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Complexity Of Day-To-Day Evolving News
RANDY P. KROTZ
ST. LOUIS, MO.
One challenge of writing a weekly column for a print publication is how to handle real-time events. Important happenings are regularly occurring that impact our industry, but those events may change course while a publication is in the mail to the readers. Many topics the agriculture industry deals with have extended lead times, and some general predictability or are at least are cyclical. The year 2020 has been an extraordinary year for current-event news. Several times as I have started to include time-sensitive comments about meat processing plants, euthanizing farm animals, or even glyphosate litigation, and I find myself ultimately pulling back. There is always some level of likelihood the news will change before it is read. In reality, it’s one aspect of authoring a column that allows it to be even more special. We are compelled to step back and look at the big picture, not always the day-to-day evolving news.
With that preface behind us, it might be worth taking a moment or two and consider agriculture’s role in one of the events the American public has dealt with this past couple of weeks. “On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after a white police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes while Floyd was handcuffed and lying on the street.” To see this topic discussed in an ag publication is pretty rare. Why would our industry wade into such controversy? Even as I write this, I ask myself what my end-game is. These past few days, I have noticed a few heartfelt statements emerging from commodity and trade organizations regarding racism and the behavior of the police that guard our gate. Over time, I hope more organizations take those same steps and more.
Looking within the social fabric that makes up farming and ranching, one is quick to determine that from a racial perspective, we lack diversity. A few days back, I was part of an intense discussion about who owns the farmland in the U.S., and why. White families indeed hold the vast majority, while minorities are making inroads in some geographies – the why is a much deeper question. Look globally at land ownership, and you will find a different picture. For those of us that own land today, the answer is pretty straight forward. We either inherited it, bought it from a family member or neighbor, or perhaps stepped out in a risky venture and purchased it as a long-term investment. Should we concern ourselves with others, including indigenous Americans or African Americans, and why they or other races don’t own more farmland or even the land we farm?
My European ancestors came to Kansas in the 1870s and homesteaded, worked hard, bought more land, and so goes the story. But that story, the path to where we are today isn’t that simple at all, is it? Most of the last 75 years, we have been fortunate as an ag community to own and work the land that makes us feel so connected to our family, neighborhood, and even the soil. I am not trying to convince you that we owe anyone other than ourselves for the success, so many farmers have experienced generation after generation. What we can do is pause for a moment and consider that our current situation could have easily gone another direction all those years ago. With that emotion in our hearts, agriculture needs to redouble its focus on becoming diverse. It will help us understand and better communicate with our customers.
Stepping back from major controversies that do not directly involve us may no longer be the appropriate path forward. Our children and grand-children need to see our outrage and experience the burning look in our eyes for the disgust we feel for racism, not just as parents but as community and state leaders. Is it time to encourage your state, local, and national farm organizations to take a strong and vocal position on racism? Perhaps there is not a person of color in your town or county, but there will be, and soon – welcome diversity with open arms. It benefits us all. ∆
RANDY P. KROTZ: CEO – AgWiki
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