"Freedom, prosperity, money, and peace are imagined ideas and concepts. Can we do without them?"
Seven years ago, I began writing the weekend column, and this is the 303rd column. I am overwhelmed; 303 columns!?
Whenever I meet someone who tells me they've been reading my columns for years, I am surprised, "Years!?"
The weekend column has become central to my life activity; it keeps me busy throughout the week. Working on it begins as soon as I send the one before. I let the thoughts brew in my head for 3-4 days, and then it takes three more days of writing, with many drafts from start to end.
The weekly process is simple, research a topic, present it within 1,000 to 2,000 words (3-7 minutes reading), and most importantly, it must be easy to read and with a clear message that anyone can "get easy."
WHY WRITE A COLUMN?
I write about issues that are dear to me and align with my life mission and vision.
The central issue is always agriculture, while the angle of approaching it changes between topics that most interest me; poverty, hunger, and human and environmental health.
Those topics are affected by different factors, to which I often relate, i.e., crops, growing methods, technology, pesticides/chemicals, entomology, plant protection, smallholders, professional farming, developing economies agro sector, business models, ecosystems, value chains, business, economy, food distribution, politics, organizations, and communities.
When I left the Kibbutz life, I realized that there was no shortage of people, money, or technologies in agriculture. Yet, there is plenty of abusing the environment and human health by wrongly applying agricultural methods and tools, and too much poverty and human suffering (which at the time I considered to be a result of lack of proper technologies). This results in poverty, hunger, and unhealthy people and the environment.
I realized that we are missing good, “revolutionary,” field-proven concepts and ideas to set the foundation for the highly needed change of the agro sector in developing economies. This multi-billion $ sector consists of billions of people whose livelihoods depend on it, making the task considerably challenging.
We all ask “How?” and have “Revolutionary ideas.”
Many people have "revolutionary ideas" when they take a shower. Still, only a few shares those with the world, and fewer take the next step to turn those ideas and concepts into operating practical realities.
I didn’t want to be one of those advisors who speak, with frustration, about things that will never happen, “We need this," "We need that," or “If only we had… X, Y, Z.”
I wanted to share my ideas and concepts about things I know for sure and with as few "IF" as possible.
My attitude is “Walk the talk,” first build an idea, then act and only IF and WHEN it works, write and share your ideas and concepts.
Thanks to Biofeed and Dream Valley companies I established and serve as the CEO of, I can test and turn ideas and concepts into reality. Thanks to those companies and their field-tested and field (plus business) proven results, I write confidently and chase away the disbeliever who say, "It is impossible," before they even try.
My activity and writing are based on my personal experience of being born and raised in a Kibbutz community that, in my youth, saw agriculture as the highest professional that one could inspire to practice. I cherish that attitude to this day.
My environment was filled with people who knew terrible suffering and began life with less than nothing; I refer to Holocaust survivors. Nearly 100% of the children I grew up with had parents and/or grandparents who were Holocaust survivors, some were survivors of Auschwitz, where my family perished, and some came after surviving other death camps.
I learned from them that there is nothing "impossible.”
This is my message to the farmers in developing countries;
nothing is impossible once you set your mind to achieve it and work tirelessly until it is done.
THE SPIRIT OF THE COLUMNS
Why spreading ideas is so important?
Ideas are everything and nothing. They are “everything” because, without them, we keep doing whatever we have done in the past and get the same results, e.g., without the idea that the world is round, Western civilization wouldn't know of the Americas, and history would be different.
Ideas are “nothing” because if you don’t practice them, nothing changes, e.g., without going on a journey "in the opposite direction," Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci would not have discovered America.
We need breaking through ideas, and we need brave actions. We need to be less sure and less confident of our “knowns” and instead view those as “assumptions.” We need to switch “exclamation marks” and “points” with “question marks.”
Columbus changed the world by adding a question mark and journeying to explore his idea/concept. Why won't we do the same; let's add question marks -
· "Sprays are the best method of pest control?"
· "There is no possibility of agriculture without spraying?"
· "Technology is the solution to all human problems and suffering?"
· "Agriculture in developing countries is failing and always will?"
· "There is no way to swiftly shift, on a grand scale, smallholders from poverty to prosperity?"
· "The poverty of smallholders in developing economies is a non-changeable reality?"
· "Investing in Africa's agro sector, and more so, in smallholders, is toxic, non-professional, with no chance for profit?"
My job is to make you add a question mark, and maybe thanks to that, you will see the world differently and go on a journey to discover YOUR America.
The weekend column adds question marks to a seemingly unchangeable reality and suggests dreaming “new dreams” to find “new worlds.”
The dream (vision and mission) that I promote is to see farmers, wherever they are, making a decent living from agriculture that exists in harmony with humans and the environment.
Accordingly, the Dream Valley Vision and Mission are:
“To improve farmers’ livelihood by increasing their income per hectare, from quality produce free of bio and chemical hazards, grown in a safe, eco-friendly environment, to enable consumers to enjoy better and healthier food and life.”
I know this is possible because I had the good fortune to grow up in a community that practiced this approach daily and proved the "impossible" is, in fact, "very possible."
The people in my Kibbutz were not superhuman. If they could establish a thriving community based on agriculture, anyone can do it, and I am here to help and ensure it is done.
I am the storyteller who shares stories that inspire people to practice what they may wrongly consider "impossible."
The story and message I bring from my parents and my history are direct;
If you were born poor, there is no reason for your children to grow up poor; if you grew up in a toxic agricultural environment, there is no reason you pass it on to your children.
My parents shifted from poverty to prosperity, and I shifted from practicing “toxic agriculture” to “eco-friendly agriculture."
Today we know how to do both; we are responsible for leaving a better world than the one we were born into.
People can do what they can imagine; my mission is to help my readers and motivate them to expand the scope of their imagination so they can do and achieve more.
TOPICS
The topics of the columns have changed over the years and reflect the changes and evolution I went through.
If I had to summarize the transformation I went through and as reflected in my columns, it would be; from technology-oriented solutions to people-centric solutions.
The chronologic of my columns -
1. Technology - technological breakthroughs in plant protection.
2. Entomology and plant protection - that does not rely on releasing pesticides and chemicals into the environment.
3. Smallholders - the challenges, chronic problems, and root causes.
4. Limitations - the limits and role of technology in solving global challenges such as poverty and global warming.
5. Business models - the criticality of business models in fighting poverty and creating prosperity among smallholders.
6. Operation and Organization - the importance of the ecosystem and the community for creating sustainable prosperity in the agro sector.
PERCOLATION OF IDEAS
Spreading ideas can be done by writing, but it doesn’t have to be limited to one channel.
Luckily, today there are many channels to spread ideas, and I try to harness them to my mission.
Here are the main channels I use -
Emails: 400K views in seven years. From my computer, you get it in your mailbox once a week on Saturday.
Social platforms: 2M views in the past year. This channel (LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok) has become critical in distributing ideas, especially with the ability to share daily related posts.
Conference: The IBMA conference on business models in agriculture, emphasizing smallholders in developing countries, is another unique direct product of the weekly column and helps spread ideas. This channel of sharing ideas had its first step this year and will surely grow in the coming years.
Others: there are African and Asian journals, blogs, newspapers (articles), and TV shows (interviews) that share the weekly column and its ideas, some regularly and some sporadic.
Book: this channel is not yet done, but I am considering publishing a book based on the topics in the weekend columns.
LinkedIn, Nimrod Israely
The beauty of today's communication is that readers can easily communicate with the writer.
I look forward to and appreciate your valuable comments and feedback, and mainly when you share your ideas and thoughts.
Please share your favorite topic / most remembered column and the topic/s you would like to learn more about or discuss.
As indicated above, my life philosophy is "walk the talk." Therefore, I invite entrepreneurs, business people, leaders, investors, decision-makers, and media to contact me to see how we can (together) contribute to the general good and benefit by advancing necessary changes in the agro sector of developing economies.
This is your chance to create your legacy for what matters to you. Don’t miss it.
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*** Mental and Economic Freedom Are Interconnected. ***
See you soon,
Nimrod
Dr. Nimrod Israely is the CEO and Founder of Dream Valley and Biofeed companies and the Chairman and Co-founder of the IBMA conference. +972-54-2523425 (WhatsApp), or email nisraely@biofeed.co.il
P.S.
If you missed it, here is a link to last week's blog, How 'The Western System' Maintains Smallholders’ Poverty And How We Can Beat It?
Link to recent columns.
P.P.S.
Dream Valley is a field-proven disruptive business model based on the successful Israeli model. Contact me if you view yourself as a potential investor, business partner, or client. Email, +972-542523425 (WhatsApp/Text)
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Change Begins With A Decision
That The Existing Reality Is A Choice
and Not A Decree of Fate