I have had the most enlightening conversation with David Boxenhorn on my Rural Route Radio program that really connects so many dots for me. Are you part of the “natural world” or the “social world,” particularly when it comes to decisions that are made?
This week I was going to write about the problem we have with ag commodity groups that have “hired guns” that do not represent the same views of the membership. Point blank, we have a bunch of liberals working for farmers and ranchers who are typically conservative. Why? Well, I think Boxenborn just gave me the answer.
I love the reason why he personally started down this path of research to begin with. He asked himself, “Why are so many smart people so stupid?” Yes I have, through the years, wondered the same thing, but kudos to Boxenborn as he actually did the right thing and started studying the concept.
The natural world decisions are made based upon the environment. A farmer is absolutely the best example of this because every decision we make is based on how we believe the environment is going to affect us. Farming may be the only business in the world where you can do everything right and one hailstorm can destroy everything in 10 minutes. In fact, that is exactly why, on the food animal side of the equation, we have confined our animals because it allows us to control their environment and thus minimize their stress. Lower stress and better performance result in a better chance at profitability and thus sustainability.
The social world decisions are based on the people you interact with and are more concerned with what your peers will think of you than anything else. These decisions are not rooted in experiences with the environment but rather what appears to be the most idealistic. As companies or governments grow, they tend to make decisions further from the environmental challenges which, at some point in time, comes to a complete burn down because, in the end, all things are ultimately controlled by the environment.
For years now people have laughed at me because I refuse to use GPS. I will not have my phone telling me where to go. Much like our rights, either you use it or you lose it. Just this very week our oldest daughter sent me a note saying, “I need to say thank you, Dad, for giving me such a keen sense of direction.” When she was young and at home we rode horses together all the time and every single time I would ask her which way was north.
Beyond the ability to find your way by reading a map or the signs of nature, stop and think about how many instincts of survival we have lost. My grandfather constantly told me how to observe signs in nature because prior to the internet, you needed them for survival. Now instead of letting the cows or the snakes or the leaves on the trees tell you about incoming bad weather, we look it up online and take someone else’s word for it.
So back to the original statement, while I now understand why our hired guns in ag commodity organizations take the path they do, I want to fix it. For example, last month Dean Foods, in their bankruptcy phase, sent letters to dairy farmers who sold them milk within 90 days of their filing, indicating that they wanted their money back. In fact, they gave an option of paying six times less than the total amount due if they paid it right away. The National Milk Federation, the organization supposedly representing farmers, has said and done nothing to support the people they are overpaid to stand up for.
It reminds me of the day I was talking to a lobbyist for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association about the misguided school lunch program that really doesn’t appreciate including beef in the diets of our kids. The response I got was, “Well, Trent, I agree but we are not going to spend our political capital on that issue.” Folks, those of us who pay the salaries of these hired guns need to stay on top of the decisions they make. In fact, we need to demand that their decisions represent our views instead of being based on what their political peers might think of them.
There is one clear path forward for mankind and it is straight, blunt and to the point. At the end of the day, the environment is going to prevail and we can improve the odds of success and improve mankind at the same time if we choose natural-based rather than socially biased decisions. Doing the right thing has never been more challenging than it is in our current cancel culture but that doesn’t make it any less wrong when we take the easy way out. Do the right thing, support those who are doing the right thing and let’s take this country to new levels of greatness instead of continuing to swirl down the drain of a political flock.
Editor’s note: Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.LoosTales.com, or email Trent at [email protected].