Category: Challenges

Sunday…Work day?

Spring planting is always a bit stressful.  You can usually plan to have dry days, but trying to get enough dry days in a row and in the correct window for us to plant crops for the cannery can always be a bit difficult.  We were looking at 55 acres of pea ground, it had been worked down, fertilized and just needed to be planted as soon as possible.  So dad and I decided that with rain on the horizon, a contract to fulfill, we just didn’t get to have the luxury of caring that it was daylight savings morning and I was wanting to sleep in WAY more than head to work Sunday morning.  But as they say…You make hay when the sun shines.  We more often say, even if the sun isn’t out, it isn’t raining so LET’S GO!!

2013-03-09_15-00-02_314So dad and I set out, with 55 acres of dirt ahead of us and rain in the forecast.

2013-03-09_15-00-25_750We filled the drill about 5 times yesterday…

2013-03-09_15-26-24_372I rode on the back, making sure to hold on, harrows being pulled behind don’t look too forgiving while you’re driving along!

2013-03-09_16-37-35_63And dad drove, he loves to drive the planter!  I am pretty sure I will have to pry the steering wheel from his cold dead hands haha!

2013-03-09_16-37-30_22Plus he drives straighter than I do!

All in all it was a great day.  Usually when you work on Sundays around our farm, a higher power reminds you why you shouldn’t be out working.  We have had a tire fall off a combine on a Sunday, a hay truck go up in flames, small fires starting on some harvest equipment, you get the drift here.  But we finished up, high-fived and said, “Bring on the rain!” right as it started to sprinkle.  Sometimes you get those good breaks and this Sunday was one of them!

More than Just Leadership at YFR Conference

Well as some of you may know I like to stay a little…well pretty…actually honestly VERY involved in many different aspects of agriculture. Beyond the obvious of being a farmer, this would include things like agvocacy, leadership, politics, etc. So this past week I have had the chance to head down to sunny Phoenix, AZ (tough life I know) to attend the annual Young Farmers and Ranchers Leadership Conference. It’s been a great experience as always, this marks my fourth trip to this conference, attending other places like Oklahoma City, Rapid City and Orlando.

2013-02-10_16-36-44_27I know you’re all feeling super sorry for me now…PALM TREES!!

I’ve been asking myself for awhile now if all this leadership work is “worth it”, wondering if the sacrifices I make that don’t always put my family and my farm as number one on my list of priorities truly make a big enough difference to others. It’s a tough call and one that I realize after spending 5 days away from home and talking to others here, I’m not alone with those concerns. Today especially when I attended a workshop by Dr. Bernie Erven, I think I started to get some clarity as to what I was facing. Now with most things in life the answer today will never be the same answer tomorrow as changes are always thrown your way, but just for today I do feel like I have received a bit of clarity in this mess of leadership, family, & work balance.

Dr. Bernie on one hand reaffirmed that I’m not alone in this struggle, he said that most people in that room had 3 roles in their lives, “The family role, the business role and the personal role.” And all those three hats had to worn at different times, known when to take one off and throw on another, and also how to be the person you should be in each situation. I realized that many times, we forget to switch roles and we don’t always give enough time to each role that we all play. And on the other hand I was hoping he would give me the 2min answer to all my questions. Instead he said that there are no easy answers and all answers for all people are different. But, “if you start with respect, from there you can gain understanding, and from that you can make a strategy of how to work together!”

2013-02-07_16-11-47_139Cotton field, right next to Cardinal Stadium!  Talk about stressful “in town” farming!

As I sit here today in the sunny Phoenix weather, wishing that I could have it all, be involved in it all, fight all the good fights, I also realize that as inspired as I am by many opportunities, it’s tough to really evaluate how these decisions and commitments will affect all three hats you wear for your life. But I believe in what Bernie said, and I think I know where to start the conversation now. I know that there isn’t an easy answer, and maybe I just need to be reminded of that at times. And at times there may be sacrifice from different areas, but there is always something to work on, something to learn and something to work towards whether it’ while wearing your work hat, family hat or personal one. And looking back I think that this has been one of the best things I’ve gotten from Farm Bureau. It’s not just an organization that you find great friends, or learn more about politics and how to speak to the public, it’s also a place where you find people who are going through your same struggles. And with a family business as deeply rooted as agriculture those struggles between family, business and personal can be lines that are very blurry!

Farming is more than Plows & Cows?

Now as some of you might know, I did not get a degree in Agriculture, or any of the top 5 most useless degrees that YAHOO! so inconsiderately listed (keep reading).  I actually left my family’s farm with big dreams of being a big time lawyer, saving the innocent from the grips of injustice (think major Matlock obsession).  But instead I took my non-ag, Business degree and ended up coming back anyway.  I had friends who thought I had just wasted a lot of money to “just end up farming”, some who were shocked by my return, and some (thanks goodness my parents) who thought that a business degree for the farm was about the smartest thing I could have done!  But what degree is best when farming?  I think that this industry is so diverse, so complicated, and covers so many aspects of our economy, anyone from any degree should feel they can be useful to agriculture.

But obviously there are many advantages to getting an actual degree in Ag, and there are many that do just that.  Whether it be the challenge of feeding millions and millions of people in the years to come, or the advancements in technology that bring them back, there is a lot to say about a growing industry and young people wanting to do their part. Hence the title, farming today truly is more than just plows and cows!!

Awhile ago Yahoo! receive plenty of flack from ag producers all over for claiming that Agriculture is a useless degree.  Which is interesting because I have the inclination that who ever wrote that probably did it on a full stomach, and never once thought, “Hmm…I wonder where this food came from…maybe I should thank a farmer?!”  They actually named Ag as the #1, Animal Science as #4 and Horticulture as #5.  Well Yahoo! here is just another story that proves you are in fact incorrect in you assumptions.

Fox News recently did a short story that completely debunks the worthless degree claim and shows that Ag degrees are actually on the rise, and for very good reason!  When you’re young and staring at a future world of 9 billion people, all with stomachs and mouths, it makes you realize that farming is going to become more and more important.  Ag research will become more important, fertilizer and feed companies, agronomists, the list goes on and on with how far an agriculture degree can take you today and far into the future.  In Oregon 1 in 8 jobs are tied to agriculture!!

You can watch the news report by clicking the link below and make your own assumptions…but as for Yahoo!, well I hope that no one actually believes what you say, because we need farmers, we need researchers, we need horticulturalists, animal science, vets…do I really have to keep going on and on??

Agriculture Degrees the HOT ticket for job growth?