The Importance of Land

There are two ways to get food: buy it or grow it. Buying food is the most common approach. But what if money is a challenge? Economic constraints can not only make purchasing food a challenge, but also purchasing healthy foods. If money is an obstacle, then you are better off growing your own food. This of course is easier said than done.

That practice of growing our own food is a lost art. For the average person it is seen as irrelevant because of the wealth that Americans have and our cheap industrial agriculture. As a result, food is no longer something that we have a real connection with. We don’t know who was involved in it’s production, what it took to produce it, or even what part of the country it came from.

To grow our own food, there is one essential factor that we can not do without, land. In agrarian societies, land is of the utmost importance. In fact, in previous agrarian societies ones prosperity was judged by the amount of land one had as opposed to an amount of money.

Today, land is the closest material thing that is eternal. Land never disappears. Even when we abuse the land, creation can restore it once the abuse has ceased. When one has land and the know how, money is no longer a factor in ones well being. God understood the indispensable nature of land. He established what we call the Jubilee. Hebrew law commanded that all land would be returned to the original owners every 50 years. This ensured that a family would not be deprived indefinitely of this valuable asset, thereby breaking the cycle of dependence and poverty.

It is this importance of land that we see as a key in helping to elevate the disadvantaged towards dignity. By providing people with a small plot of land, we give them the opportunity to participate in the empowering process of growing their own food. Your church, organization or family can help people by giving them access to small plots of land for the purpose of food production.