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Lessons from the Creation Model for Agriculture

Writer's picture: Darren GreenfieldDarren Greenfield


I was quite shocked when the president of Weimar Institute called and offered me the job of managing Weimar Farm. Although a keen gardener, I had no experience running a commercial farm. It was a dream come true but at the same time very daunting. As I prayed about this a familiar passage of scripture came to mind that speaks about how God teaches the farmer. Isa 28:26,29 … “For He instructs him in right judgment, His God teaches him.” “This also comes from the Lord of hosts, Who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance”.


After accepting the job, another christian farmer contacted me and offered to teach me how to test and balance the mineral content of the soil. He came and took samples of our soil and sent them off to a lab for analysis and when the results came back he even supplied the deficient minerals and taught me all about applying them.

After reading the book “Hands on Agronomy” by Neil Kinsey, I learned that when the right mineral balance is present, it closely parallels what the human body is made of. This confirmed that this was of the Lord since we were made from the dust of the ground, everything in our body must have been present in that soil fresh from the Creators hand.


The produce that grew in this newly balanced soil was beautiful, the plants healthy and productive.



Upon delivering some of this produce to a local store one day the manager told me that the night before the computer that controlled the refrigerated display had malfunctioned and had frozen everything. He said they had lost $5000! But then he said none of your produce froze and he asked what the difference was. I was then able to explain the creation model we were following. He responded by saying “What else do you have to offer?” "Not only is our produce resilient to the colder temperatures, but being nutrient dense, the taste is remarkable!"

Over and over again I hear things like “I never really liked … until I tasted your …” or “This is the best … I have ever tasted in my life!” As a result, I have not had to spend anything on marketing, the biggest challenge has been to keep up with the demand.


My constant focus is to learn more about how God designed things to work. One day as I contemplated how birds and animals distribute seeds, I realized that as a seed goes through the gut of a creature, the seeds is coated with the life of their microbiome. Then as it is deposited on the ground it is dispatched with a fertilizer package. In the last few years, I have used Peruvian Sea Bird Guano as a fertilizer and have witnessed it to be the most effective natural fertilizer I have ever used.


In addition as I was reading through the Bible one year, I found that Job, who was the most successful farmer, fed the microbial life in the soil. Job 31:38-40. “If my land cries out against me, And its furrows weep together; If I have eaten its fruit without money, Or caused its owners to lose their lives; Then let thistles grow instead of wheat, And weeds instead of barley.” Soil has a way of expressing its health condition by what grows naturally in it. I have seen soil that was only growing thistles after being inoculated with beneficial bacteria and fed with a molasses based food source start growing lush grass instead of weeds and thistles. Not only that I have read about scientific research where they have discovered that plant roots communicate with the type of microbes that will benefit them and they start working together in a symbiotic relationship. The plants through photosynthesis exude about 25% of the carbohydrates and sugars produced into the soil which feeds the microbial community. They in return, convert minerals in granite particles into forms that the roots can take up. It seems to me that all of God’s creation ministers to other forms of life and there is a beautiful interdependancy. This seems to be God’s signature on His creation.




A fascinating book called “The hidden half of nature” by David R. Montgomery and Anne Bikle, tells how the Darwinian theory of survival of the fittest, has had to change due to recent discoveries as powerful microscopes have looked at the smallest forms of life. They found that even single celled life forms live in symbiosis with other like forms. Cooperation is seen at every level. This has underscored that our purpose in creation is to minister and in turn be ministered unto, or as Jesus said: “Give and it will be given unto you.”


One of the most common questions I am asked is: “What do you do about this pest or that disease?” For the most part I do not have a lot of experience dealing with pest and disease issues. It seems that the healthier the soil and plants are the more resistant they are to pests and disease. But what I can share is that in nature there are life forms that will work for us.

Providing Bluebirds with a nest box will put them to work eating and feeding bugs to their babies. Putting a humming bird feeder in a cherry or other fruit tree, The humming birds will chase away other birds that want to eat your precious fruit. Bat houses will enable the bats to stay local and eat moths etc. Raptor polls will provide a lookout for easy hunting of rodents.

And then there is the practice of companion planting. Sweet Alyssum planted among kale and other greens will keep the aphids away.

The list could go on and on but the point is that God will teach us and give us wisdom through experience, as we seek to cooperate with Him and learn from the all wise Creator.

Psalms 65:9-11

“You visit the earth and water it,

You greatly enrich it…

You bless its growth.

You crown the year with Your goodness,

And Your paths drip with abundance.”






Darren Greenfield spent the first half of his life in New Zealand and now resides and works at Weimar University teaching agriculture and managing the farm. 

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