Lindsay Falvey

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John Lindsay Falvey (born May 23, 1950) known as Lindsay Falvey, is a writer and author on topics concerning agricultural philosophy, religion and international development. He is a member for life of Clare Hall, Cambridge, at the University of Cambridge, and is a 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. He is a recipient of several awards, has two doctorates and is a Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (FTSE).

[edit] Personal life

Falvey was born in Melbourne, Australia of Kenneth Robert Leslie Falvey and Dororthy Elizabeth Falvey (nee 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 Baer (Bernhardt), an Alsacian 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.

[edit] Academic achievements

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 awared a master's degree through La Trobe University. He was disrupted by Cyclone Tracy at the Christmas Eve of 1974, so Falvey began searching for international development positions that suited his perceived vocation, and was appointed to research livestock as an alterative 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 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 purchased by the 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 his work over thirty years. He has been elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering since 1997, of his profession's institute 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, to his acclaimed work on Thai Agriculture. This work includes the influence of his Buddhism-related philosophy applied in to the development and agriculture of developing nations, a theme expanded in his work 'Sustainability Elusive or Illusory' and his 2005 text Religion and Agriculture: Sustainability in Christianity and Buddhism.

Falvey presents agriculture and food as something conceptually separate from all other non-basic needs and hence requiring different mindsets for development planning and economics, 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.

[edit] Selected publications

• 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 732515564.
• 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.