Dream Big

The pork industry and the larger agriculture industry are approaching a make-or-break moment.  Our customers are changing; information from all sides is more available, yet as a group we are afraid of the knowledge sharing.  We don't want attention from the outside, we don't want to stand out, we don't want to be talked about.

At a conference last week with other producers, I realized many of us saw each other as competition, while not false, our biggest competitors in the future may not be the other farmers around us.  Our collective farmer dream is to somehow grow to be the largest, or produce the "best" pork possible.  These are lofty goals, but may not lend themselves to the changing market. Maybe our goal should be to be the smartest in our industry, or even across industries.  Value creation for our businesses lies in the ability of producers to get food to consumers in a way that lasting connections between seller and buyer are made; relationship creation.  We should dream of being a leader in business, not just a leader in pork.  We can inspire others with our innovation and our ability to shape our collective future.  By making some changes now, and putting ourselves out there for consumers, we can bring back our relevance, and grow our public perception, areas where we are now clearly lacking.

Many of us complain how disconnected our consumers are from production.  Public education on food issues is at the top of our to-do list.  At the same time, we need to see that in the meantime, we have to appease the consumer we have.  The one who doesn't understand what we do, or why we do it.  This consumer still makes the buying decision and we need to respect that.  By continuing to put our heads down and ignore changes, we will only go down the roads of irrelevance and public mistrust at a faster rate.  Moving fast in the wrong direction will only lead to demise.  If we won't make changes to our production systems, someone else who isn't emotionally attached to the way we do business will.  They will see the opportunities we are ignoring and take advantage of them.  In a way, the pork industry is a sitting duck for competition, but we have all the knowledge, experience, and tools to successfully manage a strategic change.  We can't ignore the problem of animal welfare.  We should dream big and strive to be the solution.

Often times as farmers, we try to hide in the woodwork.  We feel being individually noticed and recognized is a negative.  In actuality, putting ourselves out in the public, will probably save us from scrutiny.  If we can be open and honest, people will feel we have nothing to hide.  If have transparency, we are delivering something that consumers will value.  We are creating a place of trust.  

Conservation Compromise

Last night I went out for dinner with my family and a good friend, Matt.  He isn't someone most farmers like to share dinner with, let alone call a friend, but I feel lucky to know him.  He works for Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) as a watershed conservationist.  Many farmers have a hard people who work in these positions, and we think that they are trying to take away land that we own, and that they don't understand the position of farmers.  In many cases this may be true, but Matt and I have some of the most thoughtful and exciting conversations about the future of agriculture, since with have different perspectives, but see the value in the land.

One point he brings to me about his job is that he is working towards getting people to realize the importance  of the wetlands.  The filter sediment, rejuvenates the soil, and generally make the water we have better.  They are things that whether or not we want to admit it, are good for the longevity of farming.  The point he brings to farmers is, that by protecting the wetlands, he is protecting the future value of the land for farming.  

With that in mind we talked about regulation.  As the conversation continued, I wondered whether we need a certain amount of regulation to protect us from our own best intentions.  For example, I want to plant the best crops I can, and have the best yields possible, year after year.  I would like to think that someday, my children will get to do the same thing if they so choose.  I know that I need the land to be in top condition each year, and that I need to do everything in my power to keep it that way for the next season.  In a way, some regulation on water quality, air quality, and soil conservation helps me to do that.  It makes me not only accountable to myself, but also my neighbors, cities, states, and nation.  It also allows me to record how well I am taking care of my land from year to year.  While many may find this to be a violation of rights, every time I drive downtown Detroit by the old automobile manufacturing plants, I am glad they can no longer dump sewer water straight into the river, or emit big clouds of black smoke.  They are more accountable for the waste they produce than the whole field of agriculture is; not that we are doing it wrong, but why not be accountable for what we do?  We need to have guiding principles to the care of our resources, and we need to make sure that we are part of the discussion when the principles are being made.

As we talked, Matt reminded me that with any adoption of environmental reform, we need to make sure our food production systems are protected by some kind of trade barrier. He doesn't believe that throwing farmers under the bus will do the country or the land any favors.  We need to maintain some type of self-sufficiency, and sometimes protecting our natural resources comes at a price.  However, once we have lost them, natural resources won't come back, so we need to if future longevity is worth some sacrifice now.  We need to see that conservationists and agriculturalists are working towards the same goal of protecting our land while producing from it.