Thursday, 29 August 2021 Issue #5 INSIDE THIS ISSUE Inauguration of Leonard Elmhirst Lecture ............ 2 31st ICAE Highlights .... ........................................ 3 Our Sponsors ................. 3 The Elmhirst Lecture .... 4 Elmhirst Lectures Series ........................................ 5 Feature: Walter J. Arm- bruster ............................ 6 Past conference Themes ........................................ 7 31st ICAE Highlights ..... iaae-agecon.org ........................................ 8 Announcements............. 9 Hashtags: #icae21 #icae2021 #icaevirtual #icae21virtual INAUGURATION OF LEONARD ELMHIRST LECTURE— 1976, NAIROBI, KENYA By SAMAR R. SEN, IAAE President (1970- also of the political economy of agricul- 1976) ture. We have gathered today to honour the It is not that all his widespread endeav- memory of our Founder-President, Leonard ours proved to be successful. He had his Knight Elmhirst. share of failures. But that never daunted him. He referred to his failures as Leonard Elmhirst was a man of great vi- "negative results", judging them as no sion and initiative, a patron of the less useful than "positive results" in visual and performing arts as well as of any scientific experiment and cheerfully the social sciences and a champion of the taking up new experiments. Even at the downtrodden and deprived all over the age of 80 when he died he was looking world. This last concern of his, in par- forward and not backward. He was one of ticular, prompted him to help the Indian the blessed few who are ever young at poet-philosopher, Rabindra Nath Tagore, heart. to initiate path-breaking experiments and studies in rural development in India, to Your Executive Committee felt that the undertake other valuable experiments in best way in which your Association could his own country and to establish the honour Leonard Elmhirst's memory would be International Association of Agricultural to invite one of the world's outstanding Economists, of which he was the Founder- agricultural economists to give in each President for four decades. of our Conferences a lecture to be known as the "Leonard Elmhirst Lecture", on I do not propose to take your time by some theme which would touch upon one of going into the story of his unique life. the key problems in the field of agricul- A succinct account was published in the ture which was so close to Elmhirst's proceedings of our last Conference and heart. many of you must be familiar with it. I have, therefore, the great privilege I may briefly note, however, some crucial today of inviting the doyen of our pro- events in his remarkable career, which fession, Professor Theodore W. Schultz, are of direct interest to our profession, to deliver the first Leonard Elmhirst namely, his first acquaintance with prob- Lecture. lems of under-developed agriculture dur- ing the First World War, his decision to Professor Schultz was born in 1902 and study agricultural economics at Cornell obtained his Ph.D. degree from the Uni- University shortly thereafter, his close versity of Wisconsin in 1930. The same association with Tagore in setting up the year he began his academic career as a Institute of Rural Reconstruction at teacher at the Iowa State College where Sriniketan, India, his many faceted ex- he served as Professor of Agricultural periments in the arts, crafts, education Economics from 1934 to 1943. He joined and social sciences at Dartington Hall in the University of Chicago as Professor of England, his initiative in organising and Economics in 1943 and retired as the developing the International Association Charles L. Huchinson Distinguished Ser- of Agricultural Economists and P.E.P. vice Professor in 1972. He has served (Political and Economic Planning), his with great distinction in many U.S. Gov- assistance for the International Insti- ernment and international assignments in tute of Agrarian Affairs (which was ef- the field of agricultural economics and fectively our Association's base for 40 policy and travelled widely in both de- years) and the Oxford Institute of Agri- veloped and developing countries. He has cultural Economics and his constant en- been President of the American Economic deavour to facilitate communication be- Association and Fellow of the American tween agricultural economists working Farm Economics Association and a number NOTE: All participants under different social systems. of other important learned societies. His contribution to the development of the Leonard Elmhirst and his contributions science of agricultural economics has who need a certificate for the promotion of the science of agri- been outstanding and his defence of aca- cultural economics will be remembered by demic values courageous. He is a pioneer for attending the virtual the members of our Association with deep among agricultural economists in empha- gratitude for ever. sising and analysing the role of human ICAE are requested to capital. Among his many publications, He was a man of many parts with a special special mention may be made of his books: sent an email to Jana gift of friendship and inspiring people Redirecting Farm Policy, Agriculture in for great endeavour. He had a deep human an Unstable Economy, Production and Wel- concern and his constant exhortation to fare in Agriculture, The Economic Organi- Nowakowsky with their his fellow economists was that they sation of Agriculture, Transforming Tra- should always keep "man" as the main ditional Agriculture, Economic Crisis in name and paper title focus of all their analysis. The message World Agriculture, Economic Growth and that he sent in August, 1973, to our last Agriculture, The Economic Value of Educa- Conference held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, tion and Investment in Human Capital. that they would like to aptly expressed this basic approach of his. He wished "for lots of down to earth The theme on which Professor Schultz will appear on the certificate. discussions at the grass roots with plen- be speaking today is "Economics, the Farm ty of vision for the future, and with the People and the Political Economy of Agri- boots of economists firmly rooted in the culture". There could not be a more ap- soil and their heads in the skies". "May propriate subject for this first lecture the computors", he urged, "be kept instituted to honour the memory of Leon- properly in their place as servants of, ard Elmhirst. and not masters over, humanity". He gave this Conference the broad humanist out- — END — look that characterises it. What he sought to promote was the study not mere- ly of the economics of agriculture but He was a man of many parts with a special gift of friendship and inspiring 2 people for great endeavour. He had a deep human concern and his constant exhortation to his fellow economists was that they should always keep "man" as the main focus of all theirEditor: analysis. Jeffers Miruka Send announcements to [email protected] CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS IN PICTURES OUR SPONSORS OUR SPONSORS 3 THE ELMHIRST LECTURE Leonard Knight Elmhirst (1893-1974) served as the first President of the IAAE from 1929-1958 and was designated, founder president, until his death in 1974. In his honor, the Leonard K. Elmhirst Memorial Lecture was instituted in 1976 and presented in My- sore, India by T. W. Schultz. Elmhirst drew together a small group of agricultural economists from the United States and the United Kingdom in 1928 to develop plans and a program for what we now think of as the first International Conference of Agricultural Economists held at Dartington Hall, Devon, England in 1929. Fifty agricultural economists from eleven countries met at that first conference. They concluded that such conferences would be of great benefit to agricultural economists throughout the world in increasing their knowledge and under- standing of other peoples and their problems and in promoting mutual understanding and good will. The International Conference of Agricultural Economists was formally organized at the second meeting held in 1930 at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. The name of the organiza- tion was changed to the International Association of Agricultural Economists at the 1961 conference in Mexico. Fifty agricultural economists from eleven countries met at that first confer- ence. They concluded that such conferences would be of great benefit to ag- ricultural economists throughout the world in increasing their knowledge and understanding of other peoples and their problems and in promoting mutual understanding and good will. Leonard K. Elmhirst was born in York- China and Japan in 1924, and to Argenti- shire, England. He was the second of eight na and Italy in 1925. In 1925 he married sons of a Church of England vicar who was Dorothy Payne Whitney Straight, whom also an estate owner. Elmhirst developed a he had met while at Cornell and who had love of nature and the countryside and sponsored much of Elmhirst's work in learned the importance of sound land India with Tagore. management in his early years. After ten Between 1925 and 1928 when he sent years of boarding school, he went to Trini- invitations for planning the first Interna- ty College, Cambridge to read theology tional Conference, he was heavily commit- and history. ted to establishing his home with his new In 1915 he was accepted for work in India wife at Dartington Hall. It needed much with the YMCA, which was also minister- repair. They restored the old buildings, ing to British soldiers in India. In 1919 he established a boarding school, setup a went to Cornell to study for a degree in group of cottage industries and created a agriculture with the intention of returning small agricultural research group. to rural India and helping local farmers to Elmhirst devoted much of his time and personal resources to developing the In- improve their agricultural production. ternational Conference of Agricultural While at Cornell he became involved in Economists and laying the foundations of the Cornell Cosmopolitan Club and made the IAAE.