Adaptive Ag

Last night was my local Farm Bureau Annual Meeting.  We had the usual delicious food, door prizes, and of course the usual speakers from different levels and committees of the organization.  The information they bring to meetings is sometimes reflective, other times forward looking, but generally it gives an idea to the types of problems farmers across the county, state, and country are facing.

Most of the reports focused on what we accomplished in the past year, but one speaker brought up the downfall of a completely grass roots organization: reaction type is fast enough in the current political climate.  In Michigan, the executive and legislative branches are run by the same political party.  Resolutions involving farm legislation are being passed so quickly and easily, that items which couldn't be issues last year are now being voting upon, and Farm Bureau is not able to change its endorsement or in some cases even place an endorsement in the first place because there is nothing referencing it in the Farm Bureau policy booklet.

This is a real problem, because our organization isn't as flexible or reactive as it should be in order to come to the table for big discussions.  However, we are hearing a complaint that tells us our legislature is listening to us, and they want more!  The candidates the Farm Bureau and farmers are supporting really want the input of agriculture, and are thinking about our businesses.  Our collective voice is important and it is desired.  We have an audience; a powerful one at that.

Another speaker referred to looking in unorthodox places for Allies in regulations in agriculture.  In California, farmers and union members band together because they both value the freedom to make decisions about their industries.  In New York, farmers and self proclaimed environmentalists have worked together against some of the HSUS policies they see as unfair, or misinformed.  As a whole, agriculture has to make an effort to listen, ask questions, and find the common ground.  It is out there and we can find it, as long as we can put aside our preconceived notions of the other person's views.    

Countless Opportunities

Yesterday, I went to my local chapter's FFA Alumni meeting.  It was pretty standard fare, sparsely attended, but everyone there is eager to help the kids and really had a passion for the work of the FFA in general.  We talked about the kids we are sponsoring to attend National Convention, and the other fall conferences, and we were decidedly disappointed at the lack of participation for National Convention this year.  Kids either couldn't come up with the small sum of money they have to pay, didn't fill out the forms, or simply were not old enough to be eligible to attend, due to the Chapter limiting attendance to upper classmen. 

It's hard for me to see the program struggle, as it meant so much to me as a student.  I spent hours memorizing speeches, learning my officer position duties and stations, perfecting my resume, and filling out award applications. I learned about agriculture, but I also learned practical life skills. Out of everything I did in high school, my time in the FFA helped me the most through college.  I knew how to present myself publicly, how to write an engaging speech, and how to plan large projects and events so they would go smoothly.  Out of all of my schooling since then, I still feel these skills may be some of the most important.

One thing that can sadly be common in my community is the lack of support from other local businesspeople and farmers who do not support our youth learning through FFA.   They believe that because it isn't an "academic" area, it isn't as important as other higher learning programs.  Some farmers see it as a waste of time, and don't encourage their kids to get involved.  I feel frustrated because it is an easy way for agriculture to connect with the community.  In our town, the FFA hosts a pancake brunch, with hundreds of people in attendance.  It's a great opportunity to connect with people who don't see agriculture in their daily lives.  With more people becoming separated from the farm everyday, this connection time is increasingly valuable.  I encourage all farmers to get involved with the youth in their communities, helping them to learn about things that happen on the farm.  Whether its through 4-H, FFA, Ag in the Classroom, or any other type of community outreach, it will be worth the time you put in. 

The Great Debate

For the past year, I have been taking a class at the University of Illinois on bringing business into pork production.  In my last post, I talked about how farmers need to look at their business as a manufacturing process, although consumers may not agree.  Many farmers look at the role of uneducated consumers in the market and become terribly frustrated.  At my class I talked to two other pork producers who were incensed at the idea of having to convert their gestation stall barns into pen spaced barns.  Another farm in the class just put up a new 1,000 sow stalled barn.  When I heard these things, I immediately thought, have you guys looked at the newspaper, or turned the TV on in the last year?

McDonald's, Campbell's Soup, Burger King, and countless other businesses have pledged to use pork products that come from group or pen housing, instead of individual pen gestation.  The Humane Society is putting pressure on the  Wall Street Journal to influence Tyson packing plants to phase out the purchase of animals from farms with stall gestation.  Whether or not the science condemns or praises the individual pig housing is irrelevant, people have decided they believe the practice is wrong, and that it is important enough to fight for pen housing.  This doesn't mean that farmers should stop fighting to grow their animals the way they see fit, but it does mean that you can't fight it to the point that it clouds business decision making ability.

During dinner, two of my classmates and I were having a discussion about our group project, which will be on the differences in the types of sow housing.  The two men both saw the individual sow housing as the only way they were willing to do business.  The argument they stood by was that we as an industry can not just lay down and let the consumer walk all over us.  I on the other hand, see it entirely differently.  We can produce all the pigs we want any way we want to, but that doesn't guarantee someone will buy them. We have to cater our products to the consumer, because in the end that is where we gain our value.  As farmers we don't consider that we feed pigs certain diets and embrace certain genetics because that is what the market wants, however, when it comes to housing options we just can't deal with it.  Many of the producers in the class talk as if they have worked with the different housing options, labeling one as far superior to the other.  Coming from a farm with nontraditional housing practices, I see that you can be profitable in many different systems.  Most have not had the opportunity, they just hold a bias.

Any switch in the way we practice agriculture gives us the opportunity to innovate.  We shouldn't shy away from challenges, but learn to work through them.  Every step we take will have risks, and costs, but that doesn't mean its not worth taking.  While we need to fight for the right to choose how we produce the nation's food supply, we also need to look at how to make our production more transparent, so we do not have to keep fighting these types of battles over every operating decision. Winning in the sow housing battle isn't the goal, winning over consumers should be.    

True or False

Over the last week, I have had the chance to attend a class on pork production process management.  The premise for the class is getting pork producers to think about their business like it is manufacturing, and become more efficient and effective by monitoring throughput.  Each farmer in the room understood the connections, and how farming is a form of manufacturing.  As a farmer and business person, I realize that animal production is a manufacturing process, and that doesn't scare me. Making your lunch in the morning, can also be looked at from a manufacturing standpoint, and I understand that by looking at it that way, we aren't automatically using robots, and automation to "build" pigs.  We are just trying to become better at the processes we do everyday, managing our people and resources to the best of our ability.

Looking at the class, I realize that consumers could be appalled by the concept as agriculture as manufacturing.  Many like to believe that farms are quaint little places with 2 ducks, 2 cows, and a goat thrown in for good measure.  What they don't realize is that farming is a business.  Farmers buy things from suppliers, like feed ingredients, seeds, and animals for reproduction  in order to improve the meat quality the animals will provide.  People then are willing to buy the meat produced for a price.  What happens in between in order to make money for the farmer is business.   There is nothing sinister about the process, or unnatural.  Every other industry does the same thing, for example, your clothes are not made by an elderly woman working out of her cottage, nor do I think that people want it that way. 

At work last week, I was talking to one of my coworkers about the common misconceptions people have about animal agriculture.  One is created in part by advertisers, but driven by uninformed consumers.  If you ever have looked at chicken sold in the grocery store, it is often labeled as hormone free.  What consumers don't realize is that Chickens are never treated with hormones because it doesn't make any type of economical sense.  Hormones are very expensive, and a chicken that will mature naturally in about six weeks, it does not add up to give it hormones. However, because of this labeling, people assume that chickens are given hormones at least part of the time.

Another misconception is that animals sent to market are often laden with drugs and so sick they have to be basically carried into the packing plant.  What consumers don't realize is that animals going to market have to be rated as #1.  This means no antibiotics in the system, no limping, wheezing, or other signs of sickness or distress.  If producers were to send these types of animals to market, then they would not be paid for them, and all scheduled contracts with packing plants would be jeopardized because the farmer has delivered a substandard animal.  It doesn't pay for anyone involved in the process to have a sick animal in the food supply.

As advocates for agriculture, we must realize what types of misconceptions are out there and work hard to correct them.  It takes time and effort, but by being transparent to consumers we can make progress towards coming to a consensus on how food should be produced.