Like many of us, I am disappointed with what I see in the news each day and the examples of the levels of deceit seen in all parts of our culture. From politicians to the NBA and now the MLB, the morals displayed are disgusting. I suppose we all have always thought that politics was dirty but now there is virtually nowhere to turn and see anything but dirt.

This has me thinking (something my wife believes to be dangerous) about what it is that has always allowed agriculture to survive every challenge given. I believe the reason we always overcome it is because we always cling to the truth. What is factual and more so, what is right. Whether growing crops or raising livestock, we see daily what is real.

Over the past couple years, I have singled out businesses and men of integrity that do what is right, even if the current culture is trending toward getting all you can, however you can. I read something from Warren Buffett where he talked about the stock market being an investment you must be in for years to realize profits. I’m thinking that integrity is very much like that. When I think of men like Dean Ford, John Thacker, BJ Biltz, Dayne Jessup and Ted Everett, and look for a common denominator in their respective successes, it is integrity. They do what’s right and know that doing the right thing will pay greater dividends than any other business practice they can use over the long run.

So here is what I propose. Agriculture is facing losses unparalleled in history and is bringing pressure on agriculture unlike any other time. If we look at history and especially at periods when disaster after disaster threatened our industry, one common trait seemed to be present in all the farms that survived: integrity and hard work. I propose that in a world where corruption is everywhere, integrity will always make its way back on top. When we stand for truth and honesty in our dealings, right will gravitate to our side as eventually, business and life retreat to facts.

I want to simplify this rather confusing tenet with an analogy. We grow crops to meet the needs of our country and livestock to feed them as well. If we continue to do what we do the way we know is right, eventually the world comes back around to respecting and we find ourselves surviving and being rewarded not only with profitability (over the long haul) but with the emotional knowledge that we did it the right way. I can assure you, a vast number of the 98.4 percent of people that work in the city worry that their actions, based on the latest fad, will let them down.

Please don’t misunderstand, there is a significant part of the grain farmers in this country in financial distress. But I suggest that most will remain steadfast in their belief that doing what they and their industry have done for centuries, making “operational changes” we will come out on top… again. I once heard that there is a Chinese proverb that suggests that there is no problem that can’t be solved with three minutes of uninterrupted, concentrated thought. I’ve tried to give three minutes of focused time on several problems but each time other thoughts about other issues worked their way in. I have a great uncle who met the Lord while plowing. He said the long hours in the tractor, in those days without radios, smartphones, etc., he finally got around to dealing with the most important decision of his life. Maybe we can all benefit from returning to the tractor seat and turn off the radio and screens for a few hours, and connect with ourselves and maybe more.

IndianaAg@bluemarble.net

Horse Sense: Life in the saddle, no matter what the saddle is on, is the answer to life’s biggest problems.