We went too far.

I was talking about the basics of management, and at the time we needed to have that discussion.
Now we've gone too far.
Monday we had to fill out a form that details our personal view of what "we believe we can be", " "What we are Chartered to do", "What we believe as a staff", "How we intend to Succeed", "How we will be rewarded".
It's like our new "Administrative Manager" is reading a book called Management principles, an introductory look And is reading 1 chapter every evening and coming to work filled with all those great ideas every morning...the problem is the extremely freshman approach.
Has this guy ever actually managed a group of experienced professionals or not? And it isn't like this is a new business.
We spent an entire afternoon in a meeting. Now...you know how I feel about meetings anyway, but for crap sake. We probably had a $900 an hour worth of payroll sitting in that room, and we spent 4 hours discussing our forms.
Now I'm not saying that this exercise didn't do any good. It may have definitely knocked some dust off the 'ol filing cabinetry, but as far as productive use of time...I'm not so sure.
We wrote down a "Vision Statement, a "Mission Statement", we came up with this little word thing that says we are going to take PRIDE in our work:
Professionalism
Respect
Integrity
Dependability
Efficiency
How Cute!
We said things like: Gratifying, Proactive, Accountability, Efficiency, Communication, Technology.
It was very uplifting...I guess.
Mostly, this was a prime example of:
Flip Phones, Buzz Words and Bull Shit.

Basic Management. Either you've got it, or you don't.

Some of the Basics of managing your people and yourself in order to manage overall morale in a social business atmosphere with more than one “Group” or division of people as I have learned them.

When attempting to manage, all you need to do is manage people. Everything else will fall right into place. When you manage the people that work for you and their talents, they will work harder for you. If you don’t…They won’t. Even the best employee in the world that truly is a “Company Man” and is the type of person that will tell you “I Don’t need to be happy to do my job properly” will benefit from proper management. Properly managed employees are happy employees. Happy employees make for successful businesses. That is not to say that a well managed business can’t fail, or that a poorly managed business can’t prosper. There are many great managers that have worked for businesses that have failed, but at least they did not fail due to poor management. Market trends, the economy of the country, product necessity, and niche market fluctuation all affect the likelihood of success for any given business at any given time.

Divisiveness costs more than you can calculate.

When you mismanage the talents of your staff or if you fail to give equal credit to the different divisions of your company you are very effectively fostering the Us and Them mentality that inevitably works It’s way into every business. There will always be some degree of this when you have 2 different jobs that need done. This has been evident in every business that I’ve ever worked for. At the truck stop:
The Managers VS. The Hourly…TEXAS VS. The Managers, the C. Store VS. The Fuel Center…and on and on and on.

Studies have shown the negative effects of disenfranchised employees over and over. It is a proven fact that everyone subconsciously works a bit harder and a bit more effectively when they are happy at work. If you do not have happy employees, you will not get the extra effort from the. I guess you can decide if it’s worth it or not. If you do not realize the benefits of this extra effort from your employees, you will never know what you are missing, and you may be missing greatness.

This division of the ranks can be over even the most miniscule of details. Things that you would not ever enter your mind in this discussion turn out to be some of the most heated sources of discontent. Some of the top divisive wedges that I have seen:

· Wage Scale.

At The truck stop and at the mechanics shop I was whiteness to people becoming bitter about the fact that someone makes more money than they do. It doesn’t matter that one person may have been with the company longer, or that they are more productive, or offer more value to the company. It is solely based on dollars.

· Prestige.

Everywhere I’ve been, someone thinks that someone else holds higher prestige in their job. The janitor that mops the floor envies the cook that works the line; the cook envies the cashier that wishes she was the hostess. And on and on and on.

· Perception of Work Environment.

Everyone wants a better job. It’s plain old human nature. The problem is that when you start to over compensate as a manager, you unknowingly create feelings of division. If you have a group of workers that work out in the cold all winter long, they will surely be envious of the people that get to work inside. The people that work inside a warehouse will be envious of the people that work in the office, and the people in the office will want a private office, and the person in the private office wants the corner office. It’s just Human Nature. BUT! If you try to compensate by getting all of your outside crew winter jackets with your company logo on them, you will unwittingly drive the wedge. The indoor workers (That are glad to work inside and have no need for a jacket) will almost without exception will harbor at least a little resentment because “I didn’t get a jacket.”

· Tools of the Trade.

My current employer is a prime example of this one. We have a vast crew of field workers that do not often come to the office. These workers are the heart and soul of this company. If there are no loads to haul, and no trucks to haul them, all of the accountants in the world can’t make this business run. This is why we barely flinch to purchase a needed truck or trailer. When the opportunity comes along to get a good deal on a piece of equipment that costs 100’s of thousands of dollars, we make it happen.

Also, we have a crew of shop workers that maintains that equipment. They are equally important. If that equipment does not run, our operations are stopped. When that happens, not only do we loose the money from the current job, but we loose opportunity, and that too Is a cost that can be greater than you’d imagine.

The third part of this business is the accounting division. A group of 5 or 6 people that manage to account for every move that the 60 or so other employees make. They cut all of the pay checks, they comply with the government agencies, file tax reports, manage cash flow, insure vehicles, field phone calls, bill the customers, Pay the vendors, and they manage to do it all on 4 or 5 year old computers. This group depends on the field workers. Again, without the work getting done, there is no room for an accountant. BUT, they are just as important. Without the accounting and compliance and Payroll, the field operations are not going to last very long at all.

This creates a lot of hate and discontent when the company spends tens of thousands of dollars on a piece of equipment for the field, and the office staff spends ½ of their day dealing with the intricacies of an antiquated computer system. A good, up to date computer is just as important to the accounting department as a good tractor is to the truck driver that needs to haul a load. That Tractor is also as important to the driver as a lift or specialty wrench is to the Mechanic that is trying to keep the truck on the road.

Without all 3 departments working together, none of them can work effectively. This is an especially dangerous place to drive your wedge. If you are not careful, you will split the company in 3 pieces, and they will all fall apart.

How To Fix it?

I have had the unpleasant experience of a front seat view of what happens when managers either ignore this problem, or take the wrong roll in fixing it. The one thing that I guarantee you will not work: Call a meeting, and profess to everyone that this problem will end today. Make sure and follow this up with nothing, and you are assured failure. In order to fix this problem, there are a few roles that you can take. You need to ensure that you know what your roll needs to be:

The OWNER:
You are the owner of your business. You know what your goals for the company, and you are smart enough to know that you are NOT the person to handle the details of this, nor any other detail. You need to ensure quality, consistency, and integrity of your products and services. This DOES NOT mean calling the meeting. You need to meet with your managers. If you let them know that this is a prime issue with you, and let them know that they have your full support, they will use their management skills (The reason that you hired them in the first place) and handle the situation. If you do your job and let them do theirs, you will be rewarded with a happy work crew that services you customers with a smile.

The Manager:
When you realize that you have a problem, or when you are informed that your owner thinks that you have a problem, you must take action NOW! There is no time to waste when you are dealing with the morale of your employees. You may think that you have hired adults and do not need to cater to their feelings, but this is untrue. EVERYONE has emotions and can have their feelings hurt. This is not the kind of wound that you can see, but if left untreated it can nearly kill you (and your business). This becomes an extremely dangerous situation when dealing with people that do not show their emotions. They may not even realize the stress that they are feeling, but you can bet that it is affecting the quality of their work in one way or the other. One of the unintended consequences of job stress is family stress. No matter how hard you try not to let your job effect your home life; it does. If you’ve never read the book “No Asshole Rule” by Robert I. Sutton, You should. I would not hire a manager that has never read that book. If you effectively manage your people and their talents, you will already have a jump on this situation. One way or the other, this is your problem and it IS your job to deal with it. Here’s a few ideas on how:

· Wage Scale.

Let’s face it; you have got to pay good people a good wage. If you don’t, someone else will. The problem is, No matter how much you shouldn’t, employees discuss their pay. When this becomes a problem, simply assure the employee that you are aware of the situation, and that when they learn the skills, gain the experience, get the certification, or what that next level of performance is that separates your employees, that they too will earn a better wage. As basic of a principle as this is, there are times when it just needs said.

· Prestige.

This is another variation of the wage scale issue. People are never happy where they are. Everyone is looking for a change. The solution to this one is easy. You must assure your employee that he or she is a valuable part of the company, and encourage them to learn the new job that they want, and when the opportunity comes along, they will be considered for the promotion. You can use this as a recruiting opportunity by asking your employees to bring in competent help to fill the hole in your team that they will leave if they are promoted.

· Perception of Work Environment

When this perception of preferential treatment arises, it is usually your fault to begin with. People don’t make this sort of thing up. You have done something to offend the sensabilities of your crew. In the example I gave above, if you purchase jackets for your outside workers, how about getting a nice polo shirt for your indoor staff and have them wear It as part of a casual Friday event. This is just one example of people feeling left out. I’ll bet you can think of 10 things that fit your situation if you try.

· Tools of the Trade.

You really have to ask yourself a tough question here. Are you providing the tools needed to encourage the success of your employees? And if you are, are you providing equally for all facets of your business? If you think that it isn’t your job; think again. You should no more expect your accounting staff to work with outdated equipment than you would expect your operations crew to dig a 10 mile trench through clay with a plastic snow shovel. You surely wouldn’t expect your mechanics to work on you expensive equipment with nothing more than a pair of pliers and a screw driver. The trick her is that you can easily spend yourself into a hole on this issue. It is your duty to provide an adequate amount of support to all the parts of your business. There is no easy answer to this situation, but DO NOT play favorites. Work from the bottom up, realizing that every part is equally important to the overall success of your business. Do not neglect the basic needs of one division to purchase “cool toys” for another.

Old Fashion work ethic?

We all grew up with the same ol song and dance of going to work, trudging through the day and going home. While this did work for some people some of the time, it is not exactly the best way to manage your time or people, and ultimately you end up burnt out and over stressed. There are bound to be a few old codgers around that will stick to the “Rule with an Iron fist” method of management. Fortunately for the rest of us, that practice is so out dated and ineffective, the people that abide by this method will either change or be replaced. If they are business owners, they will be plagued with unhappy, non loyal employees that will eventually run the business into the ground. The unfortunate thing is that the people that should suffer are too blinded by ignorance and habit to recognize their shortcomings, and the potentially great employees will eventually loose their jobs.
With Companies like GoDaddy.com and Google offering such benefits as up to 20 days per year paid leave, nap hour at work, a free beer in the commons area after work, and company massage days, you have got to pay attention to the effectiveness of these methods. I’m not saying that you need to take quite such a bold approach to keeping your people happy, but you can take the hint from these ultra successful companies that enjoy virtually no employee turnover. The amount of money you might spend to do that little something extra for your employees is usually a negligible amount compared to the money that you may spend trying to train and retrain their replacement. This is also not taking into account the intangible of health of the employees. Again, in the book “No Asshole Rule” by Robert I. Sutton there are many cases sited where unnecessary work place stress has induced physical illness. Another story attributes an employees divorce directly to stress caused by an Asshole at work. You may tend to think this is a bit of horse puckey, but I am here to tell you that it is a consequence of bad behavior and stress at work, and you are not a sissy for falling victim to it. As a manager, your job is to encourage the peaceful and as stress free of an environment as possible.

In summary, these tips all boil down to the simple strategy of taking care of your people, providing them the tools and the environment that they need to do their jobs, and treating them like part of the team. If you manage your people this way, they will naturally bond and work as a team instead of working as separate groups. You will benefit from this team effort, and your employees will benefit from it as well.

Importance of management.

This is mostly about how owners and CEO’s let their managers manage. One of the most important talents of heading up a business knows what your talents are, and what your shortcomings are. NOBODY is the master of all things. If you have a general manager, you hired that person for a reason. Get out of the way and let them manage your business. If you are the idea guy, get to work and create some ideas. If you are the Quality Control Expert, get to it and make sure that you are getting the best possible product to your customers. If you are a marketing guru, stay out of the manufacturing department and sell the products that they make. If you can not trust the manager that you have hired to do the job that you need them to do, fire them. It takes a pretty good leap to turn some aspects of your business over to someone else, but if you want to be successful, it is a must.

A note to Managers.

As I said earlier, not all good businesses have good managers. If you think that you are the greatest manager that ever walked through the door, think again. If you take the fact that your business is not going broke as a sign that you are a great manager, you are setting yourself up for a life of mediocrity at best. This goes for an owner as well. DO NOT get caught up in the trap of doing something just because it worked yesterday. Both owners and managers need to keep sharp. Technology is advancing at an astonishing rate. You have 2 choices, keep up or get run over. Consider a 2 year rotational cycle on your computers. You can deduct the new ones from your taxes, and donate the old computers to a charity and get another tax advantage. This works out good for everyone. You get the latest technology which puts you in the position to take advantage of opportunities that may not otherwise be available to you, and the charity, or school, or boy scout troop, get the benefit of a late model computer that they can put to good use.
This kind of innovative thinking is what keeps one manager ahead of another. Your business may not fail from bad management, but it will never thrive. It is amazing how much bad management a business can survive due to volume of sales, but it is equally as amazing how much difference an innovative manager that manages the talent of the employee base can make in an otherwise mediocre business.

SHOW OF HANDS!!

Let’s have a show of hands. Who thinks that we should OPEN the border to Mexico? Who thinks that we should CLOSE the Border to Mexico? Who thinks that the United States of America should just take possession of Mexico, throw out their government, and exchange Pesos for US Green Dollars at a 10:1 Ratio? Hell, here is a stupid idea, but I’m going to throw it out there…just for academics: Who thinks we should just enforce the damn law as it is?
We hear, and engage in, a lot of debate about immigration. This is one of very few issues in which the numbers are the main issue of the debate, and they are nearly impossible to nail down. We hear about 13 million illegal aliens, we hear about health care costs, we hear about the burden (Or contribution) to society. WHO KNOWS? Come on, another show of hands here. Who really knows how many illegals are here? How about health care numbers? Anybody? Nobody?
Let us look at the 13 million number. How many is 13 million? This is roughly equal to 26 cities the size of Denver Colorado. This is given that, according to City-Data.com, Denver is home to roughly 550,000 residents. It is difficult for me to wrap my mind around a number that big. I do not have 13 million of anything; it’s just hard to get a tangible idea of what that is. Why do we need this many people in our country illegally? They claim that they provide an “Economic Benefit” to the country. And what is it that they do again? Oh Yes, Unskilled Labor. 5 or 10 years ago, we called that “Entry Level” positions, and “Summer Jobs” These are the sorts of jobs that you and I may have done as teen age kids. Things like picking up trash, or harvesting agricultural crops. This inspires me to ask, what are those American kids doing now? VIDEO GAMES? Internet? TV? Basically becoming over weight unproductive products of their society? Yes, I think so.
What about health care? By design, and by nature, our country takes care of the least. This is one of the things that best defines our society. Those that have, voluntarily, provide for those that can’t. Partially through taxes, and largely through charity, we do a good job of providing for the poor in our country. I would be interested to hear what Karl Marx would say about the society where the kindness of the affluent makes way to provide for the needy? Do you suppose he would take credit and say that this is a form of his re-distribution of wealth? I do not think that this is an example of his theories. This is wholy dependeant on generosity and volinterism. This is an example of all that is right with capitalism. Let people do what they do best, let them excel at it, and they will provide for those that are less fortunate. Unfortunately, the Illegal aliens are standing there with outstretched arms to take full advantage. Need medicine? Si! Need Doctor? Si! Need hospital? Si! This is another number that I have a hard time believing. Do YOU have firsthand knowledge of just how much health care an illegal gets? Don’t feel bad, neither do I. What I do know, is roughly a dozen people in my little circle of friends that do not have health insurance, and cannot get affordable healthcare. If you need treatment, and you want to pay, just not all right now, you are shit out of luck. Sometimes I think that you’d be better to renounce your citizenship and declare Immigrant status at the front door of the emergency room.
If someone is offended by the term “Illegal Alien”, you should take into consideration why? Are they here illegally? Are they protecting someone that is? More often than not, it is because that person has been born and raised in, and protected by, the AMERICAN way of life. They have the right to be offended, but do not have any respect for that right. They are likely oblivious to the fact that they are protesting the very system that gives them the right to protest. I have said before, and will say again that the worst part of a free society is the fact that you also have the freedom to be stupid.
Wow. This has turned into more of a rant than I had intended. I just want everyone to take the time to realize that there are provisions for immigrants to enter this country. It’s not easy, but the prize is worth the race. The people that manage to go through the process end up as real AMERICANS! They have something to be very proud of. And every single naturalized citizen I’ve ever met is fiercely patriotic. My ancestors did it, and I’ll bet yours did too. I say, “SECURE THE BORDER” Punish offenders, and let the border patrol do its job. If funds run short, publically call for volunteers. I’ll bet you’d have a deluge of applicants.
Ok. Last time…Let’s have a show of hands. Who is willing to take a week to go to South Arizona with your rifle and protect America for a few days?

Does Colorado need it's own version of Arizona's Prop 204?

When Colorado is faced with legislation resembling Arizona’s Prop 204 I hope that Colorado voters are well informed. Agencies like the Humane Society of The United States and Farm Sanctuary look like good hearted people. The problem is that they are radical animal rights groups and completely opposed to animal agriculture in almost all forms. When these people start making decisions about industry standards, the outcome can be devastating. They have no more business telling us how to run our farms and ranches than I have telling Kernel Sanders how to cook chicken. They say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I am sure that the animal rights groups are just acting in what they believe is the best interest of a horse when they try to ban their slaughter for human consumption. The unintended consequence is people in less developed countries with no safe meat supply. Another unintended consequence is all of the unwanted horses that now have nowhere to go. Animal shelters are over run with horses, and hard working Americans are out of jobs. In Prop 204 they have successfully banned the use of gestation and farrowing crates which protect the piglets from being crushed by the mother Sow. The unintended consequence is all of the baby pigs that die a painful death of suffocation by their mother. The other unintended consequence is the pork producers that are losing what little profit they do have. Arizona is roughly the 28th largest pork producing state. I believe that this was an issue of opportunity. If the Humane Society was really interested in helping the most pigs possible, they would have raised this issue in Iowa or Minnesota. They had a favorable audience, plenty of money to spend and more than enough time to convince the voters that animals need protected from the people that raise them. If you need another example of unintended consequences, please see Colorado’s very own amendment 41. Nobody ever thought that they were denying hard working students the opportunity to receive a scholarship.
The problem with agencies like this is that they have VERY large budgets, and modestly funded opponents. According to the New York Farm Bureau, the Humane Society of the United States spent $330,000.00 in Arizona to "Get the ball rolling" on Prop 204. With all of the commercials that ran in the last weeks before the election, the total was in the 10's of millions of dollars. Local farmers just simply don't have the budget to run that barrage of propaganda. Our only defense is education. Please speak with anyone you know that is involved in agriculture. Talk with your county Farm Bureau. Visit with a member of the Cattlemen Association. See the Pork producers’ web page. Take the opportunity to visit with a FFA student. If you have kids, take them to the Library, maybe you will learn something together.
We cannot let animal rights activists come to our state and tell us how to run our businesses. We have generally accepted industry practices like dehorning and castrating cattle, riding horses, and raising other "Production Agriculture" animals such as pigs, sheep, chickens and Buffalo. Please educate yourself. Talk to your family and friends, go see your neighbors. Rural Colorado needs to stick together; stand shoulder to shoulder and tell the big city activists that they are not welcome here.

And Then I was accused of being a "Bush Defender"

Well, I did defend G.W. Up until a few months ago when I decided he is just a big fat wuss. The way I see it: We went to Iraq, we totally destroyed their government. Now, I don't much care what people think about if we should have done that or not, but we did it. (And your damn right I think the world is a better place without Saddam) Now we have the responsibility of putting it back together. The reason that I no longer support GW is that he is not willing to put our troops in sufficient #'s to keep them safe. The other (and perhaps more important) reason that I do not support GW, is the fact that there are more Americans killed by Illegal Mexicans every year than are killed in the Middle East. We have no responsibility to Mexico, we owe them nothing. We need to send them back the hell where they came from, secure our borders, and pick our own damn vegetables. I would gladly pay double the price for a head of lettuce if I knew it hadn't been picked by a Mexican. I believe that people should take care of their own. If we started at the family level and take care of our own family, nobody else would have to. If we take care of our own town, nobody else will have to. Take that philosophy up the line to a federal level; we would have a country strong enough to take care of anything that comes along. The problem is, especially in Colorado, that we are a bunch of whiny cry babies that would rather sit around in our paisley print pink pajamas and have the government take care of us than get off of our collective fat McDonalds eating welfare dependant ass and get a better job and take care of ourselves. This is the same with Halliburton. If (and I agree that they are) corrupt, FIX IT! Either take the initiative and get something done, or quit whining about it. I know that I may be a bit idealistic, but this country is still run "By the People for the People". I do stand up and take steps to ensure my future and the issues that will affect me and my family. Because I spend so much time, effort and money doing this, I have no sympathy for people who take the roll of armchair politician. This includes people that have never sat down with a congressman and expressed their concerns about Halliburton and the way we have blindly done business with them. Believe it or not, if enough of a politician's constituency voices a concern, they will fall into line and represent you.

Don't bite the hand that feeds you.

For what seems like as long as I can remember, the politicians have been pissing and moaning about Halliburton and its “No Bid Contracts”. This poses the question, “Who does what Halliburton does?” KBR, a division of Halliburton is the Pentagons largest contractor in the Middle East. Why? Because they have specialized equipment and expertise. Nobody else can do what they do on the scale that they do it. When it is time to put out an oil rig fire, “Who ya gonna call?”; Not me! But Halliburton does a fine job. So what would you do if your country did not support you? I would find another country. And that is just what Halliburton has done. They are moving to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. I’ll bet you that they find a more than friendly government there. And, I’ll bet you that they take their $13 Billion worth of revenue (and Taxes) with them. I would not necessarily say that I would do business the way they do it, but I’ll also say I did not bring in $13 Billion last year either.
I say “Good Luck” to Chief Executive David Lesar and his company in their new offices. I would be a little anxious about moving my office to within 200 miles of Iran, but that is why I don’t work for Halliburton. I also say “Serves you right” to anyone who will miss out on the tax revenue that Halliburton has been bringing to these United States. You shouldn’t have bitten the hand that feeds you.

I said eat your vegetables. There are starving kids in this country you know.

I think that a true visionary does not always need to search out something new. Sometime you make more progress improving on an existing idea than re-inventing the mousetrap. There is always room for improvement, no matter what you do or how you do it. Just be careful of Misconceptions about Agriculture. Misconceptions are easy to start, and hard to correct. The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture gives the following example of how misconceptions are started.
The statement Frances Moore Lappé made in Diet for a Small Planet published in the early 70s, that it takes 16 pounds of grain to produce a pound of beef. This “fact” occurs in other books critical of beef production, many textbooks, and environmental education curricula and is used as the basis for other authors to create their own “facts.”
Figures written about how much water or oil it takes to produce beef are based on the 16 to 1 ratio. These “facts” are then used by authors, animal rights groups and environmental educators to convince teens to become vegetarians and “feed a starving world.” Their favorite phrase taken from Lappé is that the world can support more vegetarians than meat eaters.
Research conducted by the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture has identified how the author arrived at that figure and why it is wrong. The research shows the actual figure is 2.6 pounds of grain to produce a pound of beef in the United States. The world’s average is three-tenths of a pound of grain to a pound of beef.

When you see how easy it is to be fooled by misleading information, it is also easy to see how you may think that you are working as efficiently as possible. The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture has made the statement that in the next 40 years, with current consumption rates, agriculture will need to produce as much food as the total food produced by man in all of history.

Current figures show how half of food in the U.S. goes to waste. In the U.S., this amounts to total losses of up to $100 billion per year, $20 billion of that occurring in the farm and processing sectors, and $30-40 billion occurring in the retail sector. Household losses account for a further $40 billion.
"Huge amounts of food are being wasted throughout the industry.” said Dr Jones, an anthropologist at the University of Arizona's Bureau for Applied Research in Anthropology

Now, I am not a big fan of anthropologists in general, but Dr. Jones makes a good point. If we can reduce the amount of waste, maybe we don’t have to produce so much. I take this theory to every day business. If we waste less time, maybe we could have more time at home with our family. If we waste less money on frivolous things, we have more to spend on advancements. If we waste less energy trying to re-invent the wheel, we have more time, energy, and money to perfect the one we have.

Shut up and eat your Vegetables.

What is wrong with you? Some people would complain if their ice cream was cold. American Farmers and ranchers are producing food to feed the world, and not because it is making them rich! You can not look at a corporate agriculture business like Con Agra or Cargill and figure that all of the family farms are making that kind of money too.
To meet the demands of an ever expanding world population; which is taking land out of production agriculture, farmers and ranchers are trying every trick in the book to produce more food on less land. The problem is: people are whining about the fact that 1. Agriculture is using all of their recreational water 2. Cows stink 3. It’s cruel to keep chickens locked up in little cages 4. You can’t brand and tag those animals! My response to them is this:
1. Would you rather paddle down a river in a Kayak, or eat?
* It takes water, and lots of it, to produce organic vegetables that make up your vegetarian diet.
2. Could you smell the cows before you decided to move to your sprawling 2 acre estate in the suburbs?
3. The chickens wouldn’t have to live in small cages if you didn’t need to have a 5000 square foot house on
the edge of town.
4. Nice tattoo…oh my god did it hurt when they put that ear ring in your nose?

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that while about 16 percent of all cropland is irrigated, largely in the western states; that acreage generates about $60 billion, or about half the value of U.S. crops. If you have been paying attention, this comes very close to the ‘ol 80-20 rule. If you would like to complain about the use of water in agriculture, I would suggest that you think about what you have eaten in the last 2 days and then research where it came from.