Press, Thailand.