Finding God in farming
By Dieng Karnedi, SJ | Province
of Indonesia
[From “Jesuits 2024 - The Society of Jesus in the world”]
Farming connects people to God while also forming them environmentally. This is the foundation of the Jesuit run Kursus Pertanian Taman Tani Agricultural Center, in Central Java, Indonesia.
“The ultimate goal of farming is not growing the crops but the cultivation and perfection of human beings”, said Masanobu Fukuoka, Japanese farmer and promotor of “natural agriculture”. Actually, farming is an easy thing. You can learn and practice it. However, if the farmer himself does not have the right attitude, if he is not striving to be “a cultivated and perfect human being”, the results and impacts of farming can be detrimental to others.
At KPTT Agricultural Center, we have been
involved in agriculture for 58 years and we discovered that through agriculture
we reach something spiritual, ecological, and eminently formative. These
aspects are interconnected and are complementary.
Agriculture connects us to God
We are a Jesuit-run boarding and day school that teaches organic farming. We are consoled and satisfied when we reflect together with the students, the participants in our sessions and the visitors on the meaning of our Center’s activities. One simple question we always ask them is: what are their feelings after participating in the courses, internships, or even simply after their short trip to KPTT? Surprisingly maybe, the most dominant feeling is the joy of being able to know about and experience concretely our agricultural formation project.
An additional feeling is also noteworthy: it is a sense of affirmation of the importance of agriculture and an inspiration to pursue and love agriculture even more than before. The participants in our sessions are delighted to witness and being directly involved in the growth of the various commodities they have planted, from seed to germination, growth stage, flowering stage, and fruiting stage.
An amazing process starts from a small seed that grows into a large plant that produces stems, leaves, seeds, and fruits. And they can see that all of these parts of the plants provide food and various products for the people.
We believe that farming activities are connected
to God who continues to work in us and makes us feel joy and wonder; a way for
God to motivate us in our daily life. Theologians have said that spirituality
is something that connects you to God. For us, farming is a spiritual encounter
that connects us to God. What we do can be called “finding God in farming”.
Healthy soil for a healthy life
One of the agricultural courses we offer is about preparing healthy soil for our healthy life. This movement was initiated globally in 2015. Soil is fundamental in agriculture. In the soil, various types of plants and vegetables can grow and fulfil the needs of men and women on Earth. As so we ask, what happens if the soil is polluted and environmentally damaged? Of course, what we will grow and consume will contribute to broaden the environmental pollution and damage.
Conveying the importance of protecting the soil
as an ecological base of the environment to the kindergarteners and the youth
who participated in our farming course is both exciting and challenging. We are
aware that, for some people, soil is considered dirty, even disgusting. When we
see these reactions, it does not discourage us. Instead, we are motivated to
crush that belief. Therefore, we set up various agricultural activities in
order to bring children and adults closer to the soil. For example, parts of
the course involve the preparation of compost as well as planting vegetables
directly in the soil. It is an important activity to build the foundations of
ecological awareness.
Youth formation
Today, there are numerous ways to spread the Good News. One of them is agriculture. It is an interesting channel to proclaim the Good News, especially to young people. They know as we know that the world is currently facing a food and energy crisis. This challenge is an opportunity for us to speak and preach about ecological awareness by concretely involving young people to plant agricultural commodities and to take care of them.
We also feel happy that an agriculture project
can be an opportunity for Jesuits to walk together with the youth. Last year,
after the pandemic, over 1,600 young people came to KPTT for agricultural
courses, internships, and visits. Some of them directly expressed their new
interest in agriculture and decided to study and work in agriculture, a way to
build their future. This is our role as Jesuit educators: accompany, educate
and orient their lives in a positive direction. At the same time, through
evaluation and reflection, we also have the opportunity to direct them toward
finding their divine path to God.
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