Corn Commentary

Celebrate the Positives in Ag and in Your Life

New Years Eve is rapping at the door so it seems appropriate to offer-up a resolution of some sort for 2010. So here goes…I intend to be more thankful for having the good fortune of living in the United States, and I intend to do a better job of sharing my reasons for this sentiment.

I challenge you to do the same with all the people in your circle either physical or digital. Start each day by saying thanks. The habit does wonders for your mental attitude and how you approach the day. It might also have your friends wondering what well you are drinking from and asking if they can share.

For most Americans we have plenty of reasons to beat back the little cynical voice in our heads including three major reasons called breakfast, lunch and supper. Drake University Professor of Law Neil D. Hamilton noted recently in the Des Moines Register that, “No matter our circumstance, we are better off than most people. The 1 billion facing hunger and starvation and the second billion living on $2 a day represent a third of the world.”

However, with the steady string of naysayers, quasi-experts, and self-serving national media telling Americans the sky is falling it would be easy to start each day depressed before the first cup of coffee is consumed. In reality the kinds of things we seem to attack – from our food production techniques, diets, environmental issues – are often just symptoms of our relatively easy lifestyle.

We are a lucky nation because our basic physiological needs of food, shelter, water and air are met handily which provides us an opportunity to move on to other pursuits like safety needs, love-affection, belonging and the need for esteem. (This largesse of time also provides opportunity to pursue destructive and negative behaviors that I won’t go into here.)

As Hamilton of Drake U also said, “fortunately, our (US) economy and farms are stronger, but our relative advantages shouldn’t delude us into thinking we are immune or without responsibility. We must find solutions to the world’s food future.”

There is no arguing with his logic but the good news is I think we are headed in a positive direction in U.S. agriculture. We all need to do a better job showcasing what is right with America’s farms. We need to continue to make improvements however we must make them while looking through a lens that both feeds the world and assures the continued success of those that make this possible.

“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day” ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce