"Your age doesn’t matter when you do the right thing”
Before delving into the subject matter of this column, which centers around youth, let's briefly revisit the content of the previous column. As this column builds upon its predecessor, I recommend reviewing it beforehand if you haven't already done so.
SUMMARY OF THE PREVIOUS COLUMN
In the previous column, the discussion was around the inherent limitations of relying solely on patterns to forecast the success of projects, such as fostering prosperity in impoverished rural communities.
Predictions based on patterns are known as uncredible.
Instead, I advocated for a more robust approach, suggesting that basing such endeavors on principles derived from universal scientific laws and established theories offers a more reliable path.
To illustrate this point, I referenced Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation, emphasizing its universal applicability irrespective of cultural, linguistic, religious, or demographic differences.
From this, I inferred that actions grounded in principles derived from universal laws are highly likely to succeed in any field, including social sciences and the transition of impoverished communities to prosperity.
Is it understood, and does that make sense in your view?
Drawing parallels with the notable success of the Israeli Kibbutz model, we attributed its achievements not to chance but to adherence to its social style that unknowingly uses principles based on the Second Law of Thermodynamics (i.e., for a spontaneous process, the universe's entropy increases).
My friend, there is no way I can overstress that point; nothing is more powerful and sure in predicting the outcome than basing your actions on a universal law.
I further critiqued the prevalent use of patterns and templates for predicting economic outcomes in rural development initiatives, highlighting their systemic shortcomings.
Lastly, I pledged to exemplify how adherence to universal laws can facilitate extraordinary success in seemingly hopeless situations.
“The journey begins when yesterday's impossible becomes today's new norm”.
The rest of the column posits an equation:
IF farmers in the worst starting conditions can achieve prosperity and happiness, THEN the same or better is possible when the starting conditions are less extreme and less challenging (but still not easy).
To illustrate this, I will start by describing the human aspects of an extreme challenging starting point conditions of farmers, which I define as 'the most unlucky farmers’.
START FROM THE BOTTOM
We usually blame our or others' "starting point conditions" for failing to reach our goals and dreams.
We use this approach to explain repeated failures and the poverty cycle, even in villages where some type of "prosperity project" is run.
An "explanation" of why farmers' livelihoods under the project have not changed much may sound like this: "This village and its farmers are poor because 50 years ago they were also poor. We can’t see the end of it”.
Are we powerless against the evil effects of the "starting point"?
Based on this, it is in place to ask: What impacts the future of impoverished rural communities and their farmers more?
A. Their starting point OR
B. The path the community takes to steer itself (from the starting point) into the future.
We will test this question by presenting an extreme starting point situation inflicted upon farmers, i.e., the most unlucky farmers, which any human would find difficult to cope with.
Suppose the starting point is the main feature that predicts farmers' and communities' futures. In that case, we expect all farmers and communities sharing the features of ‘the most unlucky farmers’ to have a gloomy future.
However, if this is the path that the farmer and their community choose to take, which potentially can impact even more than the starting point, we will see communities' futures vary based on their path choices.
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* A question: Which do you think has a more significant potential impact — the starting point OR the path?
* A point to consider: if the starting point impacts more than anything else, it suggests that we should minimize our resource investment in communities with a “low starting point” because no matter what we do, they will remain impoverished.
However, if the path determines communities’ future, we should emulate the most successful path that does this.
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Below is a list of criteria that can impact farmers’ livelihood and chances of prosperity.
For each criterion, we will assign the most extreme unfortunate option.
We call farmers who answer positively to that list of criteria “the most unlucky farmers”.
Hence, combining all these unfortunate characteristics will form a particularly disadvantageous group of farmers with a meager potential for success. Agreed?
Remember, the reality of over 99.99% of global farmers is better than that of the farmers described below.
The most unlucky farmers’ characteristics:
· Age –17-22 (most companies view very young age as a disadvantage, so they ask for experience and professional education before they hire)
· Education - elementary (no high school or university)
· Literacy – low level of the local language
· Profession – none
· Socio-economic – poor
· Prior experience in agriculture – little to none
· Personal status – single, orphan, no/few family members, and a refugee
· Property - no house, no private land, no other significant property or financial resources
· Characteristics of the agricultural area - rocky, small terraces with strong slopes, very few trees
· Water – 7 to 8 months without rain, closest water source – 1-2 km
· Regional infrastructure and roads – none/basic
· Security – unsecured, e.g., gangs and terrorism
· Help from the state - little to none.
· The country – a colony / a young country
Imagine this is your starting point. Give it a moment to sink in.
Do you know communities or farmers that answer all or most of this list of characteristics?
It is easy to see that such farmers/communities have a much lower chance of prospering than "normal" farmers.
Imagine encountering a group of 100 farmers with similar backgrounds, i.e., the most unlucky farmers, half a century ago. Now, I envision you meeting them again today. Before doing so, you're tasked to guess their current status. Please rate the likelihood of each scenario on a scale from 1 to 2, where 1 indicates likelihood and 2 suggests improbability.
What is the chance that…?
Ø Most farmers remained impoverished. 1, 2
Ø At least half of the farmers remained impoverished. 1, 2
Ø Less than half of the farmers belong to the middle class.1, 2
Ø Few farmers (or none) belong to the middle class.1, 2
Ø Many farmers suffer from food insecurity. 1, 2
Ø Farmers are less successful than non-refugee farmers in neighboring villages.1, 2
Sum up the total score.
A gloomy present: A score below 9 indicates that you expect farmers to preserve their socio-economic status, i.e., that most have remained impoverished. This supports the hypothesis that the starting point dictates our future.
A bright present: A score above 9 indicates you expect a significant shift in farmers’ socio-economic status, with a substantial portion belonging to the middle class. This supports the hypothesis that the path we take dictates our future.
Put aside the above score. Which of the hypotheses, i.e., starting point vs. the path, does your experience and interaction with smallholders support?
THE HARSH REALITY
We all know that the socio-economic status of farmers in developing economies is low.
Few people realize farmers' socio-economic mobility is as low as 10% to 30%.
It means that if you were born to a family of farmers in a developing economy, there is a 70% to 90% chance that you will be as poor as your parents were.
For young people in the villages of developing countries, the best chance of escaping poverty is by leaving the villages and moving to the cities. Indeed, that is what energizes the urbanization trend in many countries.
The socio-economic status of refugee farmers is even lower than that of the local farmers, which means their socio-economic mobility is also lower than that of the local farmers.
This is the harsh reality of most farmers and those I call “the most unlucky farmers” in developing economies.
Based on this pattern, we have no choice but to conclude that the starting point determines farmers' faith, including “the most unlucky farmers”.
Under such striking data, any economic advisor to the government would urge its government to invest as little as it can in impoverished rural communities, for history teaches that anyhow, they will remain as poor as their parents were.
Look around you, and you will see that most governments, regardless of what they say, act according to the above; they invest as little as they can in the rural poor regions — it is a purely business decision.
For this, you don’t need me; anyone can see it.
Here's why I love my work: I'll demonstrate the opposite of the conclusion we reached above, that is, how a seemingly hopeless starting point can swiftly turn into a celebration of abundance, joy, hope, and remarkable prosperity for farmers and their governments.
Are you ready?
Step by step, we will crush and destroy the notion that, based on patterns, we can predict that those who began life poor must end life poor, and so will their children.
Furthermore, we will see that what matters the most is the path we choose to take.
Remember that the path is within our control, while the starting point is outside our control.
But before we delve into this, I want to ask you a question.
If you came from a farmer’s family (as I did), do you think you became the (successful) person you are now, thanks to a starting point predicted by a pattern, or was it the particular path you took that brought you to where you are?
I am sure the path made you who you are now and who you will evolve to be in your future.
Furthermore, if you return to the place you are coming from (e.g., a village or town), I am convinced you can teach the children there some guiding principles to lead them through their path (to success) and away from poverty.
Now, imagine that somewhere out there, hide a path that can lead not one child or the children of one village but complete communities, millions of children and their families, and even the whole country to prosperity based on easy-to-follow principles.
Would you forsake such a path simply because it wasn't crafted by you but by individuals in a neighboring village or perhaps in a different country with different language and skin color?
THE EXCEPTION TO THE RULE CAN BE THE RULE
Remember we said that patterns are poor and unreliable in predicting futures?
Now, we will see they can even devastate the futures of millions of people when we trust them when we should not.
What is a pattern?
A pattern is - a regularly repeated arrangement / behavior / solution / design,…etc. Even mistakes can have patterns.
Thus, to prove that something is not a pattern, all it takes is to present one or more exceptions to “crush a pattern”.
As a Pygmalion Effect, as long as we believe the future is fixed and can’t be changed, we will act accordingly, creating more of the pattern we expect, which, in our case, means sustaining poverty.
It's crucial to understand that poverty is not a fixed fate determined by one's starting point.
Instead, there is a clear and promising (easy-to-follow) pathway and principles that can lead impoverished communities toward prosperity.
Please look at “the most unlucky farmers” list of characteristics.
You may think I took these characteristics from unlucky African or Asian farmers (which I could have).
But I did something else: this list was based on the precise characteristics of the group that established the Kibbutz community where I was born.
These characteristics describe my mother and her friends: a group of unprofessional impoverished farmers who were orphaned when escaped their countries and the Nazis.
The State of Israel was established in May 1948, and a couple of months later, this unlucky group of young people who were neither magnificent nor promising decided to establish a rural community of farmers, a Kibbutz, my Kibbutz.
These young farmers were uninterested in patterns; instead, they had living examples of previous Kibbutzim to emulate. They aimed to follow the path and principles that had led their friends in other Kibbutzim to fulfill the national Jewish dream of returning home and working the land after 2000 years in the diaspora.
And so it was; they fulfilled their dreams and much more.
As my mother said to me shortly before she passed away, “We never dreamed it would be so wonderful”.
All (100%) of the pioneers who established my Kibbutz or any other Kibbutz became part of the Israeli middle class, and so did their children.
Pioneers who practiced farming under the Kibbutz model suffered zero poverty, zero hunger, and 100% prosperity.
That is the power of a well-paved path.
They were not “lucky” to succeed and fulfill their dreams; they had a path and principles that they trusted and followed, along with hundreds of other Kibbutz communities.
Though they began their lives in Israel as “the most unlucky farmers,” they prospered, and with them, the state of Israel prospered, too.
A PATH AND PRINCIPLES
There is no pattern to poverty, no reason for a person's starting point to dictate their future and no reason for farmers and their children to have low socio-economic mobility.
Instead, there are paths and principles you can follow that will lead you to wherever you wish to get to fulfill your dreams.
There is a path and principles to follow for those wishing to become entrepreneurs.
There is a path and principles to follow for those wishing to become doctors.
There is a path and principles to follow for those wishing to become politicians.
There is a path and principles to follow for those wishing to become engineers.
There is a path and principles to follow for those wishing to become agronomists.
There is even a well-paved path and a known principle to follow for those who wish to become a better version of themselves and their communities.
The Israeli Kibbutz model path and principles, which lead from poverty to prosperity, are not the exclusive property of Israeli farmers.
Israeli farmers would like nothing more than for you to enjoy those.
But you need to want, reach out, and grab them for this.
Indeed, one of the factors hindering the adoption of the Kibbutz's path and principles is the mandatory need for the farmers to want it, to have a strong desire to follow the path and succeed.
Do you have it in your country?
If you believe poverty is not a force majeure, share this column with someone who can help you follow the path and apply the principles that will change the livelihood of farmers and your country’s economy.
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Here are four ways you can work with me to help your rural communities step forward to shift from poverty into ongoing prosperity:
* Consultancy on rural communities' models: Why, What, and How, e.g., based on the Kibbutz and Moshav lifestyle models.
* Local & National programs related to agro-produce export models - Dream Valley global vertical value and supply chain business model and concept connects (a) input suppliers with farmers in developing economies and (b) those farmers with consumers in premium markets.
* Crop protection: Biofeed, an eco-friendly zero-spray control technology and protocol solution, is most suitable for developing countries.
* IBMA Conference - To learn, share, and practice novel business models: the IBMA 2025 conference theme is “Reshaping Agribusiness Models for Building Prosperous Rural Communities." Register now or contact me.
TAKEAWAY MESSAGES
Ø STARTING POINT determines where you start, not where you end. The same applies to farmers.
Ø PATTERNS do not govern poverty or prosperity; the path you take and the principles you apply do.
Ø THE KIBBUTZ MODEL demonstrates that poverty isn't fate but a choice of path and principles you follow.
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More on the October 7th genocide in South Israel:
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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, “The Kibbutz Model: A Local Phenomenon Or Global Principle?”
P.P.S.
OPEN BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES:
1) Exporting fresh fruits from Africa to the EU under the Dream Valley regenerative protocol brand for the 2024 season.
2) Joining the Nova-Kibbutz concept project or establishing a similar initiative in your region.
Kindly provide your background and credentials to receive tailored next-step instructions.
P.P.P.S.
Dream Valley is a field-proven disruptive business model based on the successful Israeli Model.
*This article addresses general phenomena. The mention of a country/continent is used for illustration purposes only.
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