Jeff,

Yes, please do use these comments to advance the project.

I agree with the suggestion of having a single, well defined place
with a clear statement of the project goals, principles, and approach.
Having someone responsible as the "editor" of that page is a good
idea.  Of course I'd be willing to help with that as I can, but it's
really up to the group and Andrius to figure out where it goes and who
is going to take on the responsibility.

-Greg

--- In socialagriculture@yahoogroups.com, Jeff Buderer <jeff@...> wrote:
>
> Greg,
>
> Those comments are very relevant to our efforts. Would it be okay to go
> through them and use them as the basis for this project. I am now in
the
> process of going through the emails.
>
>  It would probably be a good idea to have a central point at the myfood
> story website or on the wiki where all the key components of this
> project are put together so that it is clear to everyone.
>
>  I would suggest that that we assign someone to be responsible for
that.
> I would see this is a key first step in this project.
>
> I have taken the initiative of adding to the existing content on the
> wiki but we might consider as a group how we want to organize this.
> http://www.findbetterways.info/wiki.cgi?MyFoodStory
>
> Jeff
>
>
> > Thanks so much for giving of your attention and effort to help improve
> > our personal knowledge of where our food comes from and how it is
> > produced. Community Supported Agriculture has shown how sharing of
> > information between producers and customers simultaneously increases
> > the earnings of farmers and the joy of cooking and eating for
> > customers.
> >
> > I offer http://smallfarms. typepad.com/
> > <http://smallfarms.typepad.com/> as an exemplary site of
> > personal stories and connections to the production process.
> > These stories complement the inspection reports provided by QAI
> > (organic), TransFair (FairTrade), and other certification and labeling
> > organizations. I hope we can find appropriate ways to collect, blend,
> > and present these varied types of information in ways that invite
> > participation from all stakeholders.
> >
> > * Existing resources
> >
> > Many labeling organizations already have some type of "producer
> > profiles." This information is helpful but not readily accessible to
> > customers or other stakeholders. For example, see:
> > http://www.transfai rusa.org/ content/certific ation/producer_
> > profiles. php
> >
<http://www.transfairusa.org/content/certification/producer_profiles.php>
> >
> > Contrast this type of static, glossy, PDF "brochure" with an article
> > in Wikipedia and you start to see how things might be improved. For
> > example, where are the source materials for the claims made in the
> > producer profile? What if information changes or has been updated?
> > As a customer, how do I know if other people liked the coffee
> > (or other product) from a particular producer and/or share my thoughts
> > about the taste.
> >
> > Ecologic provides another example of rich information about
> > agricultural production processes that benefit all stakeholders.
> > Again their information is not particularly accessible for the many
> > different stakeholders and context in which this information would be
> > useful.
> > http://www.ecologic .org/subpage. asp?P=projects
> > <http://www.ecologic.org/subpage.asp?P=projects>
> >
> > Obviously these existing resources provide a good starting point and
> > important threads in creating and telling "MyFoodStory"
> > Working together I hope we can come up with effective ways of engaging
> > those organizations with very practical steps of how to share
> > information and processes in a way that furthers their mission and
> > creates more valuable experiences for all.
> >
> > * Quality, locality, and resource allocation
> >
> > Lastly, I should point out that FairTrade and Organic are just two of
> > the many dimensions on which people make choices about their food.
> > Thanks to the tireless work of many caring individuals, these efforts
> > have become well defined, commonly understood ways to think about food
> > production. For me personally, quality and locality play major roles
> > in my choices. The many other points of view add to the conversation
> > of what's important and meaningful for individuals and communities.
> > At the start of the project, widely traded crops like coffee and tea
> > will be the most visible. However, in time local trade may come to
> > dominate the uses and stories associated with this project in much the
> > same way that most telephone calls are local.
> >
> > I believe that people make good choices when they have good
> > information. Everyone benefits when we succeed in making relevant,
> > factual information reliable and readily available at all stages of
> > the food supply chain. Customers will be in a better position to
> > choose food that nurtures their body and spirit, producers will be
> > better able to select crops and practices that improve their lives
> > and the lives of the children, and distributors will become more
> > efficient and waste less resources in delivering from the farm to the
> > fork without sacrificing quality or sustainability.
> >
> > But even if none of that happens in our lifetime, we will still have
> > the benefit of hearing the voices of people who are true stewards of
> > the land and building relationships with individuals who care.
> >
> > __
> > Note this material authored by Greg Wolff for the UnaMesa
Association may
> > only be used for noncommercial purposes under a Creative Commons
> > "Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike" license.
> > See http://creativecomm ons.org/licenses /by-nc-sa/ 2.5/
> > <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/>
> >
> >
>

Pamela, Yes, thank you for your thoughtful letter which I share.

Indeed, Moodle and other online technologies for managing relationships
between bandwidth rich and poor might be exactly what's relevant here,
and something that you're definitely interested in.  Another such
technology is TiddlyWiki by Jeremy Ruston, http://www.tiddlywiki.com
which is a wiki that is based on JavaScript and stores all the data on a
single HTML page that can be accessed and updated offline.  Jeremy is
working for Greg Wolff's UnaMesa Association and Greg is encouraging us
to work together.  I'm especially interested that he might adapt
TiddlyWiki further for use offline and then synchronize as you suggest.
Also, I will be developing a questionnaire-driven interface based on
Helmut Leitner's ProWiki page formats and perhaps we can exchange data
with TiddlyWiki, too.  Jeremy, I Cc you and I invite you to join our
Minciu Sodas laboratory's working group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/workinginparallel/  (send a blank message
to workinginparallel-subscribe@yahoogroups.com) which at our lab is the
best place to work on such technological questions.  I look forward to
writing more and engaging you regarding our lab's work
http://www.foodstory.com for UnaMesa Association.   Jeremy Ruston and
Pamela McLean http://www.ms.lt/?thinker=Pamela_McLean are both based in
London.

Lucas, with your guidance as we develop such a channel for poultry
people in bandwidth rich and bandwith poor areas to connect, we could
use that to share information regarding a possible human flu pandemic
that might arise from bird flu.  If you might advise and inspire, I
could find a team leader and field agents that could bring out such
connections.

Andrius

Andrius Kulikauskas
Minciu Sodas
http://www.ms.lt
ms@...
+370 (5) 264 5950
+370 (699) 30003
skype: minciusodas
Vilnius, Lithuania

Pamela McLean wrote:
> Hi Andrius.
>
> Regarding chickens and possible input.to http://www.myfoodstory.com
>
> As discussed, when it comes to chickens and learning from each other I
> can only act as an intermediary - putting you/your team in contact with
> an information source in Nigeria. I am cautious of offering any such
> introduction because I  know how difficult it is to establish and
> maintain anything like an effective flow of information from rural
> Nigeria - but if the difficulties are understood and embraced then we
> could try..
>
> Please be aware that I have not yet asked Kazanka Comfort about her
> possible involvement, because her time online is limited, and I do not
> want to waste it with "perhaps and possibly" emails. If we come up with
> a serious plan then we will put it to her.
>
> As you know I am currently exploring ways of organising Cawdnet's
> collaborative work through the use of Moodle at "Cawdnet Campus". We are
> already finding it a good fit  for managing information in the ways that
> we need to do - and we also like various features that although we have
> yet to apply them,  we know will be useful and available to us.
>
> We think of Cawdnet Campus as a collection of  "information cupboards" -
> one for each Special Interest Group. We are trying to make it equally
> suitable for the needs and  expectation of two different types of
> contributors/users - one type is "bandwidth rich" the other is
> "bandwidth poor". Our challenge is to find the most effective ways to
> accept, order and present information so that the  system is equally
> considerate to the needs of both groups - to get the right balance
> between "info pull" and "info push" to suit different circumstances.. It
> is still very early stages, but we are learning all the time about what
> does, and does not work, in setting up and maintaining an effective SIG
> at Cawdnet Campus.
>
> If you do want to include input from rural Nigeria, then I suggest that
> link is managed through a new Cawdnet Campus group - even if that group
> only consists of one representative from Nigeria and one from your team
> on the bandwidth rich (BR) side. It would be the responsibility of the
> BR person to make it as easy as possible for the bandwidth poor (BP)
> contributor to be informed and involved, without being faced with too
> much information. I will explain more what I mean if it seems likely to
> happen.
>
> If it does seem likely to happen then I suggest we ask Comfort if we can
> focus on her turkey farm, and chickens too - that is if it she has her
> poultry work up and running again after the bird flu scare. It is very
> small scale - but close to Internet connectivity - so close that the
> birds scratch around in the area of the Fantsuam Foundation compound
> where the satellite dish for the Internet is located. Nigerians use the
> word "farm" to include large and small enterprises, including things of
> a size that in the UK we would describe as "small-holdings", or
> "allotments", or even "gardens".
>
> I suggest that we ask Comfort to allocate one of the "volunteers" at
> Fantsuam to collect information from her and contribute it to the
> Cawdnet Campus SIG on poultry farms, set up for the purpose. The term
> "volunteer" at FF covers a wide variety of relationships - but most need
> to earn money, so there could well be someone willing to fill the role
> you want. NB English is unlikely to be the volunteer's first language -
> something else that the BR person needs to bear in mind regarding
> expectations about communication.
>
> The BR person needs to be prepared for cultural differences too. For
> example - regarding attitudes to time -  it seems that the local
> languages have no equivalent for the term "deadline" - as I hear that
> English word dropped into conversations that are otherwise completely
> unintelligible to me ;-)   The BR  must be prepared for a different pace
> to life....
>
> These are the kind of issues that make me question if it is appropriate
> for us to be connected with this particular project, which I think is
> time dependent, and requires plenty of communication, and focuses on a
> topic which we does  not yet have an active group set up at Cawdnet Campus.
>
> Pam
>
> Andrius Kulikauskas wrote:
>
>
>> Lucas, I have been reading your blog at our wiki
>> http://www.ourculture.info/wiki.cgi?LucasGonzalezSantaCruz/Blog
>> regarding your work on preparations for a possible pandemic flu.
>> I reply to your working group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mejoresvias/
>> on creative collaboration.
>>
>> You probably know, we've started work on a major project
>> http://www.myfoodstory.com to start an online resource for the world's
>> food supply chain.  We'll be featuring one crop each month.  I'm drawing
>> connections between a crop (such as "fish") and a human value (such as
>> "sustainability") and a technology that supports them (such as George
>> Chan's integrated farming and waste management).
>>
>> I spoke with Pamela McLean as to whether we might think of a crop that
>> relates to her key concept of "learning from each other".  One idea that
>> came up was poultry.  Chickens may foster our "learning from each other"
>> because of our many different interconnections with them:
>> - their life cycle - they yield both eggs and meat - and they
>> - they can find some food for themselves, but they also need supplements
>> - they are both social and individual, having a hierarchy
>> - they have contact with other bird species which opens them up to both
>> immunity and disease
>> - through such contact they depend on the situation locally
>> - they are kept for times indoors and for times outdoors
>> - they are a distinct "package", both as eggs and as meat
>> - they have significant impact on our nutrition
>> - they interact with other farm animals.
>> All of this to say that keeping chickens may require a lot of knowledge,
>> but especially, a lot of sensitivity to applying that knowledge.  I
>> think of it as comparable to a parent who needs to watch their child's
>> behavior to adjust the dose of a medication that they may need, such as
>> for Turett's syndrome, so they don't get too much or too little.
>> Similarly, a poultry farmer may need to consistently learn how to
>> navigate the risk factors for their chicken.  And likewise, consumers of
>> chickens might pay more attention to how fresh the birds are, where they
>> come from, what they eat, the season in the year, any chemicals they are
>> fed, and so on.
>>
>> If there is such a connection (perhaps there is?), then we can ask, what
>> technology fosters that?  One technology which Janet Feldman brought up
>> is community radio.
>>
>> If we were to organize a poultry team, then we could also have the
>> opportunity to do something bird flu related.  Lucas, I was wondering if
>> you had any thoughts on all this, if you might see some possible
>> connections?
>>
>> Trying to "find better ways together",
>>
>> Andrius
>>
>> Andrius Kulikauskas
>> Minciu Sodas
>> http://www.ms.lt
>> ms@...
>> +370 (5) 264 5950
>> +370 (699) 30003
>> Vilnius, Lithuania
>>
>>
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> From Lucas Gonzalez Santa Cruz's blog:
>>
>> 2006-10-01
>>
>>    * Why worry:
>>          o
>> http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Science.OpinionAboutAFluPandemic
>>          o
>>
http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Science.GraphOfClusterSizeAndFrequencyOverT\
ime
>>          o
>> http://www.fluwikie2.com/pmwiki.php?n=Forum.ASeverePandemicIsLikelyPart5
>>          o Helen Branswell writes about poor. Find link.
>>    * Gotta focus on:
>>          o
>> http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Main.PandemicFluAwarenessWeek2006
>>          o
>>
http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Consequences.RespiratoryPreventionPackage
>>          o http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Brainstorming.SimpleMasks
>>
>> Comments
>>
>> AndriusKulikauskas: Lucas, Thank you for keeping us posted. We just got
>> a request for MinciuSodas to support a proposal for a bird flu disaster
>> related project. Also, I think that Pamela McLean might host chicken as
>> the crop to feature for learning from each other in our work on
>> http://www.myfoodstory.com Do you have thoughts on a related technology,
>> especially one that would foster learning from each other?
>>
>> LucasGonzalez: Andrius, A bird flu disaster related project? I don't
>> know much about birds. My concern is pandemic flu - in humans. But if
>> you tell me the details then I may look for some links. (I've been
>> looking at how much food comes from what distance. Most here is from far
>> away. I need look no deeper for the time being.) Also, "a related
>> technology"? I don't know what you mean. I'll get some sleep.
>>
>> 2006-09-28
>>
>> Please, help translate from English into other languages:
>>
>>    *
>> http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Main.Es-PandemicFluAwarenessWeek2006
>>    * http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Main.Es-PressRelease
>>
>> 2006-09-23
>>
>>    * http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Main.PandemicFluAwarenessWeek2006
>>    * http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Main.PressRelease
>>    * http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Opinion.OutlineSummary
>>    * http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/004975.html
>>    * Food security, safety, sustainability.
>>    * Catching up on sleep.
>>
>> 2006-09-14
>>
>>    * http://www.breathingearth.net/
>>    * http://www.birdshot.cc/
>>    * http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Main.PandemicFluAwarenessWeek2006
>>    * http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Main.PressRelease
>>    * http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Opinion.ForumTopics
>>
>> 2006-09-13
>>
>> Conversación con Stella. "Seguridad" alimentaria, proyecto de
>> investigación. Bill Morrison. Instituto de Permacultura, red caórdica.
>> ¿Proceso gradual? ¿Aprendizaje acelerado?
>>
>> 2006-09-07
>>
>>    * Still catching up.
>>          o Using mindmaps helps me a bit in remapping things for myself
>> and others.
>>          o There's this idea to have sharable mindmaps - we could in
>> time have (or rather encourage) a repository of public domain mindmaps -
>> in PNG or XML formats.
>>          o Whatever became of touchgraph?
>>    * Flu:
>>          o Folks at fluwikie are thinking about a "pandemic influenza
>> awareness week",
>>          o and also about communication in a pandemic,
>>          o while avian flu in humans keeps boiling.
>>
>> Comments
>>
>> Lucas, you may see I have diagrammed our workflow and have started
>> sorting our letters accordingly. Perhaps you might be interested to mind
>> map, for example, our projects: http://www.ms.lt/?action=Project Or to
>> mind map our Bird Flu letters. If you're interested in the latter I
>> could try to program a search function that would catch and index all
>> our letters that mention the "flu" or "pandemic" or another term. Let me
>> know! AndriusKulikauskas September 8, 2006 1:50 CET
>>
>> 2006-09-03
>>
>>    * Social distancing will be explored in practice. I wonder about
>> different parts of the world. And of course different levels of
>> motivation - but believing it would help would be a motivation.
>>    * New York City is apparently not prepared for a pandemic (not
>> surprising). Andrius' "dealing with sudden massive population spread"
>> does need further thinking. Lots of it. I wonder how, and who with. :-?
>>
>> 2006-08-31
>>
>>    * Blog:
>>
>> Ok, glad to be welcomed back - home! Some folks at fluwikie "get it"
>> regarding chicken farming. They should be linked to ZERI and friends.
>> Worth a read, in time.
>>
>>    * Conversation:
>>
>> AndriusKulikauskas: Lucas, it's great to see you back! Thank you for
>> alerting me to FrenchieGirl at FluWiki. I wrote her an invitation to
>> join us.
>>
>> Heh - you're fast, Andrius! Whether that invitation will work or not is
>> up to the future to tell us. We may need to find ways to include or be
>> of value to people who can't or won't work with their full names out
>> there in the open. Another one for the back-burner.
>>
>> And I have some stuff I've been thinking about - I'll be "present" in 10
>> more days, I hope. I need to finish off and catch up on a few things.
>> Wouldn't mind a summary or two, but that's not possible so I'll just
>> catch up slowly.
>>
>> Thanks! Lucas
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Each letter sent to Learning From Each Other enters the PUBLIC DOMAIN unless
it explicitly states otherwise http://www.ethicalpublicdomain.org  Please be
kind to our authors!
>> Yahoo! Groups Links
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
> Each letter sent to Learning From Each Other enters the PUBLIC DOMAIN unless
it explicitly states otherwise http://www.ethicalpublicdomain.org  Please be
kind to our authors!
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

Lucas, I have been reading your blog at our wiki
http://www.ourculture.info/wiki.cgi?LucasGonzalezSantaCruz/Blog
regarding your work on preparations for a possible pandemic flu.
I reply to your working group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mejoresvias/
on creative collaboration.

You probably know, we've started work on a major project
http://www.myfoodstory.com to start an online resource for the world's
food supply chain.  We'll be featuring one crop each month.  I'm drawing
connections between a crop (such as "fish") and a human value (such as
"sustainability") and a technology that supports them (such as George
Chan's integrated farming and waste management).

I spoke with Pamela McLean as to whether we might think of a crop that
relates to her key concept of "learning from each other".  One idea that
came up was poultry.  Chickens may foster our "learning from each other"
because of our many different interconnections with them:
- their life cycle - they yield both eggs and meat - and they
- they can find some food for themselves, but they also need supplements
- they are both social and individual, having a hierarchy
- they have contact with other bird species which opens them up to both
immunity and disease
- through such contact they depend on the situation locally
- they are kept for times indoors and for times outdoors
- they are a distinct "package", both as eggs and as meat
- they have significant impact on our nutrition
- they interact with other farm animals.
All of this to say that keeping chickens may require a lot of knowledge,
but especially, a lot of sensitivity to applying that knowledge.  I
think of it as comparable to a parent who needs to watch their child's
behavior to adjust the dose of a medication that they may need, such as
for Turett's syndrome, so they don't get too much or too little.
Similarly, a poultry farmer may need to consistently learn how to
navigate the risk factors for their chicken.  And likewise, consumers of
chickens might pay more attention to how fresh the birds are, where they
come from, what they eat, the season in the year, any chemicals they are
fed, and so on.

If there is such a connection (perhaps there is?), then we can ask, what
technology fosters that?  One technology which Janet Feldman brought up
is community radio.

If we were to organize a poultry team, then we could also have the
opportunity to do something bird flu related.  Lucas, I was wondering if
you had any thoughts on all this, if you might see some possible
connections?

Trying to "find better ways together",

Andrius

Andrius Kulikauskas
Minciu Sodas
http://www.ms.lt
ms@...
+370 (5) 264 5950
+370 (699) 30003
Vilnius, Lithuania


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  From Lucas Gonzalez Santa Cruz's blog:

2006-10-01

     * Why worry:
           o
http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Science.OpinionAboutAFluPandemic
           o
http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Science.GraphOfClusterSizeAndFrequencyOverT\
ime
           o
http://www.fluwikie2.com/pmwiki.php?n=Forum.ASeverePandemicIsLikelyPart5
           o Helen Branswell writes about poor. Find link.
     * Gotta focus on:
           o
http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Main.PandemicFluAwarenessWeek2006
           o
http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Consequences.RespiratoryPreventionPackage
           o http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Brainstorming.SimpleMasks

Comments

AndriusKulikauskas: Lucas, Thank you for keeping us posted. We just got
a request for MinciuSodas to support a proposal for a bird flu disaster
related project. Also, I think that Pamela McLean might host chicken as
the crop to feature for learning from each other in our work on
http://www.myfoodstory.com Do you have thoughts on a related technology,
especially one that would foster learning from each other?

LucasGonzalez: Andrius, A bird flu disaster related project? I don't
know much about birds. My concern is pandemic flu - in humans. But if
you tell me the details then I may look for some links. (I've been
looking at how much food comes from what distance. Most here is from far
away. I need look no deeper for the time being.) Also, "a related
technology"? I don't know what you mean. I'll get some sleep.

2006-09-28

Please, help translate from English into other languages:

     *
http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Main.Es-PandemicFluAwarenessWeek2006
     * http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Main.Es-PressRelease

2006-09-23

     * http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Main.PandemicFluAwarenessWeek2006
     * http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Main.PressRelease
     * http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Opinion.OutlineSummary
     * http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/004975.html
     * Food security, safety, sustainability.
     * Catching up on sleep.

2006-09-14

     * http://www.breathingearth.net/
     * http://www.birdshot.cc/
     * http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Main.PandemicFluAwarenessWeek2006
     * http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Main.PressRelease
     * http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Opinion.ForumTopics

2006-09-13

Conversación con Stella. "Seguridad" alimentaria, proyecto de
investigación. Bill Morrison. Instituto de Permacultura, red caórdica.
¿Proceso gradual? ¿Aprendizaje acelerado?

2006-09-07

     * Still catching up.
           o Using mindmaps helps me a bit in remapping things for myself
and others.
           o There's this idea to have sharable mindmaps - we could in
time have (or rather encourage) a repository of public domain mindmaps -
in PNG or XML formats.
           o Whatever became of touchgraph?
     * Flu:
           o Folks at fluwikie are thinking about a "pandemic influenza
awareness week",
           o and also about communication in a pandemic,
           o while avian flu in humans keeps boiling.

Comments

Lucas, you may see I have diagrammed our workflow and have started
sorting our letters accordingly. Perhaps you might be interested to mind
map, for example, our projects: http://www.ms.lt/?action=Project Or to
mind map our Bird Flu letters. If you're interested in the latter I
could try to program a search function that would catch and index all
our letters that mention the "flu" or "pandemic" or another term. Let me
know! AndriusKulikauskas September 8, 2006 1:50 CET

2006-09-03

     * Social distancing will be explored in practice. I wonder about
different parts of the world. And of course different levels of
motivation - but believing it would help would be a motivation.
     * New York City is apparently not prepared for a pandemic (not
surprising). Andrius' "dealing with sudden massive population spread"
does need further thinking. Lots of it. I wonder how, and who with. :-?

2006-08-31

     * Blog:

Ok, glad to be welcomed back - home! Some folks at fluwikie "get it"
regarding chicken farming. They should be linked to ZERI and friends.
Worth a read, in time.

     * Conversation:

AndriusKulikauskas: Lucas, it's great to see you back! Thank you for
alerting me to FrenchieGirl at FluWiki. I wrote her an invitation to
join us.

Heh - you're fast, Andrius! Whether that invitation will work or not is
up to the future to tell us. We may need to find ways to include or be
of value to people who can't or won't work with their full names out
there in the open. Another one for the back-burner.

And I have some stuff I've been thinking about - I'll be "present" in 10
more days, I hope. I need to finish off and catch up on a few things.
Wouldn't mind a summary or two, but that's not possible so I'll just
catch up slowly.

Thanks! Lucas

Steve Bosserman wrote:
>
> Hi Andrius,
>
> Sorry to do this, but I am not sure these links to the NY Times work
> unless one is a subscriber. Let me know if you can open them and I
> will put them into some kind of posting to the SA group. If you can’t
> then I’ll have to try something else to not violate their copyright
> restrictions.
>
>
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/04/dining/04cave.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=dining\
&pagewanted=all
>
<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/04/dining/04cave.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=dinin\
g&pagewanted=all>
>
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/04/dining/04cbox.html
>
> This link below I know works. You might find it interesting.
>
> http://cheesebyhand.com/
>
> This is a travel week for me and it is difficult to make postings. I
> did get a couple off tonight. We’ll keep plugging away…er…I mean
> posting away ;-)
>
> Best regards,
>
> Steve B.
>

Hi Steve,

Yes, I can see them. Perhaps the New York Times changed its policy.

Greg, Thank you for your letter! and thank you Jeff for your reply.

Yes, I look forward to acting on your suggestions.

Andrius

Andrius Kulikauskas
Minciu Sodas
http://www.ms.lt
ms@...
+370 (5) 264 5950
+370 (699) 30003
Vilnius, Lithuania

Jeff,

Thanks so much for pursing the associations with George Chan, Steve Diver,
and aquaponics.  Something to consider in your connections with them (and
many others in your networks) is how to frame the interchangeability of
various components / steps in the "integrated systems" with which they have
experience.  Perhaps a basic system for a localized, sustainable,
small-scale agricultural operation that produces a variety of products /
foods as a result of carrying out the steps in the system can be described.
That would give us a platform to build upon.  Then, as people offer more
suggestions for the various elements / steps we can catalogue choices many
others can make to build a system given their unique circumstances.  For
instance, integrated farming and waste management systems utilize many of
the same practices and technologies advocated by the National Center for
Appropriate Technology, no doubt including aquaponics.  What are the various
values / principles, crops / animals, practices / processes people can "plug
and play" into the basic system that yields a sustainable result, localizes
agriculture, and contributes a scalable system that can increase production
beyond local requirements without compromising the environment?

Best regards,

Steve B.

-----Original Message-----
From: socialagriculture@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:socialagriculture@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Jeff Buderer
Sent: Sunday, October 01, 2006 3:11 PM
To: socialagriculture@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: span low RE: [socialagriculture] Thinking about our targets

Steve,

It great to see you all here in this new group. I am encouraged by this
opportunity.

Here are some resources I will pursue:

    1. George Chan has a global network of integrated farming experts and
       others who are promoting this as an alternative to existing farm
       practices. I am now working on a blog to begin to capture some of
       the communications between people in that network as well as other
       materials relevant and news relevant to integrated farming & waste
       management..
    2. Steve Diver http://www.mnforsustain.org/author_diver_steve.htm of
       the National Centre for Appropraite Technology www.ncat.org/ is a
       good contact for research sustainable agriculture. I have
       communicated with him before and we can consider that a potential
       resource in moving forward.
    3. Also the Aquaponics discussion groups is one of the best resources
       for aquaponics farming. I will see if i can sign up for that group
       again and then provide a link for other to sign. It is a
       remarkable network eco-farming innovators and i have not seen many
       examples of such a consisent robust listserv with so much useful
       information. .

Also I hope we can in the process of developing this project set a ICT
system to organize the information we collect into an online database.
Possibly the existing Our Culture wiki is enough but I thought it might
be good to set up form fields with the ability to search data from each
of the form fields:

    1. Values Principles
    2. Crop/animals
    3. Practices/processes
    4. Location
    5. Owner
    6. Size of project (income employees)
    7. Inception and years in business
    8. Desription of process
    9. Profitability?
   10. Plans for explanation and replication
   11. Comments observations about overall sustainability aspects
   12. Comments observations about social justice aspects
   13. Marketing focus (cultural creatives, CSAs, local production
       primarily to sustainable local needs in low income areas, Fair
       Trade, value added production, etc)

Jeff


  > In reflecting on the exchanges between Andrius and Greg and the
various triads of values / principles - crops / animals - practices /
processes being introduced, it is clear that an excellent launch pad is
being put in place for October and over the life of the project. This
has led me to think about ways to frame the information gained by these
triads so that people can access the knowledge behind the information
and make sound decisions about what actions they are going to take to
apply what they are discovering and learning under the auspices of
"social justice / social agriculture."
  >
  >
  >
  > The triad format may be applicable in this meta-realm as well. The
markers in which I have considerable interest when looking a whole
agricultural system are production / processing, logistics /
warehousing, and packaging / retailing. Ideally, the distance from farm
to fork would be zero--pick it and eat it. But the world is bigger than
that and we have tastes for foodstuffs like chocolate, coffee, and tea
that cannot be easily grown in many places. Enter the three points
listed above; and along with them countless instances of social
injustice and erosion of "economic viability." We can't escape them, but
we can curtail their negative consequences by shortening the distance
for as many items as possible, like fish, which is a great candidate for
"localization," and focusing on crops like Greg proposes that are
quickly globalized and candidates for abuse of producers.
  >
  >
  >
  > I'm particularly excited about the "1,800 producer profiles." My
intent is to find as many as I can within a 50

km radius of Columbus, OH and populate the database with their
information. This will give me an opportunity to see how well they
maintain the integrity of their information as circumstances change--the
"social ping" Andrius mentioned. Of course, it won't just be me doing
this. There will be "field agents" to search, find, and interview
producers, followed by posting pertinent data into the database. This is
a springboard to more repeatable processes of "traceability" so that
local food sources are identified, certified, and sustained. Hopefully,
there are many in the community that get behind it in an act of
"collective social responsibility" so that "localization first" concept
gets a fair hearing. We'll see.
  >
  >
  >
  > Of course, having the information isn't enough. There has to be a
taxonomy that facilitates pulling knowledge rather than being inundated
with more information. People who visit the www.myfoodstory.com website
won't need to be educated or convinced, they will want to know how to
get involved, how to make a difference, what steps to take, where to go,
and who to see. How many resources, how much time, and how much skill a
person has are major determinants in what choices they see in moving ahead.
  >
  >
  >
  > For that reason, having another triad comprised of scalability,
interchangeability, and adaptability--hallmarks of
interdependence--become markers I use for to frame choices. In other
words, three questions:
  >
  > 1) If I adopt this agricultural practice or use this particular
process or incorporate this specific type of equipment / tool can I
increase my production level without having to replace it?
  >
  > 2) If I implement this agricultural system, can I exchange, upgrade,
replace certain parts of it without compromising the effectiveness and
viability of the whole system?
  >
  > 3) If I develop an agricultural business portfolio that works for me
now, can I modify the content of the portfolio in terms of what and how
much is raised or grown without putting the whole portfolio or
significant sections of it at undue risk?
  >
  >
  >
  > Applying criteria as suggested by the questions above is a way to
help dampen the possibility of negative information. Also, as more
people get engaged with it as a KNOWLEDGE BASE upon which to make
decisions for action rather than an INFORMATION BASE in which to search,
study, and associate, their demands for data integrity will excite the
social system to be trustworthy with what is posted and to verify
accuracy and timeliness through usage as a backup routine. I hesitate to
use Wikipedia as an example because it does not deal with knowledge,
only information. Still, the social system that makes the postings
offers countervailing points of view when appropriate and cleans up
errors when found. Allegedly, it is more accurate than the Encyclopedia
Britannica.
  >
  >
  >
  > Lastly, Andrius mentioned cheese as the centering point for one of
the six triads and that this team would be convened through the
expertise and energy of Valdas Kavaliauskas, a Lithuanian "village
activist." Here is a link
http://www.dispatch.com/news/food/food.php?story=dispatch/2006/09/27/2006092
7-G5-01.html
to a story about a smattering of people in the Northeastern part of the
U.S. who have changed careers to become specialty cheese producers. It
might be of value to Valdas and others who will participate in this triad.
  >
  >
  >
  > Looking forward to seeing how the story unfolds from here; have a
great weekend, my friends!
  >
  >
  >
  >
  >
  > From: socialagriculture@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:socialagriculture@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Andrius Kulikauskas
  > Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 6:33 PM
  > To: socialagriculture@yahoogroups.com
  > Subject: [socialagriculture] Thinking about our targets
  >
  >
  >
  > Greg and I are separately corresponding about the details our
  > agreement. But I share some excerpts from my recent letter regarding
  > the progress we're making, how we might interpret his targets, the
  > software I will work on probably early next week, and the idea of
  > verifiability through facilitating public discourse and encouraging
  > inquiry and action rather than defending assertions. Andrius,
  > http://www.ms.lt
  > ----------------------------------------------
  >
  > Greg, Thank you for your letter.
  > Our wheels are turning. I have purchased and set up
  > http://www.myfoodstory.com, .org, .net, .biz, .info I spoke for an hour
  > with Steve, he is very helpful and supportive, and we agreed that our
  > lab might reward his efforts by setting up a local version of our
  > Origins web portal for his Columbus, Ohio community. We've started
  > writing at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/socialagriculture/ So far it
  > seems that the approach of focusing on triplets "a human value - a key
  > crop - a sustainable practice" can help us hold together our different
  > interests, which are to engage the public (which relates to crops), the
  > volunteers (who relate to practices) and build our lab's assets (we
  > organize people around their values). I'm glad at the response from
  > Jeff Buderer of OneVillage, I think subject to further discussion it's
  > likely that they can be our first team in October, with perhaps a focus
  > on "sustainability - fish - George Chan's Integrated Farming & Waste
  > Management". Also, I got good interest from Valdas Kavaliauskas, a
  > poultry expert who represented French breeders for sales throughout
  > Russia, and now a village activist who organizes the sale of homemade
  > cheeses from the villages to the cities, based on ideas from the
  > Community Supported Agriculture movement in France. So I look to having
  > at least one of the six teams based in Lithuania, perhaps focusing on
  > cheeses, and perhaps reaching out in French. So this suggests that
  > we'll be collecting some information in other languages, and at least
  > one team may focus their work not in English, but we would translate
  > just enough of their material to be able to showcase them as a team of
  > the month and encourage associated activity in English as well. Also,
  > we've gotten letters at our Global Villages group from key people Rick
  > Nelson, Markus Petz, Franz Nahrada so I'm growing confident that we can
  > achieve your objectives.
  >
  > What do we need to agree upon? Your budget is I think good for getting
  > this project going to the point where it would be a valuable asset for
  > participants and have momentum for us to continue. I have thought about
  > how I myself wish to think of your targets:
  >
  > "6 categories with good coverage and active communities (e.g. Cacao,
  > Coffee, etc.)" My goal will be to organize 6 working groups at our lab
  > (mostly new, but perhaps some existing groups). As usual, each will be
  > based on a "key concept" of some person (possibly but not necessarily
  > the team coordinator). They will host our work on some triplet (value
  > - crop - practice) where the value is closely related to the leader's
  > key concept. The group will understand that the associated crop is a
  > nontrivial symbol/metaphor/touchstone of the value and that the
  > associated practice likewise brings out that value. So that the people
  > who care for that crop and/or practice are a natural group to reach out
  > to for social networking and the ones who respond with interest are the
  > people we'd most like to include. A thriving group typically requires
  > 50 people and about 5 or 6 regular participants and about 1 letter per
  > day on average. So my goal is to assemble such groups and have it clear
  > that for them the crop and practice are relevant and they are indeed
  > interested to keep contributing to the associated repository and
  > reaching out on its basis. Also, we have already started a "meta" group
  > around Steve and his value "social justice/social agriculture" which
  > given Steve's interest I think can play a coordinating role into the
  > future.
  >
  > "60 personal stories - e.g. how a farm affected my life"
  > This is 10 stories per team. Many of these will come from our field
  > agents interviewing people in their area, say 3 each, (as Samwel Kongere
  > has for us earlier this year) and we will post them in raw form, and the
  > team coordinator will make some or all more presentable by editing them.
  >
  > "1800 producer profiles (verified, factual information regarding
  > producers)"
  > This is 300 profiles per team. My thought here is to focus on contact
  > information - how and why to contact the producer. How = the people to
  > contact and the means to contact them, and Why = why they would like to
  > be contacted (by who and for what reasons, which might be simply food
  > sales but perhaps much broader - travel, social projects, business
  > projects, ecological projects, education projects). So I will help
  > write a generic questionnaire that focuses on this kind of contact
  > information and also asks people to get their permission if they wish to
  > join our working group, or would they like to contribute a story, or be
  > an expert, or have "friends of the farm", other people we should know
  > about, etc. So this way our work builds the assets of our social
  > network. We can give this questionnaire locally on the ground, email it
  > to people we find or learn about, and also ask associations to mail it
  > to their members.
  >
  > I will be creating simple interfaces for collecting and presenting the
  > various kinds of data. I have thought it out mostly and it will not be
  > difficult and it will be flexible this way and usable for other
  > projects. Also, we're set to build a simple email driven questionnaire
  > system. This "social ping" system will let us keep in touch every few
  > months with interested farmers and will help make sure that our
  > information stays update and grows. It would be good to work with
  > TiddlyWiki inventor Jeremy Ruston so that he might develop offline
  > tools for our field agents who will generally have marginal Internet
  > access. That would be fantastic.
  >
  > I am thinking now with Steve's help how to present the data collection
  > so that we don't run into trouble especially regarding negative
  > information. I think our best role is to help link people to the people
  > who have the information. This is the route that Steven R.L. Millman
  > took regarding slavery and chocolate http://www.radicalthought.org He
  > simply wrote letters to companies to ask them to report whether they
  > could say if their chocolate was made by slaves or not, and then he
  > listed the companies that replied and those that didn't. I think that
  > for our purposes that's the key point, are companies available for
  > public discourse on questions that we care about. And who is the person
  > to contact. And our job can be to help write the letters in a polite
  > and neutral way, and then people who wish can publicly send such a
  > letter in their name and see if they get a response. So our job is to
  > add transparency and allow for endless follow up questions which slowly
  > but surely clarify the situation. Furthermore, we can insist that
  > replies sent to us are in the Public Domain except as noted and of
  > course there is not much point for them to reply to us unless they want
  > us to post it. This would also work as an opportunity for them to reply
  > to comments, good or bad, which can be more publicity for them. And
  > that way the comments are not treated as definitive statements but
  > rather as an opportunity to reply. By treating the replies at face
  > value as the primary truth we relieve ourselves of the responsibility of
  > confirming and affirming the observations, conjectures, opinions,
  > prejudices that our participants may be bringing to us. Our function
  > becomes providing the opportunity for the producers and others in the
  > food supply chain to set the record straight, and so the truth coming
  > out is simply a consequence of their ability or not to keep a convincing
  > record.
  >






Yahoo! Groups Links

Greg,

Those comments are very relevant to our efforts. Would it be okay to go
through them and use them as the basis for this project. I am now in the
process of going through the emails.

  It would probably be a good idea to have a central point at the myfood
story website or on the wiki where all the key components of this
project are put together so that it is clear to everyone.

  I would suggest that that we assign someone to be responsible for that.
I would see this is a key first step in this project.

I have taken the initiative of adding to the existing content on the
wiki but we might consider as a group how we want to organize this.
http://www.findbetterways.info/wiki.cgi?MyFoodStory

Jeff


> Thanks so much for giving of your attention and effort to help improve
> our personal knowledge of where our food comes from and how it is
> produced. Community Supported Agriculture has shown how sharing of
> information between producers and customers simultaneously increases
> the earnings of farmers and the joy of cooking and eating for
> customers.
>
> I offer http://smallfarms. typepad.com/
> <http://smallfarms.typepad.com/> as an exemplary site of
> personal stories and connections to the production process.
> These stories complement the inspection reports provided by QAI
> (organic), TransFair (FairTrade), and other certification and labeling
> organizations. I hope we can find appropriate ways to collect, blend,
> and present these varied types of information in ways that invite
> participation from all stakeholders.
>
> * Existing resources
>
> Many labeling organizations already have some type of "producer
> profiles." This information is helpful but not readily accessible to
> customers or other stakeholders. For example, see:
> http://www.transfai rusa.org/ content/certific ation/producer_
> profiles. php
> <http://www.transfairusa.org/content/certification/producer_profiles.php>
>
> Contrast this type of static, glossy, PDF "brochure" with an article
> in Wikipedia and you start to see how things might be improved. For
> example, where are the source materials for the claims made in the
> producer profile? What if information changes or has been updated?
> As a customer, how do I know if other people liked the coffee
> (or other product) from a particular producer and/or share my thoughts
> about the taste.
>
> Ecologic provides another example of rich information about
> agricultural production processes that benefit all stakeholders.
> Again their information is not particularly accessible for the many
> different stakeholders and context in which this information would be
> useful.
> http://www.ecologic .org/subpage. asp?P=projects
> <http://www.ecologic.org/subpage.asp?P=projects>
>
> Obviously these existing resources provide a good starting point and
> important threads in creating and telling "MyFoodStory"
> Working together I hope we can come up with effective ways of engaging
> those organizations with very practical steps of how to share
> information and processes in a way that furthers their mission and
> creates more valuable experiences for all.
>
> * Quality, locality, and resource allocation
>
> Lastly, I should point out that FairTrade and Organic are just two of
> the many dimensions on which people make choices about their food.
> Thanks to the tireless work of many caring individuals, these efforts
> have become well defined, commonly understood ways to think about food
> production. For me personally, quality and locality play major roles
> in my choices. The many other points of view add to the conversation
> of what's important and meaningful for individuals and communities.
> At the start of the project, widely traded crops like coffee and tea
> will be the most visible. However, in time local trade may come to
> dominate the uses and stories associated with this project in much the
> same way that most telephone calls are local.
>
> I believe that people make good choices when they have good
> information. Everyone benefits when we succeed in making relevant,
> factual information reliable and readily available at all stages of
> the food supply chain. Customers will be in a better position to
> choose food that nurtures their body and spirit, producers will be
> better able to select crops and practices that improve their lives
> and the lives of the children, and distributors will become more
> efficient and waste less resources in delivering from the farm to the
> fork without sacrificing quality or sustainability.
>
> But even if none of that happens in our lifetime, we will still have
> the benefit of hearing the voices of people who are true stewards of
> the land and building relationships with individuals who care.
>
> __
> Note this material authored by Greg Wolff for the UnaMesa Association may
> only be used for noncommercial purposes under a Creative Commons
> "Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike" license.
> See http://creativecomm ons.org/licenses /by-nc-sa/ 2.5/
> <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/>
>
>

Janet,

Thank you for such a heartfelt reply to Paul! What a helpful way to move
us forward.

I read Herman Hesse's novel "Glass Bead Game" in translation in
Lithuanian. It was made in the Soviet days but the book was hard to find
and very popular amongst the hippie generation here, an anti-Soviet
movement in its own right, most of whom are about five years older than
me, so it was interesting for me to see what they saw in it. Graham
Stewart http://www.gameofnow.tv likewise is inspired by the novel.

Hesse writes about a republic of intellectuals led by a GameMaster of
the Glass Bead Game which was played in a great festival every year. The
game was like improvisation to music, except that the key chords
consisted not of notes, but of ideas which the GameMaster chose. The
players had to develop the themes suggested by the juxtaposition of the
ideas.

This is quite what we're doing with http://www.myfoodstory.com where we
are juxtaposing a crop, a value and a technology. It would make a lot of
sense to call these "chords", I think. And each team leader is leading a
"glass bead game" for that chord. And our field agents are hopefully
playing that game by exploring all connections with their own key
concept in life and their own investigatory question.

Paul, Thank you for sharing with us! and Janet, thank you for opening up
the possibilities! Paul, it will take time to understand more of what
you are up to, but I invite you to persist. It would be very helpful if
you might write to us about your key concept in life - your deepest
value that includes all your other values, and also an investigatory
question that you're exploring, a question that you don't know the
answer to, but intend to answer.

Janet, Yes the connection with a World Rural Forum is something to keep
in mind!

Andrius

Andrius Kulikauskas
Minciu Sodas
http://www.ms.lt
ms@...
+370 (5) 2


Janet Feldman wrote:
> Dear Paul and All,
> Thanks so much for your fascinating response to my last letter, and I
> have done some research which I am sharing with everyone on the Glass
> Bead Game, as well as Martin Prechtel (whose work I have read, in
> particular because of his focus on shamanism and the spiritual realm,
> as linked with nature and with our contemporary planetary challenges).
> I love his viewpoint that we all possess a natural "village
> orientation", which seeks the collective good, especially pertinent
> for our work at Globalvillages.
> Franz, Andrius, Paul and all: it occurs to me that--cycling back to
> our discussion of a "World Rural Forum"--we might link this idea with
> the "Food Story" project in some way, and also with such visions as
> presented by Martin, Herman Hesse, Paul, and others. I know that we
> are thinking along "spiritual" lines in part (as regards our work) in
> any case, which is where Franz's view--that we need to conceive of
> "villages" and "global villages" in a new way, not necessarily related
> to "globalization"--comes in (ie connections between the rural and
> urban, the local and the global, communication and community linkages,
> what values are important, et al).
> I'm thrilled to know there are links to Herman Hesse, too, of whom I
> have long been a fan (my high-school yearbook quote, many moons ago
> now, is from Hesse's autobiography: "my story is not a pleasant one,
> as invented stories are: it has the taste of nonsense and chaos, of
> madness and dreams"...and never a truer phrase has been uttered, haha!).
> It is an important reminder, in all that we do--especially of a
> material nature--to maintain a strong spiritual link and focus. The
> "spiritual economy" is something very much present in how we are
> approaching our individual and collective work, in many cases. This
> can be seen in the Food Story project, for example, where "values" are
> linked to crops--for cash and self-preservation--and then to technology.
> The Glass Bead Game has been applied to an analysis of the Internet
> and computers, in particular their potential to preserve and enhance
> the realms of thought and spirit, and also of "nature", which links
> with sustainable development. This is surely one of the upsides of
> ICTs, if we integrate them into a larger system which also includes
> the other elements above.
> "Information" in and of itself is therefore not necessarily a goal.
> One goal is "knowledge" (how to apply information) and another is
> "wisdom" (when-where-why to apply it), and these are shaped and
> informed by tapping into a larger and more transcendent vision.
> Wholeness and connection: the name of the game!
> With greatest appreciation for helping us to frame our work in these
> integrative and "big picture" terms, Paul, and it will be exciting to
> include what you have mentioned below in the work and way ahead! With
> all best wishes and blessings, Janet
> **
> http://www.floweringmountain.com/martin/ (Martin Prechtel)
> Martin Prechtel ("The Talking Jaguar") teaches us that all human
> beings possess within their souls an indigenous spirit that is
> natural, subtle, generous, and village-oriented. This spirit of
> wholeness and connection is never beyond our reach; we have only to
> move past the trappings of materialism and the modern world to hear
> that special song that is ours alone to sing.
> *From : *http://www.bcngroup.org/beadgames/TaosDiscussion/TheNagua
> Configuration.htm
>
<http://www.bcngroup.org/beadgames/TaosDiscussion/TheNagua%20Configuration.htm>
> The principle of spiritual economy can be extended from Martin
> Prechtel’s work and from the notion that there are guides (some say
> “spirit” guides) that help lead out consciousness from one moment to
> the next – if we are aware of theses guides. A Glass Bead Game, of the
> type written about by Herman Hesse, (explores) the nature of higher
> orders of intelligence and the relationship that can be established
> between these higher order intelligences and human awareness.
> http://home.earthlink.net/~hipbone/hesse.html
> <http://home.earthlink.net/%7Ehipbone/hesse.html> (Herman Hesse)
> http://home.earthlink.net/~hipbone/IDTWeb/Hesse.html
> <http://home.earthlink.net/%7Ehipbone/IDTWeb/Hesse.html> (Hesse and
> the Bead Game)
> http://home.earthlink.net/~hipbone/ExplGBG.html
> <http://home.earthlink.net/%7Ehipbone/ExplGBG.html> (what is the Bead
> Game?)
> http://www.glassbeadgame.com/ (more on Bead Game)
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Glass_Bead_Game#Plot_summary (wiki
> entry on Hesse, including info abt his novels, and the "Glass Bead
> Game", or "Magister Ludi")
> http://www.earthportals.com/glass.html (great article abt applications
> of the Glass Bead Game to current world challenges, and links between
> the game and the Internet)
> *From Paul:*
> In response to Janet's comprehensive note, I thought perhaps I might
> offer work that the BCNGroup is doing on digital objects, wireless
> transmission and informational transparency.
> at http://www.bcngroup.org/beadgames/TaosDiscussion/index.htm
> <http://www.bcngroup.org/beadgames/TaosDiscussion/index.htm>
>
> We have links to three documents:
>
> The Nagua Configuration, movie script outline
> The Coming Revolution in Information Science
> http://www.bcngroup.org/beadgames/TaosDiscussion/secondschool.htm
> Technical Challenges
> http://www.bcngroup.org/beadgames/TaosDiscussion/technicalChallenges.htm
>
> The core issue has to do with how natural systems evolve, and how
> might our well meaning leadership (the spiritual communities world
> wide) work together to change the "utility function" that drives most
> purchasing decisions. This work reflects some observations about this
> difficult subject.
>
> The movie script is open to anyone making wri tten contributions
> regarding parts of the script (which is being written this year). And
> if the movie is made, then we will have a platform to address some
> issues related to the nature of social reality. Many of the issues
> that our communities talk about have to do with moving the social
> reality world wide.
>
> The kind of pull-information systems that my group is designing will
> be as easy to implement in middle Africa or in New York city. And I
> think that this type of system will eventually come to be everywhere
> available.
>

Thanks so much for giving of your attention and effort to help improve
our personal knowledge of where our food comes from and how it is
produced.  Community Supported Agriculture has shown how sharing of
information between producers and customers simultaneously increases
the earnings of farmers and the joy of cooking and eating for
customers.

I offer http://smallfarms.typepad.com/ as an exemplary site of
personal stories and connections to the production process.
These stories complement the inspection reports provided by QAI
(organic), TransFair (FairTrade), and other certification and labeling
organizations.  I hope we can find appropriate ways to collect, blend,
and present these varied types of information in ways that invite
participation from all stakeholders.

* Existing resources

Many labeling organizations already have some type of "producer
profiles."  This information is helpful but not readily accessible to
customers or other stakeholders.  For example, see:
http://www.transfairusa.org/content/certification/producer_profiles.php

Contrast this type of static, glossy, PDF "brochure" with an article
in Wikipedia and you start to see how things might be improved.  For
example, where are the source materials for the claims made in the
producer profile?  What if information changes or has been updated?
As a customer, how do I know if other people liked the coffee
(or other product) from a particular producer and/or share my thoughts
about the taste.

Ecologic provides another example of rich information about
agricultural production processes that benefit all stakeholders.
Again their information is not particularly accessible for the many
different stakeholders and context in which this information would be
useful.
http://www.ecologic.org/subpage.asp?P=projects

Obviously these existing resources provide a good starting point and
important threads in creating and telling "MyFoodStory"
Working together I hope we can come up with effective ways of engaging
those organizations with very practical steps of how to share
information and processes in a way that furthers their mission and
creates more valuable experiences for all.

* Quality, locality, and resource allocation

Lastly, I should point out that FairTrade and Organic are just two of
the many dimensions on which people make choices about their food.
Thanks to the tireless work of many caring individuals, these efforts
have become well defined, commonly understood ways to think about food
production.  For me personally, quality and locality play major roles
in my choices.  The many other points of view add to the conversation
of what's important and meaningful for individuals and communities.
At the start of the project, widely traded crops like coffee and tea
will be the most visible.  However, in time local trade may come to
dominate the uses and stories associated with this project in much the
same way that most telephone calls are local.

I believe that people make good choices when they have good
information.  Everyone benefits when we succeed in making relevant,
factual information reliable and readily available at all stages of
the food supply chain.  Customers will be in a better position to
choose food that nurtures their body and spirit, producers will be
better able to select crops and practices that improve their lives
and the lives of the children, and distributors will become more
efficient and waste less resources in delivering from the farm to the
fork without sacrificing quality or sustainability.

But even if none of that happens in our lifetime, we will still have
the benefit of hearing the voices of people who are true stewards of
the land and building relationships with individuals who care.



__
Note this material authored by Greg Wolff for the UnaMesa Association may
only be used for noncommercial purposes under a Creative Commons
"Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike" license.
See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/

-----Original Message-----
From: samuel kongere
Sent: Oct 3, 2006 6:08 AM
To: holistichelping@yahoogroups.com, cyfranogi@yahoogroups.com, globalvillages@yahoogroups.com, socialagriculture@yahoogroups.com, 1village@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [holistichelping] Maria Agnese and Samwel Venture

Dear Pamela, Andrius, Janet and Maria Agnese, Jeff and All,

My schedule has been very busy with many issues in the grassroots, and could not immediately thank everybody for the good collaboration seen to have Mbita on the limelight of our Lab Minciu-Sodas. Maria Agnese came and visited us successfully. I have been unable to keep up with the mails and read from the list and this has made me have more slow communication trends.

We had discussed a great deal with Maria Agnese agreeing to be collaborators and partner up for Information Communication Technology empowerment for our communities both In Kenya and Tanzania. The far most arrangement is to meet the Tanzania team in November and discuss the possible initiation of an ICT project there and Maria will organize some possibilities for the success of our meeting.

Maria Agnese is a serious lady and need more serious people to partner up with. From the list and in our agreement, we both need support on open content management which will help us to be competent Web designers and help communities we are working with to have sites for their own information handling. This in itself will give more balanced information and sharing of the activities. The Dar meeting in November will open a way for another Telecenter Gateway in Dar. We both need Pamela, Andrius and everybody’s in put concerning this move With Maria Agnese. We foresee a possibility of coming together as a team from MS Lab to implement an ICT project in Dar and Rusinga Island where Udogo youth development group operates its activities. In Dar es salaam we are going to partner up with interested youth groups or women groups to join Helen Mahoo and William Wambura.

This meeting will take place in the third week of November 2006 in Dar es salaam. I am planning to arrive in Dar es salaam in the week end of second week and plan a meeting together with William and Helen to find the possibility of forming a steering committee and way forward. I am going to send a specific date after getting the feedback from William and Helen. We need regional and international volunteers to come up with information regarding Tanzania and ICT policies, to make this move successful.

We agreed with Maria on a possible trip to Europe to promote what we do together and hope Andrius will organize this for next year and hope to meet a few people for more partnerships and collaborations for the betterment of the global villages.

Thanks for everybody’s in put and to me and Udogo youth development group.

Samwel.

---

All-new Yahoo! Mail - Fire up a more powerful email and get things done faster.

CC: One Village and Gary A. Bolles regarding a connection between
coffee, taking risks, and wifi which I'd like to pursue as part of our
new work http://www.foodstory.com   Andrius
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
----

Dante, Thank you for your prompt and encouraging reply!
Yes, We're definitely interested in a leader for a Cacao project
building on the work we did last year for Greg Wolff and Chocolate
Dividends http://www.chocolatedividends.org
I'm very glad that you find a tight connection with the
technology/methodology of "community currency" as evidenced by Aztec
history and perhaps even common sense.  And I'm interested how that
might link with your vision of an "Open World", your value of "fostering
paradigms of inspiration" and yes I believe that we can make progress on
your endeavor for a "Reference/Relations Mapping Project" and perhaps
Kevin Jones http://www.xigi.net might also be interested. I look for
more thoughts and any interest from our Cyfranogi group in the
connection between chocolate and community currency (or edible currency
in general, as Tom Wayburn wrote earlier).  Perhaps Cyfranogi could host
our chocolate work until we have momentum for a separate group which
Dante might then lead?  Perhaps we can relate this to Bernard Lietaer's
interest in http://www.eprida.com What do we think?

OK, let's pursue that further and meanwhile I'll keep looking if there
is anybody who might pursue the coffee/wifi/willingness-to-take-risks
connection.  Suddenly I think of Shannon Clark,
http://www.ms.lt/?thinker=Shannon_J._Clark , a veteran at our lab, and
founder of http://www.meshforum.org, who wrote recently with ideas from
his forthcoming book on the economy of networks.  Shannon's key concept
is "accepting personal responsibility" and his investigatory question is
"How to explore the implications of looking at economies from a network
perspective?"  Also, Shannon is an avid devotee of Starbucks and other
cafes and so I imagine a fan of coffee, too.

Shannon, you're very welcome to lead a working group on "accepting
personal responsibility" and either directly work as a team coordinator
or we can find somebody to organize around you (the coordinator receives
$500 plus potential bonus) and you would have four field agents and
perhaps the coffee world might be a place to study network economies for
both small and large companies (including "coffee breaks").  Would you
be interested? That would be fantastic!

We would feature you in October but most of the work and the momentum
would continue afterwards.  We would link up as much as possible with
Jeff Buderer's of One Village's interest in wi-fi and echoupal (Internet
kiosks), the upcoming AirJaldi summit, and also if possible with Gary A.
Bolles work on wifi, he was interested in connecting with us and I think
would be glad if we could assemble a public group working in this area
and on the ground, for example, with Samwel Kongere in Kenya.  Indeed,
coffee is grown in Kenya.  Also the market dynamics of coffee and wheat
are I think similar - highly variable - and Samwel and his family have a
milling operation.  So other crops that benefit from wifi/echoupals,
http://www.echoupal.com would be possible, such as soyabean, coffee,
wheat, rice, pulses, shrimp for which excellent knowledge of global and
local markets is especially relevant.  And Samwel Kongere could
certainly be an excellent team coordinator if provided the resources we
have.

Andrius

Andrius Kulikauskas
Minciu Sodas
http://www.ms.lt
ms@...
+370 (5) 264 5950
+370 (699) 30003
Vilnius, Lithuania

Dante-Gabryell Monson wrote:
> Dear Andrius,
>
> I find Gregg Wolffs vision - to enable a perspective on the current
> situation - and your ideas expressed in your message related to
> http://www.myfoodstory.com/   of interest ,
>
> and I think it can also relate to the Reference Mapping  project i am
> trying to get on rails
>
> see:
>
>
http://dante.ecobytes.net/2006/06/14/tools-for-reference-maps-knowledge-building\
-first-steps/
>
<http://dante.ecobytes.net/2006/06/14/tools-for-reference-maps-knowledge-buildin\
g-first-steps/>
>
> + see text at the end of my draft message on reference mapping
>
> I started replying - see below - , but realise that time is passing by
> and i need to start hitch hiking north.
>
> I am currently at the goetheanum - http://www.goetheanum.org , near
> Basel in Switzerland , and attended a seminar on Universal Basic
> Income this last week end.
>
> I continue my draft message when I ll reconnect to the internet.
>
> Greetings
>
> Dante
>
> ---------------------
>
> Dear Andrius ,
>
> Your ideas and this project awakes my curiosity,
>
> And brings up some reflexions.
>
> I am also thinking whether there is potential to connect them with my
> current
> focus for developping tools such as Reference Mapping , Magic Hat ,
> Open World ( short descriptions and links at the end of this message )
>
>
> What concerns my potential involvement ,
>
> I ll admit that I am more a Cacao Addict then a Coffee Addict.
> ( Cacao gives me a calming - anti depressant - confident -
> intellectual and creative impulse  - and makes me feel peacefull and
> loving   /   Coffee makes me nervous - aggressive - anxious -
> competitive )
>
> I remember that Cacao has already been discussed in past mailinglist
> discussions , but felt like bringing up one of its symbolic :
>
> Cacao leads me to think about Practices as technologies.
>
> Cacao was once used as currency in the Aztec Civilisation
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cacao
>
> wich leads me to :
>
> rethinking the practices that rule exchange, including finance , money ,
>
> and bring up ideas such as Monetary Reform , Land Reform ,  (
> alternative ) practices and technologies for exchange ( LINKS at the
> end of my message )
>
> and also Venture Communism -
> http://www.thetransitioner.org/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=VentureCommunism
>
>
>
> What concerns Internet , and more specifically Wireless Internet , I
> am indeed interested...
>
> TO BE CONTINUED
> ------------------
>
> Links and further details:
>
> Economic - Monetary and Land Reform:
>
> Links:
>
> see: http://www.equilibrismus.org   ;
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvio_Gesell    ;
> http://www.systemfehler.de/en/neo/   ;  http://www.geldreform.de/  ;
> http://www.germannotes.com/faq_freigeld.shtml
>
> Venture Communism:
>
> http://www.thetransitioner.org/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=VentureCommunism
>
> and also see :
>
> http://del.icio.us/deliciousdante/alternativeeconomics  ;
> http://del.icio.us/deliciousdante/MoneyReform
> <http://del.icio.us/deliciousdante/MoneyReform>  ;
>
> and related tags such as
>
> http://del.icio.us/deliciousdante/Economy  ;
> http://del.icio.us/deliciousdante/currency ;
> http://del.icio.us/deliciousdante/Economy/GiftNet
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> " Reference/Relations Mapping " - see :
>
>
http://dante.ecobytes.net/2006/06/14/tools-for-reference-maps-knowledge-building\
-first-steps/
>
> a tool that would need software development ( and programmers ) ,
> and that could be used for :
>
> a) Knowledge Building
> b) Shared Constructivist Learning
> c) Visualization of Issues facilitating Decision Making and Project
> Managment
> d) Alternative Economics ( by using the relations into economic models )
>
> Micro Sponsorship
> aka: Online "Magic Hat" Tools : Giving Support through Online Profiles
> , directly to the Netroot Activist , Vizualising their daily needs and
> expenditures , and Filling up these - daily or project based - needs
> wherever the Micro Sponsor feels fit to send one Euro/Dollar or more
> by electronic financial transfer -
>
> a financial transaction wich is instantly recorded and visualized on
> the selected online "hat" , by anonymously raising the level of the
> selected profiles MoneyPot , or Magic Money Hat
> ( a longer description used to be on http://www.oikoumene.be/magichat
> , but is currently offline )
>
>  wich would also be usefull for
> Netroots Nomadic Activist Mouvements
> aka: "Open World" :  http://www.ourculture.info/wiki.cgi?OpenWorld
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 10/3/06, *Andrius Kulikauskas* <ms@... <mailto:ms@...>> wrote:
>
>     I just want to briefly write about the teams that I'm putting together
>     for http://www.myfoodstory.com which is the online resource that we're
>     building for Greg Wolff of UnaMesa to help people understand and
>     engage
>     the world's food supply chain.
>
>     We'll need 6 teams, each with 1 coordinator ($500 and bonus) and 4
>     field
>     agents ($100 each).  Each month we'll feature a team, but the idea is
>     that they will be building momentum on some topic that can attract
>     content in the long run.  We get to choose the crops.  So I'm pairing
>     together:
>     - a crop
>     - a human value that the crop helps us pay attention to
>     - a technology which fosters that value and therefore favors that
>     crop
>
>     For example, Jeff Buderer is interested to lead our team that
>     would link
>     "fish farming", "sustainability" and George Chan's Integrative Farming
>     and Waste Management.  It would be good to have a new working
>     group for
>     this.  We need somebody whose key concept is related to
>     sustainability.
>     Jeff, do you know and suggest somebody?  Or would it fit at Back
>     to the
>     Root?  I think of "fish" as related to leadership, as in Jesus's
>     images
>     of "fishers of men".  And I think of psychological and social
>     sustainability as relevant for "back to the root", too.  But
>     perhaps I'm
>     off track.
>
>     In October (this month!) we'd like to feature the wifi/echoupal
>     technologies (as at http://www.echoupal.com) which we could possibly
>     link to the human value "willingness to take risks" and the crop
>     "coffee".  (Note that wifi and the echoupal Internet kiosks allow
>     farmers to respond to global and local prices and conditions and
>     therefore grow a crop such as coffee which is higher price
>     variability,
>     higher risk and higher profit margin, and also combine that with
>     related
>     crops and alternate crops.)   We could link this to the AirJaldi
>     summit
>     http://summit.airjaldi.com (which Joy Tang of One Village will attend)
>     and also to Gary Bolles work.  We need a person with a "key concept"
>     related to "willingness to take risks" who we might organize
>     around and
>     who might host our work.  I'm thinking that Dante-Gabryell Monson
>     might
>     be a great person to host this work at a new working group he
>     might lead
>     on "fostering paradigms for inspiration" and/or work as our team
>     coordinator on this subject.  Dante, please let me know soon if
>     you'd be
>     interested! as I know your interest in wifi (and perhaps coffee,
>     too?)
>     Jeff, please consider if we might have Dante lead a team that could
>     support One Village's interest in wifi, would that make
>     sense?  And who
>     would you like to be active on this team and also the IF&WM team?
>
>     Also, I spoke with Pamela McLean (and thank you for your letters at
>     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/learningfromeachother/ which wonderfully
>     illustrate "thinking out loud"!)  A crop that might encourage us to
>     "learn from each other" is chicken (and eggs, which are important for
>     nutrition in the developing world).  This could also link to Lucas
>     Gonzalez Santa Cruz's concerns regarding preparation for a
>     possible bird
>     flu pandemic.  I'm wondering what would be a relevant technology?
>     Perhaps Solaroof?  I think of Rick Nelson's key concept "Opening
>     ourselves to direct knowledge".  And we both thought, Janet, it
>     would be
>     wonderful if you might work as team coordinator for Pamela if you
>     would
>     be interested, and perhaps this might develop into an income
>     stream for
>     you and your projects, and more funds for field agents, as we'll be
>     looking for more business opportunities.  Please consider it! and
>     let us
>     know.
>
>     I also invite Markus Petz, Samwel Kongere, Benoit Couture, Valdas
>     Kavaliauskas to consider working for us as team coordinators, and
>     Rick
>     Nelson, Lucas Gonzalez Santa Cruz, Eluned Hurn, John Rogers to
>     consider
>     hosting our efforts at your groups based on your values.  For example,
>     it would be excellent to have a crop that fosters community
>     currency (I
>     think of Jesus breaking the bread) or peace (I think of water) or
>     self-reliance (as with Gandhi's salt marches to break the British
>     monopoly).  Please let us know what might interest you!
>
>     You may think it a bit crazy to match a crop with a value and a
>     technology.  But I think of it as three amazingly complex systems -
>     Nature and its wonderful collection of species, each of which
>     contributes some bounty of fruit towards the whole - Technology
>     and the
>     logic of its opportunities, existing and forthcoming, each of
>     which is
>     optimized for some problem - and human Values whose profound richness
>     we're discovering at our lab, as they help us make sense of
>     everything.
>     It's not so surprising that there might be near optimal
>     correspondences
>     across these three systems which allow for robust metaphors for any
>     given crop, or any given technology, or any given human
>     value.  Indeed,
>     the human mind organizes categories in terms of paradigmatic examples
>     that highlight our expectations for that category, what is most basic,
>     important, essential, what is the most robust illustration.  I imagine
>     that is how it works with beauty, too, it is an appreciation of
>     the most
>     optimal example.  So it is not so strange that there is a crop
>     which is
>     especially helpful at illustrating a human value metaphorically, or
>     likewise a technology that supports that value and that crop.  We know
>     in nature that certain species can be the determining species -
>     such as
>     oaks in a forest, or beavers in a river bed.  But humans are able to
>     make ANY species the focal species, which is what agriculture is all
>     about, and which means that we need to be especially sensitive as
>     to how
>     to acknowledge and work with the other species around it and make sure
>     that we are finding the right scale which may be quite small.  This
>     approach would hopefully develop a very subtle, deep, lyrical, poetic
>     language of crops and technologies and values.  It would also
>     would help
>     us recover our sensitivity to the kind of tribal thinking that
>     Levi-Strauss wrote about, which is that of classification systems
>     (such
>     as bear clans vs. wolf clans or sunflower vs. rose) by which people
>     apparently naturally organize knowledge.  The goal would be to
>     show that
>     if those who enjoy a food tune into the associated values in
>     growing it,
>     then that food would find it's proper place in our lives (so that, for
>     example, coffee drinkers would focus more on the element of chance
>     that
>     it can encourage socially when they find time or place for it, rather
>     than becoming predictable addicted consumers).  Less would go much
>     farther.
>
>     I share below my draft of my agreement with Greg Wolff, which we're
>     still negotiating, but so that you could see what kind of work
>     we'll be
>     doing.
>
>     Also, peace to all in Sri Lanka.  Thank you to John Rogers and Eluned
>     Hurn for including us in the peace meditation!
>
>     Andrius
>
>     Andrius Kulikauskas
>     Minciu Sodas
>     http://www.ms.lt
>     ms@... <mailto:ms@...>
>     +370 (5) 264 5950
>     +370 (699) 30003
>     Vilnius, Lithuania
>     skype: minciusodas
>
>     Today I sent Greg a draft of how I would understand our
>     agreement.  The
>     budget and targets are as he proposed.  I share my draft in case
>     we see
>     some angles that we should consider.  Also, I will need to write
>     agreements for our team coordinators and for our field
>     agents.  Andrius
>     Kulikauskas, http://www.ms.lt
>
>
>     -----------------------------------------------------------------
>     Suggested Draft
>     -----------------------------------------------------------------
>
>     This is an agreement between Greg Wolff as Founder/President of
>     UnaMesa
>     and Andrius Kulikauskas as sole proprietor of Minciu Sodas.
>
>     UnaMesa is funding Andrius Kulikauskas and his Minciu Sodas
>     laboratory
>     to work from October 1, 2006 to March 31, 2007 to bring to life Greg
>     Wolff's vision of a participatory online resource for
>     understanding the
>     world's food supply chain and engaging its participants.
>
>     The purpose of the work is to start up the resource as soon as
>     possible
>     and openly evolve it so that it might enjoy as much momentum as
>     possible
>     and hopefully critical mass.  Desired outcomes, in order of
>     preference,
>     are:
>     A) A resource that is actively used and steadily improved by
>     contributors who directly and indirectly benefit from it in ways that
>     have them personally invest themselves in its growing success.
>     B) A pilot project that attracts the attention of those who wish
>     to fund
>     work to develop it further.
>     C) An experiment that details the variety of challenges that need
>     to be
>     overcome for such a resource to sustain itself, and makes tangible a
>     variety of reasons why such a resource is valuable.
>
>     This agreement is pursued in the spirit of co-investment, which is to
>     say that both parties are contributing, developing and sharing assets
>     which are more profound than the money at stake.  Payments are
>     therefore
>     structured so that there is not undue loss or hardship on either
>     side if
>     the work for any reason by either partner is interrupted, paused
>     or halted.
>
>     Greg Wolff is responsible for openly and continuously clarifying his
>     vision so that his underlying values become ever more evident, for
>     example, by thinking out loud about an investigatory question that he
>     doesn't know the answer to, but intends to answer.  Andrius
>     Kulikauskas
>     is responsible for giving shape to this vision in a way that can most
>     profoundly motivate the current and prospective participants of the
>     Minciu Sodas laboratory and all people who care about thinking.
>
>     The principal asset being developed is the network of contributors to
>     the resource.  During the six months they will primarily be
>     enrolled as
>     participants of working groups at the Minciu Sodas laboratory that are
>     helping develop the resource.  Andrius Kulikauskas will, by the end of
>     the six months, organize the network of contributors so that,
>     whether or
>     not they are affiliated with Minciu Sodas, they may
>     participate  through
>     venues (either directly at the resource's interface or at related
>     working groups) that favor principles by which individuals are able to
>     share with others most actively:
>     * Venues are visible and open for the success and inclusion of all
>     so as
>     not to exclude anyone who is able to behave constructively.
>     * Venues declare that original content by participants is in the
>     Public
>     Domain unless they clearly mark it otherwise.
>     * Venues assume that people are developing shared assets as
>     co-investors
>     and that as such they are structuring their business relationships
>     so as
>     to meet each other half way so that all participation is truly
>     voluntary
>     and does not rely on money as the means for control.
>     * Venues are organized around individuals whose personal growth they
>     serve and who thus have independent authority to make any decision
>     regarding the venue and have priority over any allegiance to groups,
>     organizations or brands.
>     Andrius Kulikauskas will reach out to integrate all people and
>     projects
>     that Greg Wolff might suggest subject to their willingness to
>     favor such
>     principles.
>
>     Andrius Kulikauskas will organize the online interface for
>     contributing
>     and presenting content and integrate it with participating venues.  He
>     may host the interface on his own server.  He and Greg Wolff may agree
>     to use an interface that another party may develop or supply.  In any
>     event, the interface will be available as open source software,
>     and the
>     resource's content available for export or as an API, as Greg Wolff or
>     Andrius Kulikauskas might request.   After the six months, they
>     are both
>     free to further develop the interface and content together, should
>     they
>     agree, but also separately, as they might wish.
>
>     Andrius Kulikauskas will organize six teams of contributors so
>     that each
>     might be featured for one month and each might attract and build
>     momentum for sustained contribution.  He will receive $2,000 per month
>     (a total of $12,000) for him to distribute to himself and his teams as
>     he decides.  He will invoice prior to each month for that month's
>     work,
>     and also for $1,000 for the subsequent month's work so that he may
>     have
>     that on hand to distribute to his teams.
>
>     Andrius Kulikauskas will receive a bonus of up to $12,000 for himself
>     (which he may share with his teams as he decides) if they meet the
>     following targets that demonstrate the success of the resource:
>     * A directory of 1800 producers that contains information on how
>     and why
>     they may be contacted.
>     * A collection of 60 personal stories from producers or others
>     regarding
>     their role in the food supply chain.
>     * Six vibrant communities - which may coalesce directly around a topic
>     within the resource as they contribute to it -  or may be working
>     groups
>     with an activity or project of their own or for a client - that
>     references and leverages the resource in ways that have them steadily
>     contributing to it.
>     Andrius Kulikauskas will provide a means for listing and counting the
>     producers and the personal stories.  Greg Wolff will decide if the
>     targets have been met.  If he or Andrius has any doubt regarding his
>     decision, then he or Andrius Kulikauskas may turn to Kevin Jones, or
>     another person that they may both agree to, to make a final decision.
>     The decision will be made some time between April 1 and April 30th.
>
>     At Andrius Kulikauskas's request, Greg Wolff will provide feedback
>     as to
>     the extent to which a team has achieved its quota of targets (1
>     vibrant
>     community, 10 stories, 300 producers).  If a team has clearly met its
>     targets, then Greg will award early a portion ($2,000) of the
>     bonus for
>     Andrius to keep and distribute as he decides.
>
>     This agreement is public.  It may be amended by a public exchange of
>     emails.
>
>
>

I just want to briefly write about the teams that I'm putting together
for http://www.myfoodstory.com which is the online resource that we're
building for Greg Wolff of UnaMesa to help people understand and engage
the world's food supply chain.

We'll need 6 teams, each with 1 coordinator ($500 and bonus) and 4 field
agents ($100 each).  Each month we'll feature a team, but the idea is
that they will be building momentum on some topic that can attract
content in the long run.  We get to choose the crops.  So I'm pairing
together:
- a crop
- a human value that the crop helps us pay attention to
- a technology which fosters that value and therefore favors that crop

For example, Jeff Buderer is interested to lead our team that would link
"fish farming", "sustainability" and George Chan's Integrative Farming
and Waste Management.  It would be good to have a new working group for
this.  We need somebody whose key concept is related to sustainability.
Jeff, do you know and suggest somebody?  Or would it fit at Back to the
Root?  I think of "fish" as related to leadership, as in Jesus's images
of "fishers of men".  And I think of psychological and social
sustainability as relevant for "back to the root", too.  But perhaps I'm
off track.

In October (this month!) we'd like to feature the wifi/echoupal
technologies (as at http://www.echoupal.com) which we could possibly
link to the human value "willingness to take risks" and the crop
"coffee".  (Note that wifi and the echoupal Internet kiosks allow
farmers to respond to global and local prices and conditions and
therefore grow a crop such as coffee which is higher price variability,
higher risk and higher profit margin, and also combine that with related
crops and alternate crops.)   We could link this to the AirJaldi summit
http://summit.airjaldi.com (which Joy Tang of One Village will attend)
and also to Gary Bolles work.  We need a person with a "key concept"
related to "willingness to take risks" who we might organize around and
who might host our work.  I'm thinking that Dante-Gabryell Monson might
be a great person to host this work at a new working group he might lead
on "fostering paradigms for inspiration" and/or work as our team
coordinator on this subject.  Dante, please let me know soon if you'd be
interested! as I know your interest in wifi (and perhaps coffee, too?)
Jeff, please consider if we might have Dante lead a team that could
support One Village's interest in wifi, would that make sense?  And who
would you like to be active on this team and also the IF&WM team?

Also, I spoke with Pamela McLean (and thank you for your letters at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/learningfromeachother/ which wonderfully
illustrate "thinking out loud"!)  A crop that might encourage us to
"learn from each other" is chicken (and eggs, which are important for
nutrition in the developing world).  This could also link to Lucas
Gonzalez Santa Cruz's concerns regarding preparation for a possible bird
flu pandemic.  I'm wondering what would be a relevant technology?
Perhaps Solaroof?  I think of Rick Nelson's key concept "Opening
ourselves to direct knowledge".  And we both thought, Janet, it would be
wonderful if you might work as team coordinator for Pamela if you would
be interested, and perhaps this might develop into an income stream for
you and your projects, and more funds for field agents, as we'll be
looking for more business opportunities.  Please consider it! and let us
know.

I also invite Markus Petz, Samwel Kongere, Benoit Couture, Valdas
Kavaliauskas to consider working for us as team coordinators, and Rick
Nelson, Lucas Gonzalez Santa Cruz, Eluned Hurn, John Rogers to consider
hosting our efforts at your groups based on your values.  For example,
it would be excellent to have a crop that fosters community currency (I
think of Jesus breaking the bread) or peace (I think of water) or
self-reliance (as with Gandhi's salt marches to break the British
monopoly).  Please let us know what might interest you!

You may think it a bit crazy to match a crop with a value and a
technology.  But I think of it as three amazingly complex systems -
Nature and its wonderful collection of species, each of which
contributes some bounty of fruit towards the whole - Technology and the
logic of its opportunities, existing and forthcoming, each of which is
optimized for some problem - and human Values whose profound richness
we're discovering at our lab, as they help us make sense of everything.
It's not so surprising that there might be near optimal correspondences
across these three systems which allow for robust metaphors for any
given crop, or any given technology, or any given human value.  Indeed,
the human mind organizes categories in terms of paradigmatic examples
that highlight our expectations for that category, what is most basic,
important, essential, what is the most robust illustration.  I imagine
that is how it works with beauty, too, it is an appreciation of the most
optimal example.  So it is not so strange that there is a crop which is
especially helpful at illustrating a human value metaphorically, or
likewise a technology that supports that value and that crop.  We know
in nature that certain species can be the determining species - such as
oaks in a forest, or beavers in a river bed.  But humans are able to
make ANY species the focal species, which is what agriculture is all
about, and which means that we need to be especially sensitive as to how
to acknowledge and work with the other species around it and make sure
that we are finding the right scale which may be quite small.  This
approach would hopefully develop a very subtle, deep, lyrical, poetic
language of crops and technologies and values.  It would also would help
us recover our sensitivity to the kind of tribal thinking that
Levi-Strauss wrote about, which is that of classification systems (such
as bear clans vs. wolf clans or sunflower vs. rose) by which people
apparently naturally organize knowledge.  The goal would be to show that
if those who enjoy a food tune into the associated values in growing it,
then that food would find it's proper place in our lives (so that, for
example, coffee drinkers would focus more on the element of chance that
it can encourage socially when they find time or place for it, rather
than becoming predictable addicted consumers).  Less would go much farther.

I share below my draft of my agreement with Greg Wolff, which we're
still negotiating, but so that you could see what kind of work we'll be
doing.

Also, peace to all in Sri Lanka.  Thank you to John Rogers and Eluned
Hurn for including us in the peace meditation!

Andrius

Andrius Kulikauskas
Minciu Sodas
http://www.ms.lt
ms@...
+370 (5) 264 5950
+370 (699) 30003
Vilnius, Lithuania
skype: minciusodas

Today I sent Greg a draft of how I would understand our agreement.  The
budget and targets are as he proposed.  I share my draft in case we see
some angles that we should consider.  Also, I will need to write
agreements for our team coordinators and for our field agents.  Andrius
Kulikauskas, http://www.ms.lt


-----------------------------------------------------------------
Suggested Draft
-----------------------------------------------------------------

This is an agreement between Greg Wolff as Founder/President of UnaMesa
and Andrius Kulikauskas as sole proprietor of Minciu Sodas.

UnaMesa is funding Andrius Kulikauskas and his Minciu Sodas laboratory
to work from October 1, 2006 to March 31, 2007 to bring to life Greg
Wolff's vision of a participatory online resource for understanding the
world's food supply chain and engaging its participants.

The purpose of the work is to start up the resource as soon as possible
and openly evolve it so that it might enjoy as much momentum as possible
and hopefully critical mass.  Desired outcomes, in order of preference,
are:
A) A resource that is actively used and steadily improved by
contributors who directly and indirectly benefit from it in ways that
have them personally invest themselves in its growing success.
B) A pilot project that attracts the attention of those who wish to fund
work to develop it further.
C) An experiment that details the variety of challenges that need to be
overcome for such a resource to sustain itself, and makes tangible a
variety of reasons why such a resource is valuable.

This agreement is pursued in the spirit of co-investment, which is to
say that both parties are contributing, developing and sharing assets
which are more profound than the money at stake.  Payments are therefore
structured so that there is not undue loss or hardship on either side if
the work for any reason by either partner is interrupted, paused or halted.

Greg Wolff is responsible for openly and continuously clarifying his
vision so that his underlying values become ever more evident, for
example, by thinking out loud about an investigatory question that he
doesn't know the answer to, but intends to answer.  Andrius Kulikauskas
is responsible for giving shape to this vision in a way that can most
profoundly motivate the current and prospective participants of the
Minciu Sodas laboratory and all people who care about thinking.

The principal asset being developed is the network of contributors to
the resource.  During the six months they will primarily be enrolled as
participants of working groups at the Minciu Sodas laboratory that are
helping develop the resource.  Andrius Kulikauskas will, by the end of
the six months, organize the network of contributors so that, whether or
not they are affiliated with Minciu Sodas, they may participate  through
venues (either directly at the resource's interface or at related
working groups) that favor principles by which individuals are able to
share with others most actively:
* Venues are visible and open for the success and inclusion of all so as
not to exclude anyone who is able to behave constructively.
* Venues declare that original content by participants is in the Public
Domain unless they clearly mark it otherwise.
* Venues assume that people are developing shared assets as co-investors
and that as such they are structuring their business relationships so as
to meet each other half way so that all participation is truly voluntary
and does not rely on money as the means for control.
* Venues are organized around individuals whose personal growth they
serve and who thus have independent authority to make any decision
regarding the venue and have priority over any allegiance to groups,
organizations or brands.
Andrius Kulikauskas will reach out to integrate all people and projects
that Greg Wolff might suggest subject to their willingness to favor such
principles.

Andrius Kulikauskas will organize the online interface for contributing
and presenting content and integrate it with participating venues.  He
may host the interface on his own server.  He and Greg Wolff may agree
to use an interface that another party may develop or supply.  In any
event, the interface will be available as open source software, and the
resource's content available for export or as an API, as Greg Wolff or
Andrius Kulikauskas might request.   After the six months, they are both
free to further develop the interface and content together, should they
agree, but also separately, as they might wish.

Andrius Kulikauskas will organize six teams of contributors so that each
might be featured for one month and each might attract and build
momentum for sustained contribution.  He will receive $2,000 per month
(a total of $12,000) for him to distribute to himself and his teams as
he decides.  He will invoice prior to each month for that month's work,
and also for $1,000 for the subsequent month's work so that he may have
that on hand to distribute to his teams.

Andrius Kulikauskas will receive a bonus of up to $12,000 for himself
(which he may share with his teams as he decides) if they meet the
following targets that demonstrate the success of the resource:
* A directory of 1800 producers that contains information on how and why
they may be contacted.
* A collection of 60 personal stories from producers or others regarding
their role in the food supply chain.
* Six vibrant communities - which may coalesce directly around a topic
within the resource as they contribute to it -  or may be working groups
with an activity or project of their own or for a client - that
references and leverages the resource in ways that have them steadily
contributing to it.
Andrius Kulikauskas will provide a means for listing and counting the
producers and the personal stories.  Greg Wolff will decide if the
targets have been met.  If he or Andrius has any doubt regarding his
decision, then he or Andrius Kulikauskas may turn to Kevin Jones, or
another person that they may both agree to, to make a final decision.
The decision will be made some time between April 1 and April 30th.

At Andrius Kulikauskas's request, Greg Wolff will provide feedback as to
the extent to which a team has achieved its quota of targets (1 vibrant
community, 10 stories, 300 producers).  If a team has clearly met its
targets, then Greg will award early a portion ($2,000) of the bonus for
Andrius to keep and distribute as he decides.

This agreement is public.  It may be amended by a public exchange of
emails.

Today I sent Greg a draft of how I would understand our agreement.  The
budget and targets are as he proposed.  I share my draft in case we see
some angles that we should consider.  Also, I will need to write
agreements for our team coordinators and for our field agents.  Andrius
Kulikauskas, http://www.ms.lt


-----------------------------------------------------------------
Suggested Draft
-----------------------------------------------------------------

This is an agreement between Greg Wolff as Founder/President of UnaMesa
and Andrius Kulikauskas as sole proprietor of Minciu Sodas.

UnaMesa is funding Andrius Kulikauskas and his Minciu Sodas laboratory
to work from October 1, 2006 to March 31, 2007 to bring to life Greg
Wolff's vision of a participatory online resource for understanding the
world's food supply chain and engaging its participants.

The purpose of the work is to start up the resource as soon as possible
and openly evolve it so that it might enjoy as much momentum as possible
and hopefully critical mass.  Desired outcomes, in order of preference,
are:
A) A resource that is actively used and steadily improved by
contributors who directly and indirectly benefit from it in ways that
have them personally invest themselves in its growing success.
B) A pilot project that attracts the attention of those who wish to fund
work to develop it further.
C) An experiment that details the variety of challenges that need to be
overcome for such a resource to sustain itself, and makes tangible a
variety of reasons why such a resource is valuable.

This agreement is pursued in the spirit of co-investment, which is to
say that both parties are contributing, developing and sharing assets
which are more profound than the money at stake.  Payments are therefore
structured so that there is not undue loss or hardship on either side if
the work for any reason by either partner is interrupted, paused or halted.

Greg Wolff is responsible for openly and continuously clarifying his
vision so that his underlying values become ever more evident, for
example, by thinking out loud about an investigatory question that he
doesn't know the answer to, but intends to answer.  Andrius Kulikauskas
is responsible for giving shape to this vision in a way that can most
profoundly motivate the current and prospective participants of the
Minciu Sodas laboratory and all people who care about thinking.

The principal asset being developed is the network of contributors to
the resource.  During the six months they will primarily be enrolled as
participants of working groups at the Minciu Sodas laboratory that are
helping develop the resource.  Andrius Kulikauskas will, by the end of
the six months, organize the network of contributors so that, whether or
not they are affiliated with Minciu Sodas, they may participate  through
venues (either directly at the resource's interface or at related
working groups) that favor principles by which individuals are able to
share with others most actively:
* Venues are visible and open for the success and inclusion of all so as
not to exclude anyone who is able to behave constructively.
* Venues declare that original content by participants is in the Public
Domain unless they clearly mark it otherwise.
* Venues assume that people are developing shared assets as co-investors
and that as such they are structuring their business relationships so as
to meet each other half way so that all participation is truly voluntary
and does not rely on money as the means for control.
* Venues are organized around individuals whose personal growth they
serve and who thus have independent authority to make any decision
regarding the venue and have priority over any allegiance to groups,
organizations or brands.
Andrius Kulikauskas will reach out to integrate all people and projects
that Greg Wolff might suggest subject to their willingness to favor such
principles.

Andrius Kulikauskas will organize the online interface for contributing
and presenting content and integrate it with participating venues.  He
may host the interface on his own server.  He and Greg Wolff may agree
to use an interface that another party may develop or supply.  In any
event, the interface will be available as open source software, and the
resource's content available for export or as an API, as Greg Wolff or
Andrius Kulikauskas might request.   After the six months, they are both
free to further develop the interface and content together, should they
agree, but also separately, as they might wish.

Andrius Kulikauskas will organize six teams of contributors so that each
might be featured for one month and each might attract and build
momentum for sustained contribution.  He will receive $2,000 per month
(a total of $12,000) for him to distribute to himself and his teams as
he decides.  He will invoice prior to each month for that month's work,
and also for $1,000 for the subsequent month's work so that he may have
that on hand to distribute to his teams.

Andrius Kulikauskas will receive a bonus of up to $12,000 for himself
(which he may share with his teams as he decides) if they meet the
following targets that demonstrate the success of the resource:
* A directory of 1800 producers that contains information on how and why
they may be contacted.
* A collection of 60 personal stories from producers or others regarding
their role in the food supply chain.
* Six vibrant communities - which may coalesce directly around a topic
within the resource as they contribute to it -  or may be working groups
with an activity or project of their own or for a client - that
references and leverages the resource in ways that have them steadily
contributing to it.
Andrius Kulikauskas will provide a means for listing and counting the
producers and the personal stories.  Greg Wolff will decide if the
targets have been met.  If he or Andrius has any doubt regarding his
decision, then he or Andrius Kulikauskas may turn to Kevin Jones, or
another person that they may both agree to, to make a final decision.
The decision will be made some time between April 1 and April 30th.

At Andrius Kulikauskas's request, Greg Wolff will provide feedback as to
the extent to which a team has achieved its quota of targets (1 vibrant
community, 10 stories, 300 producers).  If a team has clearly met its
targets, then Greg will award early a portion ($2,000) of the bonus for
Andrius to keep and distribute as he decides.

This agreement is public.  It may be amended by a public exchange of
emails.

Tom,

Thank you for writing to our Global Villages group.  It's great to think
of you!  I note your upcoming Uplift Academy Workshop "New Media for
Infectious Good" this Wednesday, October 4th in New York City.
http://www.upliftacademy.org/wiki/index.php?title=Nyc2006

At your workshop "Imagining Iraq" in 2003 I met Joy Tang of
http://www.onevillagefoundation.org and then through her Jeff Buderer,
Janet Feldman, and through them Pamela McLean, Samwel Kongere and many
more independent thinkers.  Thank you!

Currently, I'm getting ready for a two month trip to Cyprus, Israel,
Egypt, Turkey where I will look especially for Islamic independent
thinkers.  I hope to contact Yehuda Stolov
http://www.interfaith-encounter.org  who I learned of through a
colleague of yours.  I wonder if you or others know of any people I
might try to meet?

Also, please consider how our lab is bringing to life many ideas that
you have advanced such as "Uplift Scholars".  Samwel Kongere in rural
Kenya has worked for us for one year to help us understand how we might
best help.  He has made visible his social network, has created a map of
local Internet access, has interviewed local activists and entrepreneurs
about their leadership goals and also how they have succeeded to make a
good living while helping others.  He is currently working on leadership
in preparation for a possible bird flu pandemic and translating the
ProWiki interface into Kiswahili.

We're preparing to work for Greg Wolff of UnaMesa to develop an online
resource for appreciating our world's food supply chain through personal
stories and encyclopedic descriptions of agriculture processes
http://www.myfoodstory.com  We have modest funding for myself, 6 team
coordinators and 24 "uplift scholars", if I may use the term.  It would
be great if you might contribute your evolving vision such as your
interest in viral videos.  Indeed we could have a video section of our
effort.

Best wishes at your workshop!

Andrius

Andrius Kulikauskas
Minciu Sodas
http://www.ms.lt
ms@...
+370 (5) 264 5950
+370 (699) 30003
Vilnius, Lithuania

Tom Munnecke wrote:
> I was strolling through Balboa Park in San Diego this afternoon, and
> discovered this most amazing musician. I took out my cell phone camera
> and recorded this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRXN413yz2Y
> <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRXN413yz2Y>
>
> He is in the running for the Star of Tomorrow TV show, so cast your
> vote for Big Toe at http://www.StarTomorrow.com His web site is
> http://www.bigtoerocks.com
>
> He was born this way; he performed this song completely by himself
> with no external accompaniment.  He composed the lyrics, which are
> well worth listening to more carefully.
>
>
>

Steve,

It great to see you all here in this new group. I am encouraged by this
opportunity.

Here are some resources I will pursue:

    1. George Chan has a global network of integrated farming experts and
       others who are promoting this as an alternative to existing farm
       practices. I am now working on a blog to begin to capture some of
       the communications between people in that network as well as other
       materials relevant and news relevant to integrated farming & waste
       management..
    2. Steve Diver http://www.mnforsustain.org/author_diver_steve.htm of
       the National Centre for Appropraite Technology www.ncat.org/ is a
       good contact for research sustainable agriculture. I have
       communicated with him before and we can consider that a potential
       resource in moving forward.
    3. Also the Aquaponics discussion groups is one of the best resources
       for aquaponics farming. I will see if i can sign up for that group
       again and then provide a link for other to sign. It is a
       remarkable network eco-farming innovators and i have not seen many
       examples of such a consisent robust listserv with so much useful
       information. .

Also I hope we can in the process of developing this project set a ICT
system to organize the information we collect into an online database.
Possibly the existing Our Culture wiki is enough but I thought it might
be good to set up form fields with the ability to search data from each
of the form fields:

    1. Values Principles
    2. Crop/animals
    3. Practices/processes
    4. Location
    5. Owner
    6. Size of project (income employees)
    7. Inception and years in business
    8. Desription of process
    9. Profitability?
   10. Plans for explanation and replication
   11. Comments observations about overall sustainability aspects
   12. Comments observations about social justice aspects
   13. Marketing focus (cultural creatives, CSAs, local production
       primarily to sustainable local needs in low income areas, Fair
       Trade, value added production, etc)

Jeff


  > In reflecting on the exchanges between Andrius and Greg and the
various triads of values / principles – crops / animals – practices /
processes being introduced, it is clear that an excellent launch pad is
being put in place for October and over the life of the project. This
has led me to think about ways to frame the information gained by these
triads so that people can access the knowledge behind the information
and make sound decisions about what actions they are going to take to
apply what they are discovering and learning under the auspices of
"social justice / social agriculture."
  >
  >
  >
  > The triad format may be applicable in this meta-realm as well. The
markers in which I have considerable interest when looking a whole
agricultural system are production / processing, logistics /
warehousing, and packaging / retailing. Ideally, the distance from farm
to fork would be zero--pick it and eat it. But the world is bigger than
that and we have tastes for foodstuffs like chocolate, coffee, and tea
that cannot be easily grown in many places. Enter the three points
listed above; and along with them countless instances of social
injustice and erosion of "economic viability." We can't escape them, but
we can curtail their negative consequences by shortening the distance
for as many items as possible, like fish, which is a great candidate for
"localization," and focusing on crops like Greg proposes that are
quickly globalized and candidates for abuse of producers.
  >
  >
  >
  > I'm particularly excited about the "1,800 producer profiles." My
intent is to find as many as I can within a 50

km radius of Columbus, OH and populate the database with their
information. This will give me an opportunity to see how well they
maintain the integrity of their information as circumstances change--the
"social ping" Andrius mentioned. Of course, it won't just be me doing
this. There will be "field agents" to search, find, and interview
producers, followed by posting pertinent data into the database. This is
a springboard to more repeatable processes of "traceability" so that
local food sources are identified, certified, and sustained. Hopefully,
there are many in the community that get behind it in an act of
"collective social responsibility" so that "localization first" concept
gets a fair hearing. We'll see.
  >
  >
  >
  > Of course, having the information isn't enough. There has to be a
taxonomy that facilitates pulling knowledge rather than being inundated
with more information. People who visit the www.myfoodstory.com website
won't need to be educated or convinced, they will want to know how to
get involved, how to make a difference, what steps to take, where to go,
and who to see. How many resources, how much time, and how much skill a
person has are major determinants in what choices they see in moving ahead.
  >
  >
  >
  > For that reason, having another triad comprised of scalability,
interchangeability, and adaptability--hallmarks of
interdependence--become markers I use for to frame choices. In other
words, three questions:
  >
  > 1) If I adopt this agricultural practice or use this particular
process or incorporate this specific type of equipment / tool can I
increase my production level without having to replace it?
  >
  > 2) If I implement this agricultural system, can I exchange, upgrade,
replace certain parts of it without compromising the effectiveness and
viability of the whole system?
  >
  > 3) If I develop an agricultural business portfolio that works for me
now, can I modify the content of the portfolio in terms of what and how
much is raised or grown without putting the whole portfolio or
significant sections of it at undue risk?
  >
  >
  >
  > Applying criteria as suggested by the questions above is a way to
help dampen the possibility of negative information. Also, as more
people get engaged with it as a KNOWLEDGE BASE upon which to make
decisions for action rather than an INFORMATION BASE in which to search,
study, and associate, their demands for data integrity will excite the
social system to be trustworthy with what is posted and to verify
accuracy and timeliness through usage as a backup routine. I hesitate to
use Wikipedia as an example because it does not deal with knowledge,
only information. Still, the social system that makes the postings
offers countervailing points of view when appropriate and cleans up
errors when found. Allegedly, it is more accurate than the Encyclopedia
Britannica.
  >
  >
  >
  > Lastly, Andrius mentioned cheese as the centering point for one of
the six triads and that this team would be convened through the
expertise and energy of Valdas Kavaliauskas, a Lithuanian “village
activist.” Here is a link
http://www.dispatch.com/news/food/food.php?story=dispatch/2006/09/27/20060927-G5\
-01.html
to a story about a smattering of people in the Northeastern part of the
U.S. who have changed careers to become specialty cheese producers. It
might be of value to Valdas and others who will participate in this triad.
  >
  >
  >
  > Looking forward to seeing how the story unfolds from here; have a
great weekend, my friends!
  >
  >
  >
  >
  >
  > From: socialagriculture@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:socialagriculture@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Andrius Kulikauskas
  > Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 6:33 PM
  > To: socialagriculture@yahoogroups.com
  > Subject: [socialagriculture] Thinking about our targets
  >
  >
  >
  > Greg and I are separately corresponding about the details our
  > agreement. But I share some excerpts from my recent letter regarding
  > the progress we're making, how we might interpret his targets, the
  > software I will work on probably early next week, and the idea of
  > verifiability through facilitating public discourse and encouraging
  > inquiry and action rather than defending assertions. Andrius,
  > http://www.ms.lt
  > ----------------------------------------------
  >
  > Greg, Thank you for your letter.
  > Our wheels are turning. I have purchased and set up
  > http://www.myfoodstory.com, .org, .net, .biz, .info I spoke for an hour
  > with Steve, he is very helpful and supportive, and we agreed that our
  > lab might reward his efforts by setting up a local version of our
  > Origins web portal for his Columbus, Ohio community. We've started
  > writing at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/socialagriculture/ So far it
  > seems that the approach of focusing on triplets "a human value - a key
  > crop - a sustainable practice" can help us hold together our different
  > interests, which are to engage the public (which relates to crops), the
  > volunteers (who relate to practices) and build our lab's assets (we
  > organize people around their values). I'm glad at the response from
  > Jeff Buderer of OneVillage, I think subject to further discussion it's
  > likely that they can be our first team in October, with perhaps a focus
  > on "sustainability - fish - George Chan's Integrated Farming & Waste
  > Management". Also, I got good interest from Valdas Kavaliauskas, a
  > poultry expert who represented French breeders for sales throughout
  > Russia, and now a village activist who organizes the sale of homemade
  > cheeses from the villages to the cities, based on ideas from the
  > Community Supported Agriculture movement in France. So I look to having
  > at least one of the six teams based in Lithuania, perhaps focusing on
  > cheeses, and perhaps reaching out in French. So this suggests that
  > we'll be collecting some information in other languages, and at least
  > one team may focus their work not in English, but we would translate
  > just enough of their material to be able to showcase them as a team of
  > the month and encourage associated activity in English as well. Also,
  > we've gotten letters at our Global Villages group from key people Rick
  > Nelson, Markus Petz, Franz Nahrada so I'm growing confident that we can
  > achieve your objectives.
  >
  > What do we need to agree upon? Your budget is I think good for getting
  > this project going to the point where it would be a valuable asset for
  > participants and have momentum for us to continue. I have thought about
  > how I myself wish to think of your targets:
  >
  > "6 categories with good coverage and active communities (e.g. Cacao,
  > Coffee, etc.)" My goal will be to organize 6 working groups at our lab
  > (mostly new, but perhaps some existing groups). As usual, each will be
  > based on a "key concept" of some person (possibly but not necessarily
  > the team coordinator). They will host our work on some triplet (value
  > - crop - practice) where the value is closely related to the leader's
  > key concept. The group will understand that the associated crop is a
  > nontrivial symbol/metaphor/touchstone of the value and that the
  > associated practice likewise brings out that value. So that the people
  > who care for that crop and/or practice are a natural group to reach out
  > to for social networking and the ones who respond with interest are the
  > people we'd most like to include. A thriving group typically requires
  > 50 people and about 5 or 6 regular participants and about 1 letter per
  > day on average. So my goal is to assemble such groups and have it clear
  > that for them the crop and practice are relevant and they are indeed
  > interested to keep contributing to the associated repository and
  > reaching out on its basis. Also, we have already started a "meta" group
  > around Steve and his value "social justice/social agriculture" which
  > given Steve's interest I think can play a coordinating role into the
  > future.
  >
  > "60 personal stories - e.g. how a farm affected my life"
  > This is 10 stories per team. Many of these will come from our field
  > agents interviewing people in their area, say 3 each, (as Samwel Kongere
  > has for us earlier this year) and we will post them in raw form, and the
  > team coordinator will make some or all more presentable by editing them.
  >
  > "1800 producer profiles (verified, factual information regarding
  > producers)"
  > This is 300 profiles per team. My thought here is to focus on contact
  > information - how and why to contact the producer. How = the people to
  > contact and the means to contact them, and Why = why they would like to
  > be contacted (by who and for what reasons, which might be simply food
  > sales but perhaps much broader - travel, social projects, business
  > projects, ecological projects, education projects). So I will help
  > write a generic questionnaire that focuses on this kind of contact
  > information and also asks people to get their permission if they wish to
  > join our working group, or would they like to contribute a story, or be
  > an expert, or have "friends of the farm", other people we should know
  > about, etc. So this way our work builds the assets of our social
  > network. We can give this questionnaire locally on the ground, email it
  > to people we find or learn about, and also ask associations to mail it
  > to their members.
  >
  > I will be creating simple interfaces for collecting and presenting the
  > various kinds of data. I have thought it out mostly and it will not be
  > difficult and it will be flexible this way and usable for other
  > projects. Also, we're set to build a simple email driven questionnaire
  > system. This "social ping" system will let us keep in touch every few
  > months with interested farmers and will help make sure that our
  > information stays update and grows. It would be good to work with
  > TiddlyWiki inventor Jeremy Ruston so that he might develop offline
  > tools for our field agents who will generally have marginal Internet
  > access. That would be fantastic.
  >
  > I am thinking now with Steve's help how to present the data collection
  > so that we don't run into trouble especially regarding negative
  > information. I think our best role is to help link people to the people
  > who have the information. This is the route that Steven R.L. Millman
  > took regarding slavery and chocolate http://www.radicalthought.org He
  > simply wrote letters to companies to ask them to report whether they
  > could say if their chocolate was made by slaves or not, and then he
  > listed the companies that replied and those that didn't. I think that
  > for our purposes that's the key point, are companies available for
  > public discourse on questions that we care about. And who is the person
  > to contact. And our job can be to help write the letters in a polite
  > and neutral way, and then people who wish can publicly send such a
  > letter in their name and see if they get a response. So our job is to
  > add transparency and allow for endless follow up questions which slowly
  > but surely clarify the situation. Furthermore, we can insist that
  > replies sent to us are in the Public Domain except as noted and of
  > course there is not much point for them to reply to us unless they want
  > us to post it. This would also work as an opportunity for them to reply
  > to comments, good or bad, which can be more publicity for them. And
  > that way the comments are not treated as definitive statements but
  > rather as an opportunity to reply. By treating the replies at face
  > value as the primary truth we relieve ourselves of the responsibility of
  > confirming and affirming the observations, conjectures, opinions,
  > prejudices that our participants may be bringing to us. Our function
  > becomes providing the opportunity for the producers and others in the
  > food supply chain to set the record straight, and so the truth coming
  > out is simply a consequence of their ability or not to keep a convincing
  > record.
  >

I'm very happy to have chatted today with Jeff Buderer of One Village
http://blog.onevillage.tv/wp/ We're discussing two teams for
http://www.myfoodstory.com that he might lead or at least help shape:

- In October, we're considering to feature the value "willingness to
take risks", the crop Coffee, and the eChoupal technology (Internet
kiosks). Our thought is to synergize with their work on the AirJaldi
summit http://summit.airjaldi.com on grassroots wireless solutions which
starts October 22nd at the Tibetan Children Village in Dharmsala, India.
(Joy, are you going there?) We should definitely connect with Gary
Bolles http://www.gbolles.com/gbbio.htm as he's interested in working
together on wireless and is working on the MuniWireless Minneapolis 2006
conference that is October 23-24 and will have a link to AirJaldi.

- We also want to have a team for the value "sustainability", the crop
Fish, and George Chan's Integrated Farming & Waste Management System.
This is on our mind and will surely happen.

I'm thinking that each team will revolve around one of our laboratory's
working groups so I expect we'll have two new ones for the above values.
If somebody would like to lead such a group and has a related "key
concept" in life I think that would be fantastic and then Jeff and I
could work together with you. Jeff would be the team coordinator and we
would fund him to help you get your group going. Also, my goal is that
each team have its own project (like a book, pattern language, outreach
effort, etc.) that it "works for free" on and that shows that the
underlying resource (stories, processes, contacts) we're putting
together is useful and it's likely that people will continue
contributing to it and organize around it.

I write also to our Cyfranogi group because perhaps there is a crop that
illustrates the value of "participatory society" and the technology of
"community currency". Perhaps something that links the ones who sow and
the ones who reap. I am very grateful for our work on stories of the
"money mind" because essentially this new project is about stories of
the "food mind". And the technology I'm building will work for
collecting and presenting both. Also, I need to reply to Bernard Lietaer
about the free services that our lab offers, but certainly there is
perhaps here a link with the carbon restorative fertilizer generating
Eprida cycle http://www.eprida.com that we might synergize regarding.

Rick, Markus, Graham, Gavin, Dante, Benoit, Neil, Thank you for your
letters. Rick, what crop might especially showcase the greatest
possibilities of Solaroof? Markus, would you be interested to coordinate
a team? Perhaps one related to "meaningful inclusion"? And is there a
crop and/or technology related to that? Dante, Benoit, how might you
like to participate? Neil, Thank you for writing and I'm very interested
how we might participate in your proposal for rural Scotland - I imagine
by helping coach local "independent thinkers" and globally integrate
them, and perhaps involve them through http://www.myfoodstory.com which
they might help build and leverage as "regional information coaches".

Andrius Kulikauskas, Minciu Sodas, http://www.ms.lt, ms@...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
---------------

Andrius: Hi Jeff, I'm sorry that I wasn't online today.
Jeff: no problem
Andrius: hi
… any thoughts?
Jeff: hmmm..food
… how about you?
Andrius: I'm just about finished with my Lithuanian taxes
… so I'm thinking
… I'm very glad how myfoodstory.com project is going
… A key start will be if you would have team that we could feature in
October.
… We want to feature a particular team each month
… Of course their activity would go beyond that.
… But it's always hardest to get started.
Jeff: ok
Andrius: So I'm excited if you might have a team and you could serve as
a model.
… Greg and I are on track regarding fleshing out our agreement.
… I suppose a key step now is to be sure that you'd like to participate
and how this might be best for you and your team.
Jeff: once you get all the details straighten out greg
… send me over a document to review
… with all the details or as manyas possible
… then i will be able to make an informed decision about my ability to
participate
Andrius: ok
… however now is a good time to get your input
… I think I've revealed more information than people usually do.
… Certainly just about everything I know.
… Are there any particular details you want to know or concerns that you
have?
… If you're not very interested than I should focus on starting with
some other team.
… October is just about here.
Jeff: ok well its bad timing
… we are getting ready for that conference in Dharamsala
Andrius: I see
… ok well that's understandable
Jeff: i dont want to commit to too much and then not be able to deliver
Andrius: one idea is to relate this to Dharamsala some how
… that's a conference on wifi, yes?
Jeff: y
Andrius: that could be a technology that we could focus on
… if we could relate it to some crop
… that illustrates the value of wifi
Jeff: yes people have tried to make the likage between wireless and
agriculture
Andrius: For example, a crop that depends on good information about
local and global markets.
Jeff: echoupal
Andrius: And I think you have a long term interest in wifi.
Jeff: Arun Mehta is part of WSFII the organization that is organizing
the workshops
Andrius: http://www.echoupal.com/
Jeff: he is also one of the poeple presenting at the Global Learn Day Event
… that Janet is involved in
Andrius: 'e-Choupal' services today reach out to more than 3.5 million
farmers growing a range of crops - soyabean, coffee, wheat, rice,
pulses, shrimp - in over 31,000 villages through 5200 kiosks across six
states (Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh,
Maharashtra and Rajasthan)
Jeff: yeah
Andrius: http://www.echoupal.com/DefaultTop.aspx
… And it seems that the "value" involved is "high risk taking"
… or perhaps simply "entrepreneurship"
Jeff: well its an end to end solution
… therefore it eliminates the middleman
Andrius: So for example you could lead a team in that area if you think
it would be a long term interest
Jeff: it is it lines up with what we want to do and what much of our
discussion at GLD will be
Andrius: Is there a particular crop that we might highlight?
… That illustrates the value of "high risk taking" and the point of the
eChoupal system?
Jeff: not sure
… I just wish we could focus on developing our inhouse technologies
Andrius: What do you mean by inhouse technologies?
Jeff: I mean the best practices or potential best practices in our network
… I feel we should on catologing and documenting them and the putting
together a database
… and offering that online
… so that its clearing house for sustainable agriculture technologies
Andrius: For this project I need to link together three different
interests: A) the technologies (because our independent thinkers are
interested in them), B) the crops (because our funders and the public
and the farmers and the economy are interested in them), C) the values
(because that's the basis on which I can assemble people and they are
our asset)
… So the technologies is 1/3 of the equation.
… And that's the 1/3 that I think is most important to you and others at
our lab.
… But I have to link to the other 2/3.
… That's my job! and the point of this project.
… As I see it.
Jeff: ok
Andrius: Otherwise there will be 0 interest in the technology from the
funders.
… It's only because I'm saying that's what our people care about that
they'll go along.
… But then we have to likewise be interested.
… So, for example, "willingness to take risks" = "entrepreneurship"
Jeff: solaroof does not focus on a parituclar crop
Andrius: is a fine value to organize people around
… It's not a matter of "focus" it's a matter of illustration.
Jeff: ok
Andrius: To find the one crop that is the simplest and clearest
illustration.
… For example, soybean or coffee might best illustrate eChoupal perhaps.
Jeff: well let me think about it
Andrius: Which is more interesting to you?
… Or which seems more in the spirit of eChoupal?
… Soybean seems like a versatile crop.
Jeff: wheat
… something like that
Andrius: Why wheat?
Jeff: well i think we would need to research the crops grown
Andrius: most important to me is to have a helpful logic between the
crop and the value
… they should illustrate each other very beautifully
… so that we can invest ourselves in the metaphor
Jeff: The metaphor is great but I am not sure that a lot of funder would
necessary see that as relevant to funding the project
… they are looking for project outputs
… and project sustainability
Andrius: This is with regard to our funder Greg.
… The funder needs to see sustained interest in a resource that promotes
learning regarding a crop, which is what people are interested in.
… If we can link the crop to a technology than we can sustain interest
from people like you who care about the technology.
… And if we can link the crop to a value than we can sustain interest
from organizers like me who care about the people.
… So the sustainability is there but we need to choose a crop that we
can care about.
… And understand why we care about that crop.
… So the project outputs they are looking for - the targets for us to
meet - are with regard to information about the crop we choose, and our
ability to build a supportive community.
… But we get to choose the crop.
… That's why its important to choose the crops carefully based on how
they can help us further a particular value and a particular technology.
… So that's why I ask, which is the crop that best furthers the logic
and value of eChoupal?
… It's probably some crop that illustrates the purpose of "willingness
to take risks".
… A crop which swings in price in ways that one can react to.
… Coffee might be good.
… And the connection between "coffee" and "entrepreneurship" might be
established and attractive.
Jeff: values in my view should be aligned...
Andrius: And then the technology helps farmers be ready to grow
alternatives to coffee
… so as not to depend on coffee.
… I agree. But what do you mean?
Jeff: Here is an example of how I would assign values: Open Digital
Village Values:

1. Encourages the use of open source systems where possible and feasible
2. Stimulates Open cultural development - the development of cultural
content that promotes the frank and compassionate discussion of
challenging social, political, ecological and cultural issues
3. Facilitates Open social communications and the sharing of knowledge
4. Promotes Open Governance with transparency and accountability
5. Enables and incubates Open Source Ventures that promote open
source approaches in business

… so if you raise fish using a permaculture system
… the values would be?
… the things that drive your ideals to farm in a different way
… health food
… healthy living
… ecological integrity
… etc
Andrius: I think that all illustrates the connection I'm trying to make.
Jeff: good
… and i want to point you make assumption that i am all about the technology
Andrius: One technology, like IF&WM, may showcase the value of
"sustainability" especially through farming "fish" and thereby steer
everything in that direction so that you have other crops that complete
the cycle.
Jeff: when it is the vales that drive what i do
… my suggestion though would be to focus the whole project on integrated
farming and permaculture
… and explore various integrated systems that might say focus on a
particular crop
… gather a sample of each
Andrius: Another technology, like eChoupal, may showcase the value of
"willingness to take risks" as in farming "coffee" and thereby steer
things in a different direction. Which is that a farmer should grow
coffee when that can bring good earnings, but should be ready to switch
when growing coffee is pointless.
Jeff: then narrow down the most interesting samples
… with a summary report on each particular component of integrated
farming/permaculture
… echoupal though is not a farming process
… it helps farmers to build up whatever it is they do through the
ability to do research on the net
Andrius: No, but I'm pointing out that the two technologies pull in
different directions (which may or may not be integrable).
Jeff: we might see it similar to IF&WMS in that it helps to improve
productity of certain crops
Andrius: eChoupal is relevant for crops that have a market value as
commodities, right? It's not for "whatever it is they do".
… It's best for volatile cash crops.
… And that's why it's backed by a giant Indian firm.
Jeff: yes
Andrius: So I can see having a team of people who care about
"willingness to take risks" and their illustration is "coffee" and they
promote "eChoupal".
Jeff: in Brazil some IF&WMS raise chickens some pigs and some cows
Andrius: And I can see having another team of people who care about
"sustainability" and their illustration is (whatever you think is best)
and they promote "IF&WMS"
Jeff: did you take a look a look at the Brazil power point presentation
I did?
Andrius: And that's the logic that I'd like to investigate and invest
ourselves in.
… No I didn't.
Jeff: www.onevillage.biz/album/
… it would nice if we could even set up a form for collecting data and
putting it into database for online viewing
… so there were generalized categories
Andrius: Well, I'm wondering if in general you'd be interested that we
start with you in October. You could do most of the work in subsequent
months, but it would be good if we could at least showcase your work.
… I think that Greg would be happy if we could find a team interested in
"coffee" and "willingness to take risks" because I think a lot of people
in the US could relate to that connection.
Jeff: Did you have a chance to breeze over the ppt
Andrius: looking...
… I'm looking at the diagram which is helpful. I'm thinking that the
fish are key in this system. The pigs, cows, chickens, etc. seem
optional. It seems to build on the fish. Am I right?
… The fish, mushrooms and earthworms represent 60% of the monetary benefits.
Jeff: very good
… acually my dad and his friend were asking a lot of critical questions
Andrius: regarding?
Jeff: so I was thinking the animals would actually be a headache
… regarding setting up this system
Andrius: It's basically a glorified fish pond.
… No, but it's quite impressive.
Jeff: hehe
Andrius: But you can see that if we focus the story on the fish, then we
can draw people in
… and they can collect the whole barnyard.
Jeff: well its a fishpond that is deisgned to minimize the amount of
phsyical work
… using water in very clever ways
Andrius: And the sustainability I imagine comes from the way fish are
designed
… they have been around a lot longer and in a lot bigger, more
homogeneous region
… and they are therefore much more tightly integrated into the biosphere
Jeff: yes to some extent
Andrius: so you can see I'm making this up
Jeff: but all the animals are symbiotic in this system
Andrius: but there's a lot of power in having a good thing to latch onto
for a story
Jeff: no it has some logical to it
Andrius: Yes, but in every ecosystem there can be one species that crowns it
… that shows how it all comes together.
… Like oak trees can make a forest.
… Or a beaver can make an ecosystem.
Jeff: good point
Andrius: by building dams.
Jeff: right
Andrius: And then the human's role as steward becomes very natural and
godly.
… Because a human can take any species and with the right attitude make
it the crown species.
… Like tobacco.
… Or wheat.
Jeff: well with the IF&WMS we are becoming the beaver
… that is the metaphor
Andrius: Yes.
Jeff: thats good
… the point you made about the beaver
Andrius: But humans are able to make ANY species the crown. But that
involves a lot of responsibility not to overdo it.
Jeff: so that is sort of life he value you are talking about
Andrius: So for example we can grow coffee as a cash crop but we have to
be ready not to be a victim of down markets and have alternative crops
ready to go.
… And we can't grow any crop destructively, beyond limits.
… And we should respect each crop as an expression of a value and not go
against that.
Jeff: right and that is why it is hard to say this is the one crop
Andrius: So, for example, if coffee is about the willingness to take
risks, then we shouldn't try to rule out risks in growing coffee, but
instead we should enjoy those risks and hedge for them.
Jeff: but we can say this is the primary crop
Andrius: YES
Jeff: i need to take a break and then get back to work
Andrius: That way the economy and regular people and regular growers can
get our attention but we bring them into our values.
… Yes, thank you!
… So please think about two teams
… We could do Coffee in October if it would fit with your eChoupal
… and we could do Fish too at your convenience.
Jeff: so who else is interested in this in the group?
Andrius: And you would lead two very different teams.
… Good responses so far from Rick, Markus, and here in Lithuania
regarding cheeses and Community Supported Agriculture.
… But it's key for me to know who to turn to in October
… just to showcase there work, most of it can be done later.
Jeff: yeah im in
Andrius: But so we can start promoting our work.
… OK, how about a Coffee team for October? I think Greg would definitely
be pleased.
… And I would help you find people around that.
… And then we can put in bigger longer efforts on the IF&WMS
Jeff: and so i will research permaculture coffee growing
… that is my main condition
Andrius: So lets have at least 2 teams from One Village.
Jeff: all the farms i includ will be permaculture operations
Andrius: Sure that's great.
… Yes
Jeff: well im not in a position to make a decision on the basis of OVF
… but I can discuss it with joy later today
Andrius: But eChoupal would be the showcase technology for coffee,yes?
Jeff: i wont make any assumptions
Andrius: I'm working with you and you can structure and brand it however
you like.
Jeff: i know little about coffee
… ok
Andrius: great!
… peace
Jeff: bye
… good job

Greg and I are separately corresponding about the details our
agreement.  But I share some excerpts from my recent letter regarding
the progress we're making, how we might interpret his targets, the
software I will work on probably early next week, and the idea of
verifiability through facilitating public discourse and encouraging
inquiry and action rather than defending assertions.  Andrius,
http://www.ms.lt
----------------------------------------------

Greg, Thank you for your letter.
Our wheels are turning.  I have purchased and set up
http://www.myfoodstory.com, .org, .net, .biz, .info  I spoke for an hour
with Steve, he is very helpful and supportive, and we agreed that our
lab might reward his efforts by setting up a local version of our
Origins web portal for his Columbus, Ohio community.  We've started
writing at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/socialagriculture/  So far it
seems that the approach of focusing on triplets "a human value - a key
crop - a sustainable practice" can help us hold together our different
interests, which are to engage the public (which relates to crops), the
volunteers (who relate to practices) and build our lab's assets (we
organize people around their values).   I'm glad at the response from
Jeff Buderer of OneVillage, I think subject to further discussion it's
likely that they can be our first team in October, with perhaps a focus
on "sustainability - fish - George Chan's Integrated Farming & Waste
Management".  Also, I got good interest from Valdas Kavaliauskas, a
poultry expert who represented French breeders for sales throughout
Russia, and now a village activist who organizes the sale of homemade
cheeses from the villages to the cities, based on ideas from the
Community Supported Agriculture movement in France.  So I look to having
at least one of the six teams based in Lithuania, perhaps focusing on
cheeses, and perhaps reaching out in French.  So this suggests that
we'll be collecting some information in other languages, and at least
one team may focus their work not in English, but we would translate
just enough of their material to be able to showcase them as a team of
the month and encourage associated activity in English as well. Also,
we've gotten letters at our Global Villages group from key people Rick
Nelson, Markus Petz, Franz Nahrada so I'm growing confident that we can
achieve your objectives.

What do we need to agree upon?  Your budget is I think good for getting
this project going to the point where it would be a valuable asset for
participants and have momentum for us to continue.  I have thought about
how I myself wish to think of your targets:

"6 categories with good coverage and active communities (e.g. Cacao,
Coffee, etc.)" My goal will be to organize 6 working groups at our lab
(mostly new, but perhaps some existing groups).  As usual, each will be
based on a "key concept" of some person (possibly but not necessarily
the team coordinator).   They will host our work on  some triplet (value
- crop - practice) where the value is closely related to the leader's
key concept.  The group will understand that the associated crop is a
nontrivial symbol/metaphor/touchstone of the value and that the
associated practice likewise brings out that value.  So that the people
who care for that crop and/or practice are a natural group to reach out
to for social networking and the ones who respond with interest are the
people we'd most like to include.  A thriving group typically requires
50 people and about 5 or 6 regular participants and about 1 letter per
day on average.  So my goal is to assemble such groups and have it clear
that for them the crop and practice are relevant and they are indeed
interested to keep contributing to the associated repository and
reaching out on its basis.  Also, we have already started a "meta" group
around Steve and his value "social justice/social agriculture" which
given Steve's interest I think can play a coordinating role into the
future.

"60 personal stories - e.g. how a farm affected my life"
This is 10 stories per team.  Many of these will come from our field
agents interviewing people in their area, say 3 each, (as Samwel Kongere
has for us earlier this year) and we will post them in raw form, and the
team coordinator will make some or all more presentable by editing them.

"1800 producer profiles (verified, factual information regarding
producers)"
This is 300 profiles per team.  My thought here is to focus on contact
information - how and why to contact the producer.  How = the people to
contact and the means to contact them, and Why = why they would like to
be contacted (by who and for what reasons, which might be simply food
sales but perhaps much broader - travel, social projects, business
projects, ecological projects, education projects).  So I will help
write a generic questionnaire that focuses on this kind of contact
information and also asks people to get their permission if they wish to
join our working group, or would they like to contribute a story, or be
an expert, or have "friends of the farm", other people we should know
about, etc.  So this way our work builds the assets of our social
network.  We can give this questionnaire locally on the ground, email it
to people we find or learn about, and also ask associations to mail it
to their members.

I will be creating simple interfaces for collecting and presenting the
various kinds of data.  I have thought it out mostly and it will not be
difficult and it will be flexible this way and usable for other
projects.  Also, we're set to build a simple email driven questionnaire
system.  This "social ping" system will let us keep in touch every few
months with interested farmers and will help make sure that our
information stays update and grows.  It would be good to work with
TiddlyWiki inventor  Jeremy Ruston so that he might develop offline
tools for our field agents who will generally have marginal Internet
access.  That would be fantastic.

I am thinking now with Steve's help how to present the data collection
so that we don't run into trouble especially regarding negative
information.  I think our best role is to help link people to the people
who have the information.  This is the route that Steven R.L. Millman
took regarding slavery and chocolate  http://www.radicalthought.org   He
simply wrote letters to companies to ask them to report whether they
could say if their chocolate was made by slaves or not, and then he
listed the companies that replied and those that didn't.  I think that
for our purposes that's the key point, are companies available for
public discourse on questions that we care about.  And who is the person
to contact.  And our job can be to help write the letters in a polite
and neutral way, and then people who wish can publicly send such a
letter in their name and see if they get a response.  So our job is to
add transparency and allow for endless follow up questions which slowly
but surely clarify the situation.  Furthermore, we can insist that
replies sent to us are in the Public Domain except as noted and of
course there is not much point for them to reply to us unless they want
us to post it.  This would also work as an opportunity for them to reply
to comments, good or bad, which can be more publicity for them.  And
that way the comments are not treated as definitive statements but
rather as an opportunity to reply.  By treating the replies at face
value as the primary truth we relieve ourselves of the responsibility of
confirming and affirming the observations, conjectures, opinions,
prejudices that our participants may be bringing to us.  Our function
becomes providing the opportunity for the producers and others in the
food supply chain to set the record straight, and so the truth coming
out is simply a consequence of their ability or not to keep a convincing
record.

We're clearly moving swiftly to get momentum going. I want to feature a
team at our website http://www.myfoodstory.com starting with this
October. So I'm very glad that we might possibly start with a team from
One Village led by Jeff Buderer and focusing on (we're still thinking
this through) the connection between the human value "sustainability",
the crop "fish", and the practice "George Chan's Integrated Farm and
Waste Management". I share my chat with Jeff and several letters he
wrote at our Global Villages group. We're moving much of this discussion
to our new Social Agriculture working group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/socialagriculture/ send a blank message to
socialagriculture-subscribe@yahoogroups.com to join. Thank you to Janet,
Jeff, Graham for doing so! Andrius Kulikauskas, http://www.ms.lt
--------------------------------


Andrius: Hi Jeff, Thank you for your letters!
… I wanted to check about the fish. Are you free to chat? [...] Is 10:30
your time OK?
… Also, just one thing to think about - I agree with you that
monocultures are not the solution - but I think for this project because
we're engaging the public there is something important about focusing on
a single product or crop. As we did with chocolate. So I'm trying to
show that we can link a technology (which excites our people) with a
value (which is vital for our lab to build assets) with an exemplary
crop (which the public can be directly interested in and which hopefully
we can show should be taken as part of a bigger world).
Jeff: i understand
Andrius: That's the reason for featuring a single crop - such as fish -
please think how we might best do this because my understanding that
it's important to Greg's vision.
… Yes good. So we want to do that in a way that help you and does not
hurt and that would make sense in the long run. Also the 300 are I think
just essentially contact information - making contact as to how and why
they'd like to be included in our directory, and that's a first step in
outreach to the producers and we can then get them interested in us and
IFWM etc.
… That's what is on my mind. Thank you for your great letters!
Jeff: your welcome
… my suggestion is to develop a database for putting that information online
… we might consider keeping it private as we develop it
… and then make it public once the system is tweaked out and all the
content is inputted
Andrius: yes that's what I'm building based on metadata in our wiki. it
will be public
… in the way that Wikipedia is
… an ongoing project
Jeff: ok
… so there are six teams and each will focus on a particular thing like
chocolate beer coffee etc?
Andrius: yes
… and hopefully for the long run
… but I know that our teams are more interested in technologies
… and also I have to be interested in peoples/values
… so I'm hoping we can connect the three value - crop - technology
Jeff: so it is more about FAIR Trade than local sustainable agriculture
development?
Andrius: I can only assume based on what Greg's told me and he may also
have slack based on his vision
… I think he's interested in many aspects including Community Supported
Agriculture
… but given his work on http://www.chocolatedividends.org and his
interest that we showcase a community every month
Jeff: its difficult to know the best way to categorize
Andrius: and the examples he gives like Cacao or Coffee
Jeff: but chocolate does not really addres nutritional problems
Andrius: So that's why I've linked this to the associated human value
and the associated supportive technology.
Jeff: ok good
Andrius: Yes, each crop has its own purpose in the human value system.
… Each crop is helping us understand human values.
Jeff: how?
Andrius: So then it becomes about quality and purpose rather than about
quantity.
Jeff: ok
Andrius: For example, in Lithuania honey is associated with close friendship
… because supposedly bees are very sensitive
… and people have to be good friends if they want to share bees.
… Tea is perhaps connected to contemplation.
Jeff: yes but I think may values are not just like you know the state
bee is this becase in nevada...
Andrius: Cheese is central in Lithuania's CAS movement
Jeff: we need to link values with triple bottom line accoutnability
Andrius: yes?
… what is triple bottom line
Jeff: you values like the ones i mentioned in my recent 1village post
Andrius: people, profits, ecology?
Jeff: they represent things that the centre will really do
… right
… balance the three
Andrius: So that's pretty much our system.
… But we're doing it qualitatively.
… For the people we're focusing on human values and putting them in the
center.
… For the ecology we're focusing on sustainable practices.
… And for the profits we're focusing on a single crop because that's
economical in terms of mental attention.
… If we're able to connect value - crop - technology, then we know that
we can make the peoples - profits - ecology work.
… If we can't connect those three, then qualitatively there isn't going
to be a bottom line, we're going to be cross purposes.
… That's my strategy.
Jeff: the idea of focusing an unity centre on more than one product is
the benefits of diversification
… in addition the problem in the past was when you focused a farm on one
product
… you created WASTE
… when you create a synergistic industrial ecology of farming and
agricultural pratices....
… you then effectively harness resources
… and that makes sustainability practical as well as competitive with
existing practices
… so that in a nutshell explains the logic of an integrated approach to
sustainable development
… rather than the old model of development which focus on individual
goals disciplines and focus areas as isolated from each other
Andrius: yes I agree. The logic I'm pursuing (which may be flawed) as to
think of there being a key species in the system. In nature there seem
to be certain species that dictate the nature of the entire ecosystem,
for example, a beaver does that, or oak trees do that.
Jeff: oh not necessarily but in the IF&WMS it is complex
Andrius: So what humans seem to do is to allow just about any species
become the "key species", even something like tea. But that doesn't mean
that we should rule out the other species. And also I think the key
species in our cases thrive because it supports some kind of human value
which is how the humans are entering the ecology. So if we could
understand that value we could appreciate the qualitative issues rather
than try to maximize the quantity.
Jeff: possibly we can say that the IF&WMS has the potential to produce
several crops and benefits
… We start out in advising farmer to focus on their existing farm
operation and then fish
… then we have the benefits of growing other crops that can be used on
the farm as well as sold at the local markets
… finally the byproducts of the process include the production of biogas
& fertilizer
… so we might say that the IF&WMS is integrated agricultural system that
through the processing of locally produced agricultural and human wastes
can effectively produce fish
… with a variety of secondary products and services
… some of which can be sold for profit at the local market
Andrius: yes and from a presentation point of view regarding our public
the idea is to find one showcase crop that we could organize around and
"fish" may be one or perhaps you have a better one, but one crop that
can make the case for producers who might try out IF&WMS. Because a
major goal will be to figure out who to reach out to who might be
potentially interested.
… So a fish farmer may be interested because of the immediate benefit
but also the others you mention.
… Yes, as you say (catching up!)
Jeff: welll talk later
Andrius: peace
… I'll share our chat
Jeff: ok

---------------------------------------

I feel a bit overwhelmed with all the emails so I am trying to be a bit
more discriminating with the delete button. I also will keep my response
short.

Congrats on the renewed focus on social agriculture. I think you both
have put forward some good points relating to the need to transition
away from the current development model

I also am open to looking at various options in terms of our
collaboration and considering what role OVF and its network can also
play in the process. However I want to stress that I do we need to get
the various roles and responsibilitiesdefined for each group or
individual involved clearly defined in writing.

Possibly we could consider the effort among Rick, Anne and I in
particular have been engaged in to develop an integrated farming system
that includes the contributions of Prof George Chan and others in our
extended network.

On that note I would like to share with you all my latest attempt to
help Prof Chan organize his work. The linked materials are from a 2004
report he compiled as a result of his work in Brazil in promoting his
Integrated Farming approach there: http://www.onevillage.biz/album/

Jeff

--------------------------------------------

Andrius, Steve,

Actually my personal experiences in relation to agriculture are
primarily limited to research. One notable asset is my link to George
Chan who is a great storyteller and has many field experiences. He has
despite his years been able to engage his network I feel in a unique and
vibrant way. I have started to convey some of that in the blog i created
to promote his work http://green.onevillage.tv

I would suggest that a pattern language be created in terms of
identifying the desire criteria of these agricultural systems including
"interdependence", "localization", "traceability" and "collective social
responsibility" and economic viability

Also I would sugget posting materials on the web that discuss the
project and the process.

I would hope also that we not only tell interesting stories in relation
to sustainable agriculture but also help to make these practices more
viable and relevant within our network so that we can move ourselves
towards actually living sustainable lifestyles rather than simply
talking about them.

My goals in participating in this project would include:

    1. On a practical level improving my own sustainability
    2. Developing additional funding opportunities for the IF&WMS
       sustainable agriculture project i am now working on
    3. Enabling the organization I am involved with (OVF) to further
       develop itself as consistent with its mission and vision.

Jeff

-------------------------------

Andrius,

  > * With the help of a team of four field agents who you choose, collect
  > at least 10 personal stories and also information on 300 fish farmers
  > (we have to figure out what information, but I think especially contact
  > information, how and why they might be contacted, we can set up an email
  > questionnaire system to help with this).

Can you explain further this statement: collect "at least 10 personal
stories and also information on 300 fish farmers..." Does this mean
collect info on 300 fish farmers and from that distill ten compelling
stories which are to be featured on the website?

Why 300 and 10? 300 is a huge number and we should really have a
database to collect this information.

Also I suggest we focus on weaving together say the various stories of
integrated farming innovators into a coherent story of global
transformation towards sustainability that can be made into a book. For
example George Chan has given those of us who are on his email list a
wealth of information that needs to be integrated and further developed.
This can eventually lead to increasing replication of the approach so
that it become common knowledge as best practice in sustainable
agriculture development.

So we migh detail various integrated farming innovators globally
including in George's network. They would not have to be farmers and
they would include various visionaries and innovators. We would select
those who we deemed were most relevant to the pattern language we came
up with in defining those projects which are most relevant to our vision
of social agriculture. We might break this down in sections as
consistent with the criteria developed though the pattern language. This
would include production processes such as wine making chocolate coffee
beer etc as we might want to as part of our pattern language encourage
value added production at the source, rather simply commodity export
with the middelmen (commodities brokers distributors, retailers and
manufacturers) getting most of the take and the farmer left with nearly
nothing.

Integrated Farming is more than about any one crop and I dont think it
would work in framing it as simply fish farming.

There is a great need to weave together various approaches to give us an
idea of the big picture. IF&WMS is a form of permaculture that
incorporates sustainable farm practices that are applicable in a variety
of situations including coffee growing, beer making, wine making, pig
farming, dairy cows, municipal waste treatment etc. From the main
activity such as pig farming or beer brewing, a series of farm crops
develop leading to a multi-culture farming system instead of a corporate
monoculture as is now the case. The result is more healthy farm
environment that is more condusive to preserving the underlying
ecosystems and their biodiversity. This also leads on a practical
economic level for the farmer to be empowered as they no longer rely on
the commodity prices of one crop and because the system is integrated
the additional work involved in adding those processes is less than the
added profit that results from those activities. Finally as mentioned
above the development of value added industries on the farm lead to even
greater profits, with the waste created from the process of the lead
products recycled into the IF&WMS to create other high value products.

I am not sure about this process of quantifying the stories and
information like you would a grant proposal, when each situation is
different. Maybe it is 10 12 0r 20 stories that need to be told in
relation to a given practice?

Jeff

Franz, Thank you for connecting us with
William Weaver
http://www.pbs.org/pov/borders/2004/earth/earth_int_garden.html
Eva Vesovnik  http://www.dorfwiki.org/wiki.cgi?EvaVesovnik
and Penelope Lichtenegger.
I share our invitation to them.
Andrius
--------------------------------------------------

Franz, Thank you!  Yes, we're fortunate to be leading this project,
http://www.myfoodstory.com thanks to Greg Wolff.  I lead the Minciu
Sodas laboratory http://www.ms.lt for serving and organizing independent
thinkers.  I'm delighted at how food (and values - crops - practices)
are helping us find very concrete matters that we can organize our
projects around.  We're being funded to start up an online resource that
is a "Wikipedia for the food supply chaing".  In particular, my job is
to start up six teams. Perhaps we might synergize with your work. I
would greatly appreciate your guidance here.  Please do join us at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/socialagriculture/, send a blank message
to socialagriculture-subcribe@yahoogroups.com and you will be
subscribed.  This is where we're working on this.  I hope you might join
us and let us know more about your projects.  Andrius, http://www.ms.lt

Franz Nahrada wrote:
> Dear Will Weaver,
>
> I ennjoyed very much the meeting and talk with you at Evas garden
> aniversary,
>
> Please have a look at the evolution of the social agriculture group that I
> gave the outline to you at
> http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/socialagriculture/
>
> The theme is food transparency and food culture and maybe this list could
> be instrumental in bringing some people into coherence worldwide that can
> empower each other....
>
> If you decide to join the group I think this would be greatly appreciated
> by all the members, especially be initiator Andrius Kulikauskas from
> Lithuania.
>
> Maybe Andrius can also enter a short dialogue with you and find out how
> all this can support you in your work.
> Key is being really useful to each other and respect and not misunderstand
> each others way.
>
> All I do from here is open the possibilities for really efficient and
> fruitful channels.
>
> I also send you a picture of the day in Evas garden with Penny and 2 other
> people from Austria.
>
> By the way:
> If you have contacts that can help showcase "Global Villages" around the
> world, please do not hesitate to forward them to me.
> My mission statement and concept can be found here:
> http://www.globalvillages.info/wiki.cgi?Importance
>
> all the best wishes from Vienna!
>
> Franz
>

----- Original Message -----

From: Jeff Buderer

To: globalvillages@yahoogroups.com

Cc: socialagriculture@yahoogroups.com ; holistichelping@yahoogroups.com ; learningfromeachother@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 8:35 PM

Subject: Re: span low [globalvillages] Let's work together at Social Agriculture

Andrius, Steve,

Actually my personal experiences in relation to agriculture are
primarily limited to research. One notable asset is my link to George
Chan who is a great storyteller and has many field experiences. He has
despite his years been able to engage his network I feel in a unique and
vibrant way. I have started to convey some of that in the blog i created
to promote his work http://green.onevillage.tv

I would suggest that a pattern language be created in terms of
identifying the desire criteria of these agricultural systems including
"interdependence", "localization", "traceability" and "collective social
responsibility" and economic viability

Also I would sugget posting materials on the web that discuss the
project and the process.

I would hope also that we not only tell interesting stories in relation
to sustainable agriculture but also help to make these practices more
viable and relevant within our network so that we can move ourselves
towards actually living sustainable lifestyles rather than simply
talking about them.

My goals in participating in this project would include:

1. On a practical level improving my own sustainability
2. Developing additional funding opportunities for the IF&WMS
sustainable agriculture project i am now working on
3. Enabling the organization I am involved with (OVF) to further
develop itself as consistent with its mission and vision.

Jeff

> Here's a few questions that I look to you especially for leadership:
> A) What are the kinds of information that we should collect? What is
relevant? Greg wants us to collect personal experiences and also
objective information regarding the agricultural processes, but what
might that mean concretely? and how might we organize that, especially
given our values-crops-practices approach?
> B) How do we collect and present information in a way that encourages
people to investigate matters, contribute more observations, and makes
things more verifiable? We don't want to allow people to manipulate our
system, for example, by supplying misleading or false information to
hurt competitors, and we don't want to have to police the system.
> C) What are the ways that we might open up for people, especially
customers, to take positive actions to support farmers rather than
simply buy food and products that may have to be transported from far away.
>
> Andrius
>
> Andrius Kulikauskas
> Minciu Sodas
> http://www.ms.lt
> ms@...
> +370 (5) 264 5950
> +370 (699) 30003
> Vilnius, Lithuania
>
> Hi Andrius,
>
> In advance of our Skype call sometime this week, I offer the
following for
> your consideration:
>
> 1) As the name implies, Social Agriculture is about the relationship of
> people to the production, processing, logistics, and utilization of food,
> feed, fuel, fiber, flowers, and "farmaceuticals" (nutriceuticals). These
> six provide a topical framework for further, in-depth exploration.
> 2) Agriculture for Social Justice focuses first on taking care of the
> providers / producers, followed by responding to the needs of the local
> communities in which they live, and, lastly, playing into global markets.
> Current production agriculture practices do the opposite which makes them
> unjust.
> 3) The combination of Social Agriculture and Social Justice defines a
> context in which local sustainability becomes a key value along with
> environmental sensitivity, and regional / global scalability--more fodder
> for consideration.
> 4) At the heart of what makes these three seemingly disparate goals-local
> sustainability, environmental sensitivity, and regional / global
> sensitivity-possible is directly tied to technology getting smaller,
faster,
> stronger, embedded, more integrated, and more intelligent with each
passing
> moment.
> 5) Our challenge is to use some of these technological developments to
> construct a forum and draw upon a set of processes / tools wherein people
> can better understand conditions surrounding Social Agriculture and
Social
> Justice and possibilities for making a difference, agree to frameworks in
> which they can determine actions to take that will make a difference, and
> commit to initiate specific actions on a local level that give the
> frameworks meaning and offer the opportunities for broader learning.
If we
> don't get this to the point of action on a local level then its value is
> abstract and academic, at best, and severely limited in genuine
helpfulness
> on the ground (no pun intended!).
> 6) One of the best motivators to encourage people to gain further
> understanding, agreement, and commitment is to provide rational,
relevant,
> and repeatable metrics or indicators of progress / success that
illustrate
> agricultural practices are moving along a continuum of local to
> environmental to global. In other words, having a standardized scoring
> system that measures how well agricultural practices in an area are
> supporting the producers, stabilizing communities, protecting the
> environment, and offering surplus into regional / global markets will
give
> practitioners and advocates a way to articulate what they want to
> accomplish, assess where they are now, and determine what they want
to do to
> move forward.
> 7) It is at this juncture where having an easy-to-use, uncomplicated to
> follow, and factual web interface for people in local communities
possessing
> all manner of technological know-how and confidence to utilize is
essential.
> Such websites / web pages would be setup for communities around the
world in
> a wide range of economic / political / social / cultural / geographic
> realities so that participants can experience how to sustain locally and
> scale globally while not exacting further damage to the environment
and even
> restoring many areas to their original and naturally productive
conditions.
> 8) There are business opportunities for people in localities worldwide to
> setup and maintain these websites. Accuracy of postings and timeliness of
> updates are critical to the effectiveness of these sites to honestly
> represent the capacities, capabilities, and conditions in these local
areas.
> Since the network builds from the bottom up, the foundation for
subsequent
> expansion and scaling--rooted deeply in the sustainability of the
individual
> producer--must be secure before going further or people are put at risk.
> 9) There are different "solutions" for the localization of agriculture in
> each community. This creates even more business opportunities for
those who
> have knowledge in human-scale, community-based agriculture, integrated
> farming and waste management systems, zero-emissions agricultural
practices,
> low-impact / high efficiency logistical systems, etc. AND can transfer /
> apply that knowledge in a readily accessible manner. This aspect of
> "solutions" in relationship to the previous points about knowing where
> communities stand in their capabilities and capacities is crucial.
Help is
> defined by the recipient and to know what the recipient needs and respond
> accordingly is the best way offer value and be useful.
>
> There is nothing radical and shocking in these nine points, but they
do give
> us a way to frame some of the discussion in the Yahoo! Groups and tie
> together the various aspects of what you, Greg, and Kevin want to explore
> and accomplish. Anyway, like I said at the outset we can talk about all
> this when we Skype later this week.
>
> Safe travels and warm regards,
>
> Steve B.
>
>

---

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.405 / Virus Database: 268.12.8/455 - Release Date: 22/09/2006

Andrius,

  > * With the help of a team of four field agents who you choose, collect
  > at least 10 personal stories and also information on 300 fish farmers
  > (we have to figure out what information, but I think especially contact
  > information, how and why they might be contacted, we can set up an email
  > questionnaire system to help with this).

Can you explain further this statement: collect "at least 10 personal
stories and also information on 300 fish farmers..." Does this mean
collect info on 300 fish farmers and from that distill ten compelling
stories which are to be featured on the website?

Why 300 and 10? 300 is a huge number and we should really have a
database to collect this information.

Also I suggest we focus on weaving together say the various stories of
integrated farming innovators into a coherent story of global
transformation towards sustainability that can be made into a book. For
example George Chan has given those of us who are on his email list a
wealth of information that needs to be integrated and further developed.
This can eventually lead to increasing replication of the approach so
that it become common knowledge as best practice in sustainable
agriculture development.

So we migh detail various integrated farming innovators globally
including in George's network. They would not have to be farmers and
they would include various visionaries and innovators. We would select
those who we deemed were most relevant to the pattern language we came
up with in defining those projects which are most relevant to our vision
of social agriculture. We might break this down in sections as
consistent with the criteria developed though the pattern language. This
would include production processes such as wine making chocolate coffee
beer etc as we might want to as part of our pattern language encourage
value added production at the source, rather simply commodity export
with the middelmen (commodities brokers distributors, retailers and
manufacturers) getting most of the take and the farmer left with nearly
nothing.

Integrated Farming is more than about any one crop and I dont think it
would work in framing it as simply fish farming.

There is a great need to weave together various approaches to give us an
idea of the big picture. IF&WMS is a form of permaculture that
incorporates sustainable farm practices that are applicable in a variety
of situations including coffee growing, beer making, wine making, pig
farming, dairy cows, municipal waste treatment etc. From the main
activity such as pig farming or beer brewing, a series of farm crops
develop leading to a multi-culture farming system instead of a corporate
monoculture as is now the case. The result is more healthy farm
environment that is more condusive to preserving the underlying
ecosystems and their biodiversity. This also leads on a practical
economic level for the farmer to be empowered as they no longer rely on
the commodity prices of one crop and because the system is integrated
the additional work involved in adding those processes is less than the
added profit that results from those activities. Finally as mentioned
above the development of value added industries on the farm lead to even
greater profits, with the waste created from the process of the lead
products recycled into the IF&WMS to create other high value products.

I am not sure about this process of quantifying the stories and
information like you would a grant proposal, when each situation is
different. Maybe it is 10 12 0r 20 stories that need to be told in
relation to a given practice?


Jeff

  > Jeff,
  >
  > Thank you for your letter and for our chat today, which I share.
  >
  > It would be great if you and One Village might work for us in October on
  > our project for Greg Wolff, which we're calling "My Food Story". The
  > first month is the hardest in order to get things going!
  >
  > Our goal is that in six months we have six communities that are building
  > knowledge related to a human value, a related crop, and a related
  > practice. As we discussed, "sustainability", "fish" and "George Chan's
  > Integrated Farm & Waste Management system" would make a great triple.
  > So our goal would be, if you agree, to:
  > * Find a person with a key concept related to "sustainability" who would
  > be willing to lead a working group at our Minciu Sodas laboratory based
  > on their key concept. This working group could certainly be co-branded
  > with One Village and it could belong to both networks.
  > * At that group, have them host the assembling of fish farmers who care
  > about sustainability, and also practitioners of George Chan's system.
  > The group would thus be a place for them all to meet around their shared
  > value.
  > * With the help of a team of four field agents who you choose, collect
  > at least 10 personal stories and also information on 300 fish farmers
  > (we have to figure out what information, but I think especially contact
  > information, how and why they might be contacted, we can set up an email
  > questionnaire system to help with this). We would feature your work in
  > October but you would have up to six months to reach the targets and
  > then you would receive a significant bonus.
  > * Enter the information into the customized web system which I will be
  > creating in the next week or two, or in the meanwhile, in our wikis.
  > Jeff, Joy, I hope you and your One Village team might work for us!
  >
  > I encourage more of us to write how we might participate. Some other
  > connections include:
  > Uwe-Christian Plachetka's linking of "knowledge", maize, and Incan
  > knowledge management
  > Pamela McLean's linking of "learning" and ginger.
  > In Lithuania, we think of "close friendship" as related to "beekeeping"
  > and "honey" because - at least in our tradition - bees are very
  > sensitive to human relationships, and only very good friends are able to
  > share bees.
  > Perhaps there is also a connection between "tea" and "contemplation".
  >
  > Any other possible connections? What might be the showcase crop for
  > Solaroof? for video bridges?
  >
  > Andrius
  >
  > Andrius Kulikauskas
  > Minciu Sodas
  > http://www.ms.lt
  > ms@...
  > +370 (5) 264 5950
  > +370 (699) 30003
  > Vilnius, Lithuania
  >
  > ----------------------------------------------------------
  > Andrius: I'm interested if you and others at One Village might work
  > on our project.
  > For example, One Village could lead one of our six teams and we
  > could co-brand it accordingly.
  > Jeff: and each of the teams will...
  > Andrius: My idea is that each time would center around 1) a value,
  > 2) a related crop, 3) a related technology
  > Each team's goal will be to jumpstart a community around a
  > value/crop/technology.
  > Jeff: the IF&WM produces multiple crops
  > Andrius: Yes, for example.
  > Jeff: We could do a case study of Songhai Farm
  > study those thress things
  > three things
  > Andrius: And each team would document at least 10 personal stories
  > Jeff: a value like empowering small farmer through sustainable
  > agriculture
  > Andrius: and get basic information for 300 food producers.
  > So IF&WM would be a relevant technology
  > and my question is, what crop in particular might it relate to.
  > I understand there are several.
  > But is there a single crop that might highlight the whole ecosystem?
  > Jeff: fish is the most profitable in the system
  > Andrius: And what is the "value" that the technology and crop make
  > concrete?
  > Yes, fish would be excellent.
  > And I'm curious, what might be the "human value" that fish
  > resonates with?
  > Jeff: empowering small farmer through sustainable agriculture
  > Andrius: For example, in Lithuania honey is closely related to
  > "friendship" because two people have to have very close relationships
  > for them to be able to share bees.
  > So the word for "best friends" comes from the word "bees".
  > People who keep bees together.
  > Yes, so for example, "fish" and "sustainability" may go hand in hand.
  > Sustainability, or another value?
  > Also, Greg would like to start right away, October 1st. So it
  > would be especially helpful for us if your team might be able to work in
  > October.
  > We have funding for one coordinator at $500 and four field agents
  > at $100.
  > Jeff: it would be ideal if you could send me detailed
  > instructions so I could consider it
  > Andrius: That's pretty much all the information that I have.
  > Jeff: for example can you explain further about 300 producers
  > Andrius: Yes I need to find out more.
  > Jeff: ok
  > Andrius: So in the case of "fish" it would be to find basic
  > information about 300 producers of fish.
  > Jeff: Because I am not sure if the IF&WMS would work as most of
  > the projects are Brazil
  > there is only one that is currently active in Africa
  > so collecting personal information about those connected to its
  > development on a practical level might be difficult
  > George has information about many of these people however
  > Andrius: I will share our chat! gotta go
  > Jeff: bye
  >
  > ----------------------------------------------------------
  >
  > Franz, Andrius,
  >
  > I feel a bit overwhelmed with all the emails so I am trying to be a bit
  > more discriminating with the delete button. I also will keep my response
  > short.
  >
  > Congrats on the renewed focus on social agriculture. I think you both
  > have put forward some good points relating to the need to transition
  > away from the current development model
  >
  > I also am open to looking at various options in terms of our
  > collaboration and considering what role OVF and its network can also
  > play in the process. However I want to stress that I do we need to get
  > the various roles and responsibilitiesdefined for each group or
  > individual involved clearly defined in writing.
  >
  > Possibly we could consider the effort among Rick, Anne and I in
  > particular have been engaged in to develop an integrated farming system
  > that includes the contributions of Prof George Chan and others in our
  > extended network.
  >
  > On that note I would like to share with you all my latest attempt to
  > help Prof Chan organize his work. The linked materials are from a 2004
  > report he compiled as a result of his work in Brazil in promoting his
  > Integrated Farming approach there: http://www.onevillage.biz/album/
  >
  > Jeff
  >
  >

Andrius, Steve,

Actually my personal experiences in relation to agriculture are
primarily limited to research. One notable asset is my link to George
Chan who is a great storyteller and has many field experiences. He has
despite his years been able to engage his network I feel in a unique and
vibrant way. I have started to convey some of that in the blog i created
to promote his work http://green.onevillage.tv

I would suggest that a pattern language be created in terms of
identifying the desire criteria of these agricultural systems including
"interdependence", "localization", "traceability" and "collective social
responsibility" and economic viability

Also I would sugget posting materials on the web that discuss the
project and the process.

I would hope also that we not only tell interesting stories in relation
to sustainable agriculture but also help to make these practices more
viable and relevant within our network so that we can move ourselves
towards actually living sustainable lifestyles rather than simply
talking about them.

My goals in participating in this project would include:

    1. On a practical level improving my own sustainability
    2. Developing additional funding opportunities for the IF&WMS
       sustainable agriculture project i am now working on
    3. Enabling the organization I am involved with (OVF) to further
       develop itself as consistent with its mission and vision.

Jeff

  > Here's a few questions that I look to you especially for leadership:
  > A) What are the kinds of information that we should collect? What is
relevant? Greg wants us to collect personal experiences and also
objective information regarding the agricultural processes, but what
might that mean concretely? and how might we organize that, especially
given our values-crops-practices approach?
  > B) How do we collect and present information in a way that encourages
people to investigate matters, contribute more observations, and makes
things more verifiable? We don't want to allow people to manipulate our
system, for example, by supplying misleading or false information to
hurt competitors, and we don't want to have to police the system.
  > C) What are the ways that we might open up for people, especially
customers, to take positive actions to support farmers rather than
simply buy food and products that may have to be transported from far away.
  >
  > Andrius
  >
  > Andrius Kulikauskas
  > Minciu Sodas
  > http://www.ms.lt
  > ms@...
  > +370 (5) 264 5950
  > +370 (699) 30003
  > Vilnius, Lithuania
  >
  > Hi Andrius,
  >
  > In advance of our Skype call sometime this week, I offer the
following for
  > your consideration:
  >
  > 1) As the name implies, Social Agriculture is about the relationship of
  > people to the production, processing, logistics, and utilization of food,
  > feed, fuel, fiber, flowers, and "farmaceuticals" (nutriceuticals). These
  > six provide a topical framework for further, in-depth exploration.
  > 2) Agriculture for Social Justice focuses first on taking care of the
  > providers / producers, followed by responding to the needs of the local
  > communities in which they live, and, lastly, playing into global markets.
  > Current production agriculture practices do the opposite which makes them
  > unjust.
  > 3) The combination of Social Agriculture and Social Justice defines a
  > context in which local sustainability becomes a key value along with
  > environmental sensitivity, and regional / global scalability--more fodder
  > for consideration.
  > 4) At the heart of what makes these three seemingly disparate goals-local
  > sustainability, environmental sensitivity, and regional / global
  > sensitivity-possible is directly tied to technology getting smaller,
faster,
  > stronger, embedded, more integrated, and more intelligent with each
passing
  > moment.
  > 5) Our challenge is to use some of these technological developments to
  > construct a forum and draw upon a set of processes / tools wherein people
  > can better understand conditions surrounding Social Agriculture and
Social
  > Justice and possibilities for making a difference, agree to frameworks in
  > which they can determine actions to take that will make a difference, and
  > commit to initiate specific actions on a local level that give the
  > frameworks meaning and offer the opportunities for broader learning.
If we
  > don't get this to the point of action on a local level then its value is
  > abstract and academic, at best, and severely limited in genuine
helpfulness
  > on the ground (no pun intended!).
  > 6) One of the best motivators to encourage people to gain further
  > understanding, agreement, and commitment is to provide rational,
relevant,
  > and repeatable metrics or indicators of progress / success that
illustrate
  > agricultural practices are moving along a continuum of local to
  > environmental to global. In other words, having a standardized scoring
  > system that measures how well agricultural practices in an area are
  > supporting the producers, stabilizing communities, protecting the
  > environment, and offering surplus into regional / global markets will
give
  > practitioners and advocates a way to articulate what they want to
  > accomplish, assess where they are now, and determine what they want
to do to
  > move forward.
  > 7) It is at this juncture where having an easy-to-use, uncomplicated to
  > follow, and factual web interface for people in local communities
possessing
  > all manner of technological know-how and confidence to utilize is
essential.
  > Such websites / web pages would be setup for communities around the
world in
  > a wide range of economic / political / social / cultural / geographic
  > realities so that participants can experience how to sustain locally and
  > scale globally while not exacting further damage to the environment
and even
  > restoring many areas to their original and naturally productive
conditions.
  > 8) There are business opportunities for people in localities worldwide to
  > setup and maintain these websites. Accuracy of postings and timeliness of
  > updates are critical to the effectiveness of these sites to honestly
  > represent the capacities, capabilities, and conditions in these local
areas.
  > Since the network builds from the bottom up, the foundation for
subsequent
  > expansion and scaling--rooted deeply in the sustainability of the
individual
  > producer--must be secure before going further or people are put at risk.
  > 9) There are different "solutions" for the localization of agriculture in
  > each community. This creates even more business opportunities for
those who
  > have knowledge in human-scale, community-based agriculture, integrated
  > farming and waste management systems, zero-emissions agricultural
practices,
  > low-impact / high efficiency logistical systems, etc. AND can transfer /
  > apply that knowledge in a readily accessible manner. This aspect of
  > "solutions" in relationship to the previous points about knowing where
  > communities stand in their capabilities and capacities is crucial.
Help is
  > defined by the recipient and to know what the recipient needs and respond
  > accordingly is the best way offer value and be useful.
  >
  > There is nothing radical and shocking in these nine points, but they
do give
  > us a way to frame some of the discussion in the Yahoo! Groups and tie
  > together the various aspects of what you, Greg, and Kevin want to explore
  > and accomplish. Anyway, like I said at the outset we can talk about all
  > this when we Skype later this week.
  >
  > Safe travels and warm regards,
  >
  > Steve B.
  >
  >

Jeff,

Thank you for your letter and for our chat today, which I share.

It would be great if you and One Village might work for us in October on
our project for Greg Wolff, which we're calling "My Food Story".  The
first month is the hardest in order to get things going!

Our goal is that in six months we have six communities that are building
knowledge related to a human value, a related crop, and a related
practice.  As we discussed, "sustainability", "fish" and "George Chan's
Integrated Farm & Waste Management system" would make a great triple.
So our goal would be, if you agree, to:
* Find a person with a key concept related to "sustainability" who would
be willing to lead a working group at our Minciu Sodas laboratory based
on their key concept.  This working group could certainly be co-branded
with One Village and it could belong to both networks.
* At that group, have them host the assembling of fish farmers who care
about sustainability, and also practitioners of George Chan's system.
The group would thus be a place for them all to meet around their shared
value.
* With the help of a team of four field agents who you choose, collect
at least 10 personal stories and also information on 300 fish farmers
(we have to figure out what information, but I think especially contact
information, how and why they might be contacted, we can set up an email
questionnaire system to help with this).  We would feature your work in
October but you would have up to six months to reach the targets and
then you would receive a significant bonus.
* Enter the information into the customized web system which I will be
creating in the next week or two, or in the meanwhile, in our wikis.
Jeff, Joy, I hope you and your One Village team might work for us!

I encourage more of us to write how we might participate.  Some other
connections include:
Uwe-Christian Plachetka's linking of "knowledge", maize, and Incan
knowledge management
Pamela McLean's linking of "learning" and ginger.
In Lithuania, we think of "close friendship" as related to "beekeeping"
and "honey" because - at least in our tradition - bees are very
sensitive to human relationships, and only very good friends are able to
share bees.
Perhaps there is also a connection between "tea" and "contemplation".

Any other possible connections?  What might be the showcase crop for
Solaroof? for video bridges?

Andrius

Andrius Kulikauskas
Minciu Sodas
http://www.ms.lt
ms@...
+370 (5) 264 5950
+370 (699) 30003
Vilnius, Lithuania




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--------------------
Andrius:     I'm interested if you and others at One Village might work
on our project.
        For example, One Village could lead one of our six teams and we
could co-brand it accordingly.
Jeff:          and each of the teams will...
Andrius:     My idea is that each time would center around 1) a value,
2) a related crop, 3) a related technology
        Each team's goal will be to jumpstart a community around a
value/crop/technology.
Jeff:          the IF&WM produces multiple crops
Andrius:     Yes, for example.
Jeff:          We could do a case study of Songhai Farm
        study those thress things
        three things
Andrius:     And each team would document at least 10 personal stories
Jeff:          a value like empowering small farmer through sustainable
agriculture
Andrius:     and get basic information for 300 food producers.
        So IF&WM would be a relevant technology
        and my question is, what crop in particular might it relate to.
        I understand there are several.
        But is there a single crop that might highlight the whole ecosystem?
Jeff:          fish is the most profitable in the system
Andrius:     And what is the "value" that the technology and crop make
concrete?
        Yes, fish would be excellent.
        And I'm curious, what might be the "human value" that fish
resonates with?
Jeff:          empowering small farmer through sustainable agriculture
Andrius:     For example, in Lithuania honey is closely related to
"friendship" because two people have to have very close relationships
for them to be able to share bees.
        So the word for "best friends" comes from the word "bees".
        People who keep bees together.
        Yes, so for example, "fish" and "sustainability" may go hand in hand.
        Sustainability, or another value?
        Also, Greg would like to start right away, October 1st. So it
would be especially helpful for us if your team might be able to work in
October.
        We have funding for one coordinator at $500 and four field agents
at $100.
Jeff:          it would be ideal if you could send me detailed
instructions so I could consider it
Andrius:     That's pretty much all the information that I have.
Jeff:          for example can you explain further about 300 producers
Andrius:     Yes I need to find out more.
Jeff:          ok
Andrius:     So in the case of "fish" it would be to find basic
information about 300 producers of fish.
Jeff:          Because I am not sure if the IF&WMS would work as most of
the projects are Brazil
        there is only one that is currently active in Africa
        so collecting personal information about those connected to its
development on a practical level might be difficult
        George has information about many of these people however
Andrius:     I will share our chat! gotta go
Jeff:          bye


-------------------------------------------------------------

Franz, Andrius,

I feel a bit overwhelmed with all the emails so I am trying to be a bit
more discriminating with the delete button. I also will keep my response
short.

Congrats on the renewed focus on social agriculture. I think you both
have put forward some good points relating to the need to transition
away from the current development model

I also am open to looking at various options in terms of our
collaboration and considering what role OVF and its network can also
play in the process. However I want to stress that I do we need to get
the various roles and responsibilitiesdefined for each group or
individual involved clearly defined in writing.

Possibly we could consider the effort among Rick, Anne and I in
particular have been engaged in to develop an integrated farming system
that includes the contributions of Prof George Chan and others in our
extended network.

On that note I would like to share with you all my latest attempt to
help Prof Chan organize his work. The linked materials are from a 2004
report he compiled as a result of his work in Brazil in promoting his
Integrated Farming approach there: http://www.onevillage.biz/album/

Jeff

Franz, Thank you!  This is excellent.  Thank you for reaching out to
William Woys Weaver and Eva Vesovniks for us.  And our project is
certainly relevant to the MIR Learning Partnership that I'll be meeting
up with you at in Cyprus in October.  Andrius, http://www.ms.lt

Franz Nahrada wrote:
> Thank you Andrius for bringing three exciting projests into perspective!
>
> My excuse to all that currently even as a moderator I feel overwhelmed by
> the traffic in our list and I cannot read and evaluate all of the posts,
> and I appreciate Andrius support in creating more granularity and
> on-topicness while still maintaining community and coherence.
>
> The Greg Wolf Project resonates very much with an idea on Global Villages
> that I brought up some months ago, namely make Global Villages the keeper
> of genetic diversity and thus food security.
>
> The abandoning of rural areas is a direct threat to the very sources of
> genetic diversity produced by mankind in the last 10 000 years; genetic
> diversity that has to do with human intervention, breeding and mutual
> influencing of man and nature. It is a very shortsighted idea to think
> industrialized agiculture with sterile containers can in any way provide
> food security. It is sharpening the distinction between the haves and the
> have-nots, it creates structural dependency, it impoversishes life by
> eliminating diversity and it is highly risky in itself because there are
> hundreds of logistical factors for its maintainance including the rapture
> of resources. One could elobarate a day on this and not come toi an end.
>
> So I welcome the project which is all about transparency of the production
> process, which is really a very close relative to "Open Source
> Agriculture" as I have invisioned it together with Uwe Christian Plachetka
> as a lead paradigm for a possible major Global Villages intervention in
> Peru, building on the immense practical wisdom and sohistication of the
> Inka agriCulture. We are still not sure in which institutional framework
> we can be enacted and empowered to link together villages all over the
> world to share agricultural knowledge, but hopefully the Social
> Agriculture group will be part of it.
>
> In a few hours I am going to meet another interesting person in the field
> (right "on a field in Vienna, hehehe, namely Eva Vesovniks
> http://www.dorfwiki.org/wiki.cgi?EvaVesovnik
> incredible permaculture garden which celebrates its 5th anniversary today,
> see http://www.dorfwiki.org/wiki.cgi?EvaVesovnik/MeineProjekte)
>
> -----
> Eva is finding worldwide recognition nowadays, and she is honoured today
> by the visit of William Woys Weave-  a man that has thoroughly studied the
> relation between crops, technologies and values, and I am going to invite
> both of them to join Social Agriculture and give them a printout of
> Andrius mail..... But I am also taking the liberty to bring some of WWWs
> statements from a PBS interview to your attention, read the full text
> here:
> ----
> http://www.pbs.org/pov/borders/2004/earth/earth_int_garden.html
> ----
> and some quotations for the list
> "Background: William Woys Weaver is a well-known food historian and author
> who has devoted nearly 30 years of research into the the origins of
> American cookery and the traditional kitchen garden. He maintains the
> Roughwood Seed Collection, consisting of some 2,000 varieties of
> vegetables, herbs and flowers. Through the Seed Savers Exchange, he has
> supplied seeds and plants to historic gardens world-wide."
> "William Woys Weaver: Seeds are cuisines waiting to happen. We have come
> to a point in our culture where we have forgotten the connection between
> the food we grow, the food we eat, and who we are as a people. Seeds
> preserve our cultural identity. They are like entire civilizations buried
> in a grain of sand. Take a grain of emmer wheat (farro), an olive pit, and
> a grape seed; you have the cornerstone of Mediterranean culture in the
> palm of your hand."
> "Telling the story of a plant is a bit like reconstructing its family
> history. You have to be a Sherlock Holmes of sorts and spend a lot of time
> doing archival research. I like to read old seed catalogs and old garden
> magazines. When you dig through these sources, you pick up interesting
> details and observations and sometimes you even learn who created the
> variety, which puts a human face on the story. I like to grow the plant
> and get to know it. And while I am in the garden weeding around it,
> communing with it you might say, its distinctiveness comes to me, and I
> begin to see what is important to say about it. "
> Definition: heirloom = a horticultural variety that has survived for
> several generations usually due to the efforts of private individuals
> "P.O.V.: Sometimes we refer to seed varieties with long and colorful
> histories as heirlooms. Can you tell us a bit more about what makes an
> heirloom seed?"
> "Weaver: Different opinions abound as to the definition of an heirloom. I
> think it's easiest to think of heirlooms as handed down over several
> generations. They are open pollinated (naturally pollinated). Some are old
> commercially-developed varieties, others are vegetables that evolved in
> someone's backyard, still others are ancient varieties that have sustained
> farming cultures in the developing world for many centuries. Most
> heirlooms were created through selection of strains, a slow process, and
> many began as hybrids, but then through selection, they were "fixed" so
> that they would retain the desired traits they have."
> "P.O.V.: Most Americans get their produce from the supermarkets in their
> town. Maybe they have a choice between organic and conventional, but often
> they have no way of knowing where the vegetables come from. You'd be
> hard-pressed to find the word "heirloom" anywhere in most supermarkets.
> So why are heirlooms and seed saving important to the average American?
> What's at stake?"
> "Weaver: First of all, heirlooms offer a diversity not available in
> monoculture (one crop) farming. When you consider that there are over
> 5,000 varieties of tomatoes and probably twice as many potatoes, think of
> the incredible variety of flavors, colors and textures we have at our
> disposal as cooks. Furthermore, this huge variety offers an equally huge
> "pasture" of nutrients we cannot get from processed food. That is probably
> the gastronomic reason why chefs like heirlooms so much. "
> "The scientific argument is also important: we need to preserve that
> diversity in order to be healthy human beings, in order to have an
> insurance policy, if you will, against the possibility that our hybrid
> vegetables will eventually burn out and fail (they always do). Heirlooms
> are tried and true. They work for particular soils and climate conditions
> and do not require the investment in pesticides, fertilizers, and other
> hidden costs, which is why they are so popular with organic growers.
> Heirlooms bring down the cost of farming so that average people can make a
> living from it. We need that."
> "Lastly, what is at stake? Well, the hybrid foods we get in supermarkets
> have been raised at an enormous price in terms of energy consumption. It
> is all based on oil. The sprays, the packaging, the fuel needed to farm on
> a large scale, is all based on cheap oil. Then there is the cost of
> shipping these foods to various parts of the country. Look at all of the
> packages, bags, plastic containers in a typical supermarket. These are
> hidden costs. Why is everything so cheap? Because we are borrowing against
> the environment, we are paying for these cheap foods by exporting high
> cost farm supplies to the Third World. This bubble will eventually burst."
> ......
> "The opposite of monoculture farming is biodiversification. This means
> planting a diversity of crops so that you don't rely on any one single
> crop for overall success. You view your farm holistically, in that all
> plants growing on it have a use. Output is therefore defined not only by a
> field of soybeans, but also by the apple trees you may own, the dandelion
> greens in your lawn that you may eat for spring salad, the wild
> brambleberries along a field that might supply you with a summer pie. This
> is a new form of agriculture that is taking root right at this moment as a
> reaction to monoculture. When you go into a store and look at fruit and
> vegetables, how can you tell what had been grown in a monoculture? There
> is a little round label and it will list a patent number. You do not have
> to buy it and the more people who don't, the louder the message will be
> that you want something better for your children."
> read all at http://www.pbs.org/pov/borders/2004/earth/earth_int_garden.html
>
>
> all the best
> Franz Nahrada
>

Steve,

Thank you for your letter which I share at our lab.

I invite those who would like to work on Greg Wolff's Origins project to please
join our lab's newest working group "Social Agriculture" which you lead:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/socialagriculture/  Send a blank message to
socialagriculture-subscribe@yahoogroups.com   We have funds for 6 coordinators
($500 and bonuses) and 24 field agents ($100).  We're also very interested to
support all manner of projects that we might relate to agriculture.  Also, I ask
each of our working group leaders to help host a team that might work for us. 
This is our lab's major project this next half year and the one that sustains
us!

In our conversation today you spoke about some of your values such as
"interdependence", "localization", "traceability" and "collective social
responsibility".  We also agreed that, because we don't yet have any significant
way to reward you monetarily, I will build our web portal so that we deliver for
you a local portal for your community in Columbus, Ohio.

This evening I purchased five websites for our brand "My Food Story": 
myfoodstory.com, .org, .net, .biz, .info

Here's a few questions that I look to you especially for leadership:
A) What are the kinds of information that we should collect?  What is relevant?
Greg wants us to collect personal experiences and also objective information
regarding the agricultural processes, but what might that mean concretely? and
how might we organize that, especially given our values-crops-practices
approach?
B) How do we collect and present information in a way that encourages people to
investigate matters, contribute more observations, and makes things more
verifiable?  We don't want to allow people to manipulate our system, for
example, by supplying misleading or false information to hurt competitors, and
we don't want to have to police the system.
C) What are the ways that we might open up for people, especially customers, to
take positive actions to support farmers rather than simply buy food and
products that may have to be transported from far away.

Andrius

Andrius Kulikauskas
Minciu Sodas
http://www.ms.lt
ms@...
+370 (5) 264 5950
+370 (699) 30003
Vilnius, Lithuania




Hi Andrius,

In advance of our Skype call sometime this week, I offer the following for
your consideration:

1) As the name implies, Social Agriculture is about the relationship of
people to the production, processing, logistics, and utilization of food,
feed, fuel, fiber, flowers, and "farmaceuticals" (nutriceuticals).  These
six provide a topical framework for further, in-depth exploration.
2) Agriculture for Social Justice focuses first on taking care of the
providers / producers, followed by responding to the needs of the local
communities in which they live, and, lastly, playing into global markets.
Current production agriculture practices do the opposite which makes them
unjust.
3) The combination of Social Agriculture and Social Justice defines a
context in which local sustainability becomes a key value along with
environmental sensitivity, and regional / global scalability--more fodder
for consideration.
4) At the heart of what makes these three seemingly disparate goals-local
sustainability, environmental sensitivity, and regional / global
sensitivity-possible is directly tied to technology getting smaller, faster,
stronger, embedded, more integrated, and more intelligent with each passing
moment.
5) Our challenge is to use some of these technological developments to
construct a forum and draw upon a set of processes / tools wherein people
can better understand conditions surrounding Social Agriculture and Social
Justice and possibilities for making a difference, agree to frameworks in
which they can determine actions to take that will make a difference, and
commit to initiate specific actions on a local level that give the
frameworks meaning and offer the opportunities for broader learning.  If we
don't get this to the point of action on a local level then its value is
abstract and academic, at best, and severely limited in genuine helpfulness
on the ground (no pun intended!).
6) One of the best motivators to encourage people to gain further
understanding, agreement, and commitment is to provide rational, relevant,
and repeatable metrics or indicators of progress / success that illustrate
agricultural practices are moving along a continuum of local to
environmental to global.  In other words, having a standardized scoring
system that measures how well agricultural practices in an area are
supporting the producers, stabilizing communities, protecting the
environment, and offering surplus into regional / global markets will give
practitioners and advocates a way to articulate what they want to
accomplish, assess where they are now, and determine what they want to do to
move forward.
7) It is at this juncture where having an easy-to-use, uncomplicated to
follow, and factual web interface for people in local communities possessing
all manner of technological know-how and confidence to utilize is essential.
Such websites / web pages would be setup for communities around the world in
a wide range of economic / political / social / cultural / geographic
realities so that participants can experience how to sustain locally and
scale globally while not exacting further damage to the environment and even
restoring many areas to their original and naturally productive conditions.
8) There are business opportunities for people in localities worldwide to
setup and maintain these websites.  Accuracy of postings and timeliness of
updates are critical to the effectiveness of these sites to honestly
represent the capacities, capabilities, and conditions in these local areas.
Since the network builds from the bottom up, the foundation for subsequent
expansion and scaling--rooted deeply in the sustainability of the individual
producer--must be secure before going further or people are put at risk.
9) There are different "solutions" for the localization of agriculture in
each community.  This creates even more business opportunities for those who
have knowledge in human-scale, community-based agriculture, integrated
farming and waste management systems, zero-emissions agricultural practices,
low-impact / high efficiency logistical systems, etc. AND can transfer /
apply that knowledge in a readily accessible manner.  This aspect of
"solutions" in relationship to the previous points about knowing where
communities stand in their capabilities and capacities is crucial.  Help is
defined by the recipient and to know what the recipient needs and respond
accordingly is the best way offer value and be useful.

There is nothing radical and shocking in these nine points, but they do give
us a way to frame some of the discussion in the Yahoo! Groups and tie
together the various aspects of what you, Greg, and Kevin want to explore
and accomplish.  Anyway, like I said at the outset we can talk about all
this when we Skype later this week.

Safe travels and warm regards,

Steve B.

I share our Minciu Sodas laboratory's news with our working groups and
various individuals who I would like to meet in my travels to Cyprus,
Israel, Egypt and Turkey.  Andrius Kulikauskas, http://www.ms.lt, ms@...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
-----------------------


I am glad to announce three major projects that I and our Minciu Sodas
laboratory are starting.  In each case, we're still working out the
details, but I ask that we think how we might participate:
- Greg Wolff is arranging funding for us to bring life to a "wikipedia
for our food supply chain".
- The Pioneers of Change http://pioneersofchange.net, a community very
similar to ours, are paying me and our lab to help with their website.
- Thanks to Franz Nahrada, I have received European Union funding to
travel to Cyprus for a meeting of his MIR Learning Partnership, and then
I plan to travel onward to Israel, Egypt and Turkey.

I will need our help especially with Greg's very ambitious project and
opportunity.  Here is the social goal:

"Publicly accessible, factual information regarding the source of
products, especially a cultural products, benefits everyone.  As a
customer, if I know that chocolate bar X was grown in the Ivory Coast by
a plantation and employs children and uses pesticides, and I know that
chocolate bar Y was grown in Ecuador by a community cooperative using
organic methods in an old-growth rain forest, I am in better position to
make a choice between X and Y.  (Similar arguments apply to other
players in the supply chain.)  Closer to home, Farm X and Farm Y.  Both
farms run a CSA program (Community Supported Agriculture).  Customers of
farm X report that they get fresh produce every week.  Customers of farm
Y report that their produce is spoiled when they receive it.  Farm Y
benefits from getting truthful feedback.  Potential customers benefit by
getting better information."

We will collect factual information about the actual production
processes and also personal stories about how the process impacts people.

He's funding us for 6 months to bring this to life.  Our job is to
achieve critical mass so that it can keep building momentum, and in
particular, to figure out the economic angles that would help this
resource grow and thrive.  Greg's personal role is to investigate
"business development for social enterprises, e.g. making connections
between people and doing the experiments so that everyone can learn what
business models generate the most (relationship) value for all
stakeholders."

My job is to organize this in a way that would be exciting to all who
might contribute and invest themselves in this public resource.  Steve
Bosserman has agreed to be our living expert whose value of "social
justice" , vision of "social agriculture" and experience as agricultural
knowledge broker will inform everything we do.  Please join us at our
lab's working group Social Agriculture
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/socialagriculture/ where we will
coordinate our work together.

Our plan is to start up 6 teams and showcase one each month.  Here's how
I imagine it.  Each team will investigate the connection between a
value, a crop and a technology.  They will start with a particular value
they care about that agriculture might nurture, such as Peace or
Learning or Helping or Health or Friendship or Sustainability or Faith,
the list is endless.  There mission is to find the crop/food whose
cultivation/processing is most nurturing of that value.  And then to
show how one or more "global village technologies" can support that
activity so that the crop and the value thrive together.  In this way
we, each month we can highlight a value, a crop, a technology.  This
will help us decide which farmers we might most want to reach out to so
that as we invest ourselves we build our profound social network.  My
hypothesis is that we'll find each crop/food plays a special role in our
society that we might come to appreciate.  For example, here in
Lithuania I think that flax is closely linked to collective work, or
even romance and song, because of all the stages of manual work to
process the flax.  Or I imagine that we might find a particular crop
that is especially helpful in pointing out the value of Solaroof or
timebanks or wifi or video bridges.  I think we might bring out the
story in food so that we get to know our "food mind" just as we are our
"money mind".  In this way we won't think of the foods as "cash crops"
but as social concepts that connect us to each other, near and far, and
to nature.  I think we will find a special role for foods like
chocolate, coffee, tea, but let's see how and why they connect us.

Our budget is $2,000 per month of which I will take half and give half.
I imagine each team will have:
- One coordinator responsible overall who will earn a $500 stipend for
their work.
- Four field agents who will assist and receive $100 each, much as
Samwel Kongere has.
- A small team of evangelists who have related values and/or
technologies that the team might advance.
- A larger group of supporters and contributors.
Each team will strive to exceed the following targets for our online
resource:
- An active community (hosted by one of our working groups).
- 10 personal stories
- 300 producer profiles (verified, factual information regarding producers)
We will receive and share a substantial bonus for each team that meets
its targets.  Also, I will set this up so that we're also maximizing our
resources by using community currency much as we did last year with the
Chocolate project.

Furthermore, we will take this opportunity to look for all manner of
additional work and funding.  For example, Andrea Mills of Italy
Innovation Lab is very interested that we do such work to help, for
example, tomato growers in the Piacenza region.  Steve Bosserman and
Greg Wolff will also be exploring business opportunities.

We're officially starting October 1st.  It would be great if each of our
working groups might host one team.  Please speak up at your favorite
group!  and please know that I and our lab have great freedom to shape
this opportunity so that we might channel into it as much energy as we can.

I note that social networking - reaching out to "independent thinking"
farmers, processors, sellers, buyers, enthusiasts - is what I think will
make this endeavor a "fruitful" investment for us all.  So it's
extremely important that we consider, what are our values that we'd like
to showcase and organize around?  what are the investigatory questions
that we care to explore?  Our human interests are what I believe will
allow us to collect information in a way that encourages engagement and
discourages manipulation.

I will be creating very simple software for collecting and showing such
information.  It will be a questionnaire-driven interface to Helmut
Leitner's ProWiki software.   Our work will be in the Public Domain.  As
we collect information we will think how to make it available in the
most engaging ways.  In particular, we will work with Kevin Jones of
http://www.xigi.net whose new interface helps social investors discover
where they would like to invest.

I look forward to synergy here with our second big project which is
maintaining and expanding the online world of Pioneers of Change
http://pioneersofchange.net   Nancy White, very possibly the world's
greatest online facilitator, helped bring us together.  Pioneers of
Change is a global learning network for young professionals who get to
know each other to make real change in the world.  They are especially
strong at global travel and have a good team in South Africa.  I am
starting by upgrading their Plone content management system with help
from their system's creator Sean Legassick.  Then I think they will set
their priorities for the functionality they most want, starting with
member pages that are integrated with member content, and I will work to
meet that, hopefully with technology that we can also use.  We've
started off well and this may be the beginning of a successful journey
to create a shared culture with other networks, as Dante-Gabryell Monson
is suggesting, and as we've written at Back to the Root
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/backtotheroot/   We've spoken about the
significance of the Public Domain and also the usefulness of a software
system for helping our networks show our availability for various kinds
of work.  We've also spoken about the possibility of hiring our
colleagues in Africa and elsewhere to respond to individuals in Pioneers
of Change when they need help with certain aspects of the system.  We
were excited to learn that Leonard Boniface of Tanzania is in both of
our networks!  Indeed, Maria Agnese Giraudo of Italy recently traveled
to Tanzania and is helping Leonard Boniface, Helen Mahoo and William
Wambura of Tanzania work with Samwel Kongere of Kenya to provide web
design services locally.  I see our own need for online assistants and
so have been thinking in the above two projects how they might work for us.

Finally, thank you to Franz Nahrada, leader of our "global villages"
working group http://www.globalvillages.info, for including me and
Minciu Sodas as a candidate for the MIR Learning partnership
http://www.dorfwiki.org/wiki.cgi?MIR that links adult education and
local development.  We're delighted that Lithuania's Socrates agency
which was not friendly to our lab's approach during the ERDE project is
now supportive and indeed we can participate directly.  I will be
attending their first meeting in Cyprus on October 12-16, most likely
flying on October 7th and staying for almost two weeks.   I will take
the opportunity to spend perhaps two or three weeks in Israel (and, if
conditions permit, Palestine and Jordan) and perhaps four weeks in Egypt
and a week in Istanbul, Turkey on my way home.  This presumes that I can
find good Internet access so that I can do my work, so if not, I will
return straightaway.
In Cyprus, thanks to Markus Petz, I look forward to connecting with
people who seek nonviolent resolution of the split between the southern
Greek and northern Turkish sides.  In Israel, I hope to participate in
Yehuda Stolov's Interfaith Encounter Association
http://www.interfaith-encounter.org  There, and especially in Egypt, I
am interested to organize Islamic independent thinkers.  I would like to
find people who are directly interested in God, imagine his perspective,
listen to him and work together with him.  I believe that if we could
find such people, then we could develop our faiths further and discover
within them ways to consider and share absolute truth.  I have been
working steadily on my own investigation "to know everything and apply
that usefully"
http://www.patternlanguages.info/wiki.cgi?UniversalLanguage/Overview  I
am curious where I could find Islamic thinkers (or Christian or Jewish
or others for that matter) bold enough to think fresh about all
matters.  I'm finding the Islamic concept of Ijtihad ("independent
opinion or judgment") very helpful
http://www.loving-god.info/wiki.cgi?Ijtihad and also the world's oldest
university Al-Azhar University is a reference point for both the
orthodox and reformers and those in between
http://www.loving-god.info/wiki.cgi?AlAzharUniversity  I have a Ph.D. in
mathematics, so perhaps I could be invited as a visiting scholar?

As I travel, I hope to find members for some of our new working groups:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/socialagriculture/  led by Steve Bosserman
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fightingpeacefully/  led by Eluned Hurn
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lovinggod/  organized to foster God's
leadership
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/learningfromeachother/  led by Pamela McLean
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ethicaldesign/   led by James Ferguson who
is hosting our work to assemble the pattern language movement and to
promote author Nikos Salingaros's book "A Theory of Architecture"
http://www.umbau-verlag.com and we have a special regard for Islamic
architecture.

There is so much work to do!  So I am glad that it encourages me to ask
for our help.  In particular, I ask our working group leaders, where
possible, to host a team for our work for Greg Wolff to make our food
supply options transparent.  I am imagining that a good team to start
would be one on the value of Peace and centered at Eluned Hurn's working
group Fighting Peacefully
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fightingpeacefully/   Eluned will be
traveling soon with John Rogers to Sri Lanka for the peace march, much
needed there, and I will be likewise in the Middle East.  So I think the
connection between Peace and food is a natural place to start.  What is
the food of peace?  Hmm, perhaps it's water?

Thank you to all for "caring about thinking", which is the value we
share as independent thinkers.  Please help us welcome all who join us
at our Minciu Sodas laboratory for serving and organizing independent
thinkers.

Andrius

Andrius Kulikauskas
Minciu Sodas
http://www.ms.lt
ms@...
+370 (5) 264 5950
+370 (699) 30003
Vilnius, Lithuania

Steve, Thank you for agreeing to lead this working group! Andrius

Steve Bosserman wrote:

>Andrius,
>
>I'm about to launch into my day over here, but a quick thought as to the
>name for the Yahoo! Group.  Since the underlying platform we're building
>upon consists of agriculture, society's relationship to it, and how the
>combination of the two can provide a more just and fair reality for people
>and the planet perhaps we could put those two terms together in the title
>for the group, e.g., "Social Agriculture."  This is in contrast to
>"production agriculture" or "corporate agriculture" that characterizes our
>thinking about the term today.  It is one of the categories on my
>Communications Agent blog for this reason.  There may be other wording that
>is more to the point and you are certainly welcome to choose another route
>but that is my thought for now.  More later...
>
>Thanks for moving this forward!
>
>Steve B.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Andrius Kulikauskas [mailto:ms@...]
>Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 1:48 AM
>To: Steve Bosserman
>Subject: Re: Would you help with our lab's agricultural project?
>
>Steve,
>
>Excellent!
>I take the initiative to start a Yahoo group around you.
>I think that would be best or please let me know.
>I'm wondering what to call it as "social justice" is taken at Yahoo groups.
>We can always rename it.  It should be a brand for you and your values.
>Until I hear from you I will call it "knowledgebroker", that's available.
>Another thought is "fairforall" based on a phrase of Greg Wolff's.
>
>Andrius
>
>Andrius Kulikauskas
>Minciu Sodas
>http://www.ms.lt
>ms@...
>+370 (5) 264 5950
>skype: minciusodas
>Vilnius, Lithuania
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>