FARMS at BYU

At the time President Hinckley extended in invitation to FARMS to become part of the BYU community, he gave the following description and endorsement of the work of FARMS:

"While I have never been intimately involved with FARMS, I have observed it from time to time. It began modestly many years ago and represents the efforts of sincere and dedicated scholars. It has grown to provide strong support and defense of the church on a professional basis. This has had important salutary effects both in addressing the Church's critics and bolstering members who might be wavering. Today FARMS has risen to a high stature and has won credibility in recognition for its work both inside an outside the LDS community. I wish to express my strong congratulations and appreciation for those who started this effort and who have shepherded it to this point. I see a bright future for this effort now through the University"

FARMS and BYU have had a long-standing relationship. For the past 18 years FARMS has operated as an independent educational foundation; it began in California, and after founding President John W. Welch joined the faculty of the BYU law school, FARMS began a fruitful relationship with BYU. For part is that time, BYU gave FARMS space on campus. Most of the scholars who have participated in FARMS projects and served on the FARMS Board of Trustees have been BYU faculty. Indeed, more than 100 BYU faculty members have participated in FARMS projects in recent years. FARMS has provided many BYU scholars with financial and staff support for scholarly work on LDS scriptural topics, including opportunities for scholarly publication and peer review. And FARMS and BYU have cooperated on a number of projects, most recently working together on the Masada and Dead Sea Scrolls exhibits at the BYU Museum of Art. In the summer of 1995, FARMS and BYU acted to make their relationship more formal by signing a protocol that expanded the range of opportunities for formal cooperation on scholarly projects. That agreement extended to FARMS an invitation to use a full range of campus facilities and formally recognized FARMS publications as suitable outlets for faculty scholarship.