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John Jeavons ’64 honored for sustainable farming

May 10, 2022

On May 10, 2022, John Jeavons was awarded an Honorary Ph.D. in Agroecology by the Universidad Nacional Agraria (UNA) of Nicaragua. Here is a five-minute video in Spanish that was shown at the ceremony, followed by the University’s justification statement for selecting John to receive the Honorary Doctorate.

Published in Ecology Action's Garden Companion

Spring 2022

I am delighted to announce that I was awarded an Honorary Ph.D. in Agroecology by the Universidad Nacional Agraria (UNA) of Nicaragua. Below, you can read the University's justification statement for selecting me to receive the Honorary Doctorate, followed by my speech from the presentation ceremony.

Proposed justification for the award of a Honorary Doctorate in Agroecology to John Jeavons

Considering that:

John Jeavons is an American scientist who has devoted most of his professional life to the development of an ecological method of production of food.

John Jeavons as part of his commitment to humanity has created the Biointensive Farming method, an organic farming method that does not use agricultural machinery, or agrochemicals and that is being used in more than 140 countries, contributing an alternative to conventional food production for thousands of farming families.

John Jeavons has created a method that has the property of reclaiming degraded soil and which is an excellent choice for improving the food security of rural families with poor soils, limited availability of water and financial resources.

John Jeavons has created a method based on scientific research with more than 40 scientific publications and is the author of the best-selling book on sustainable farming How to Grow More Vegetables, Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops Than You Ever Thought Possible On Less Land Than You Can Imagine, which has been translated into Spanish, German, French, Hindi, Russian, Arabic and Braille, soon in Italian and Kiswahili, with more than 550,000 copies printed all over the world.

That John Jeavons in 2018 visited the UNA where he gave a lecture on biointensive farming and verified during said visit that Nicaragua is the country where the use of the biointensive farming method is more widespread, having had as its starting point the farm El Plantel de la UNA.

That John Jeavons, due to his advanced age, no longer plans new visits outside his native United States and that his visit to Nicaragua in 2017 was special and as part recognition of the work carried out in Nicaragua.

That John Jeavons and two close collaborators from Mexico and the United States facilitated the creation of the first Biointensive Farming center in Nicaragua on the 9th of April 2013 at UNA and from that beginning 26 centers have been created to date demonstrations on the method that have trained thousands of farmers.

That John Jeavons will be 80 years old this March and that he deserves fair academic recognition for his work for humanity.

That John Jeavons believes in the National Agrarian University of Nicaragua and knows that the UNA would be proud to have among its honorary doctors a scientist who, despite his great professional achievement in creating the Biointensive Farming method, has managed to continue his work in solidarity with humanity, as a simple, modest, and fraternal person.

Taking stock of these contributions of John Jeavons, the UNA University Council in its session number 719-202 agreed to unanimously approve the award of a honorary Doctorate in Agroecology to John Jeavons for his contribution to humanity for the development of the Biointensive Soil Cultivation method.

Given in Mangua on the fifteenth day of the month of March 2022.

Honorary Cause Ph.D. Award Speech

I am very grateful to each and every one of you here today, for being a part of the growth of Biointensive Mini-Farming around our beautiful planet Earth. Together we have accomplished much to alleviate hunger and scarcity, and together we are creating a future of abundance for Nicaragua and our world. It is an honor what we all have accomplished, are doing, and get to do together in the future!

Today is my 80th birthday, and is the 51st doing this wonderful work with so many good people! A half century of people caring about the Earth, its ecosystems, resources and people. “We are All One Family and the Earth is Our Home!” Let us create a good home!

Nicaragua has been using GROW BOINTENSIVE® Closed-Loop Sustainable Mini-Farming nationwide for almost as long as I have, and has done a very effective job of this! In fact, Ecology Action has a Self-Teaching Booklet in Spanish and English on this experience for others to benefit from: GROW BIOINTENSIVE: A Global Pattern for Feeding the World — A 46 Year Perspective and a Plan for the Next Decade. This experience was wonderful for me to learn from during UNA’s Biointensive Week in 2017!

Those who have made this possible include: Rector of UNA Dr. Alberto Sediles Jaen, Roberto Blandino, John Wyss, Michael Richardson, and especially the Nicaraguan people, who have made all the difference. Those who have made Ecology Action’s overall work possible for so many years have included, with the grace of God: Alan Chadwick, Cynthia Raiser Jeavons, Juan Manuel Martínez Valdez, Latin America Director, Agustín Medina, Marisol Tenorio, Samuel Nderitu and Peris Wanjiru, Africa Co-Directors, Carol Cox, Shannon Joyner, Mary Zellachild, Matt Drewno, Melvin Castrillo, John Beeby, Steve Moore, EA Staff, Apprentices and Interns, and millions of people around the world where the method is being used successfully.

There are a few themes I would like to share with you for us all to use as we continue forward together. Our mindset is essential to the success of our endeavors. We choose our mindset.

We can come from Scarcity or Abundance: It is known that if one does things from a feeling of Scarcity, even in a situation of Abundance, that we are only able to access 2% of our innate creativity. And, that if we proceed from a feeling of Abundance, even in a situation of Scarcity, we are able to access 80% of our creativity.

The Real Green Economy is Photosynthesis. The true gift of the sun is to nourish life on the planet Earth.

With our GROW BOINTENSIVE Closed-Loop Sustainable Mini-Farms and Mini-Ag Teaching/Training Centers we are creating “Oases of Hope”/“Lugares de Esperanza”!

Our current world crises of:

Only 22 years remaining of Farmable Soil on the Earth. How old are you? It is not much time!

A decreasing amount of Water per person in the World. The UN has estimated that by the last day of 2025, not long from now, compared with the first day of 2016, 5.5 billion people are “at risk” of starvation due to not enough water to grow any, or enough, food. This is three quarters of the world’s people!

A shortage of Farming Nutrient in both organic and chemical fertilizer form globally. Where are your nutrients going to come from?

All these are forcing us to be more efficient in creating a better future for all.

GROW BOINTENSIVE Closed-Loop Sustainable Mini-Farming uses much less Farmable Soil to grow Complete Balanced Diets for People and the Soil, in 4,000, 2,000 or 1,000 sq. ft. depending on the quality of the soil and the quality of one’s skill, if the diet crops are chosen carefully. Ecology Action’s Booklet 32, Designing a Complete GROW BIOINTENSIVE Mini-Farm, shows how to accomplish this. And, according to an academic study, GROW BIOINTENSIVE can “Grow Soil” in this process 60 times faster than in Nature.

On the average the 90% of the world’s people who live in developing countries have about 8,000 square feet to grow their diets on. To keep the world sustainable, maintaining a proper amount of plant and animal diversity, half of this farmable soil will need to be left in wild. The remaining 4,000 sq. ft. are capable of, when using the sustainable Biointensive system, and with some effort, to grow complete diets.

GROW BIOINTENSIVE, used properly, uses a Fraction of the Water: 1/8 the water per pound of vegetables and soft fruits produced, 1/3 the water per complete diet grown in general, and 1/5 the water per complete diet grown, given the farming methods used in developing countries, where 90% of the world population live.

GROW BIOINTENSIVE, working with the life forces of nature and soil. uses as little as ½ to no purchased nutrients at a time of diminishing global supply of farming nutrients per person.

Let’s Work Together To:

Grow Hope