Lindsay Falvey

Lindsay Falvey

John Lindsay Falvey (born 23 May 1950) known as Lindsay Falvey, is an international R&D specialist and an author who writes on topics concerning agricultural science and philosophy, religion, international development and more lately spiritual development. He is Chair of the Board of the CGIAR centre, the International Livestock Research Institute among other roles, is a member for life of Clare Hall, Cambridge, at the University of Cambridge, continues as an Honorary Professor after retiring as a full Professor of the University of Melbourne, where he was Chair of Agriculture, Dean of Land and Food Resources, Dean of Agriculture, Forestry and Horticulture (now Faculty of Land and Environment), now the Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences. He is a recipient of national and international awards, has three doctorates [Ph.D., D.Agr.Sc., D.Agr.Techn. (honoris causa)] reflecting his work in Asia and Australia, is a recipient of the Centennial Medal of the Government of Australia and is a Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (FTSE).[1] Other information: http://profdrlindsayfalvey.yolasite.com/resources/bio.pdf

Personal life

Falvey was born in Melbourne, Australia of Kenneth Robert Leslie Falvey and Dorothy Elizabeth Falvey (née Christopher). He has one brother Russell Leslie Falvey. From 1971 to 2002, Falvey was married to Janice Patricia Daly; they have two sons, Leslie Kenneth Falvey and Christopher John Falvey. In March 2006 he married Simone Lucie Behr (Bernhardt), an Alsatian ethnologist of the Council of Europe. He attended Deepdene State School and Balwyn High School, La Trobe University and the University of Queensland.[2]

Summary of Works[3]

During his initial degree, he took various in-term and vacation jobs, including labouring and mustering cattle at Douglas-Daly Experiment Station in the Northern Territory of Australia, while also taking a Methodist Local Preaching qualification with The Reverend Dr. A. Harold Wood at Deepdene Methodist Church. He worked for the Federal Government in Darwin, from where he conducted research and other work on the Douglas-Daly Experiment Station for five years. Disrupted by Cyclone Tracy on Christmas Eve of 1974, Falvey entered international development as suited his perceived vocation to research livestock as an alternative to opium production in the northern Thailand highlands, which uncovered a primary sodium deficiency through much of the region from research that integrated sociological, economic and technical parameters. After five years Falvey joined a small commercial cooperative delivering international aid for rural development which became known as MPW Australia, of which he soon became Managing Director. With contributions from his professional colleagues, MPW grew into a sizable consulting company and was eventually purchased by the stock-exchange-listed Coffey International to become Coffey-MPW, of which he was Managing Director until 1993. During this consulting period, he maintained an active academic interest and published regularly in scientific journals, while also working in some 20 countries. His first books, on 'Cattle in northern Thailand' and 'Working Animals' were published in this period.

In 1995, he was invited by the University of Melbourne to assume the role of Dean of a combined faculty of eight campuses with the task of merging the six colleges of the Victorian College of Agriculture and Horticulture with the university's ongoing departments related to agriculture and forestry. After completing the merger task and setting in place the adjustments required by the merger, he stepped down as Dean while retaining the Chair of Agriculture. Falvey was awarded a higher doctorate of agricultural science by the University of Melbourne in 2004 for a 1,500 page combined selection from his books and papers which revealed a new evolving philosophy of international agricultural development over some thirty years.

His most significant writing began during his term as Dean. An evolution of thought may be discerned in his acclaimed work on Thai Agriculture, which indicates the influence of Buddhism-related philosophy in the agriculture of developing nations, a theme expanded in his subsequent book 'Sustainability Elusive or Illusory' and his 2005 text 'Agriculture and Religion: Sustainability in Christianity and Buddhism.[4]

Falvey presents essential agriculture and food as something conceptually separate from all other non-basic needs and hence requiring different mindsets for development planning and economics, and hence policy. He also addresses scriptural works, which is a basis for his role with the Asian Agri-History Foundation (India). Examples of his diverse books include: The Buddha's Gospel, Religion and Agriculture, ['[Reaching the Top? All Paths are True on the Correct Mountain]'], "Dharma as Man", "Small Farmers Secure Food: Survival Food Security, the World’s Kitchen and the Critical Role of Small Farmers", "Re-Cultivating Agricultural Science, or What I’ve Learned in 40 Years of Professional Life", "Beliefs that Bias Food & Agriculture: Questions I'm Often Asked" and "Understanding Southeast Asia: Syncretism in Commonalities". His works are accessible gratis online.

He is a foundation Director of Hassad Australia .,[5] Board Chair of the International Livestock Research institute, Chair of the Selection Panel for the World Prize in International Integrated Development, and also assists Thaksin University in Songkhla Thailand.[6]

Publications

20 books: updated list and other details at http://profdrlindsayfalvey.yolasite.com/resources/bio.pdf

References

  1. ↑ Back cover of books by Falvey, e.g. Lindsay Falvey (2011) Small Farmers Secure Food. Thaksin University, Thailand in conjunction with The Institute for International Development, Adelaide. 250 pages.
  2. ↑ Who's Who in Australia 1998-2012
  3. ↑ Lindsay Falvey (2010) Five Cycles of Lindsay. ISBN 9780980787511 Dewey 158.1
  4. ↑ Re-cultivating Agricultural Science (2012). Institute for International Development, Adelaide 195 pages.
  5. ↑ hassad.com.au
  6. ↑ http://thaksinuni.org/
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