I think the idea of returning to 40 acres and a mule is nice. I like the idea of having a small hub of diversified agriculture with beef cattle, hogs, a couple of milk cows, some chickens and a big garden.

I also think it’d be nice to live in the days of wide open range and traveling everywhere on horseback with a six-shooter wrapped around my waist. I definitely would have nipped that whole dress/petticoat business in the bud though.

Nice ideas aren’t always actionable. Stepping back in time to an era when most people had homesteads with lots of elbow room isn’t possible in our current world. Why? Even if land and finances made it possible, most people aren’t willing to sacrifice time or location to make that happen.

I don’t see urban centers liquidating. I don’t see many people making time to cultivate gardens or raise barnyard chickens. I don’t see many people giving up their careers or the amenities of big city living to rough it out on the prairie.

If that isn’t happening, then how are we supposed to “go back to the start” as Chipotle’s commercial depicts?

In light of a sky-rocketing population, I don’t see how such a move would sustain our appetites. Ignoring all the knowledge we have gained through decades of research on the intricacies of agriculture seems foolish to me as well.

If we are going to evaluate sustainability of agriculture, we must do so from all angles. How are we going to sustain an increasing number of people? How is the farmer or rancher going to sustain his/her business from an economic standpoint? How do we manage our resources in ways that sustain them while also maximizing the needed production? These are the questions farmers and ranchers are addressing.

Looking at my own day-to-day life, I don’t see myself raising chickens, having a milk cow in the barn or growing a year’s worth of vegetables.

Why? I don’t have the finances to support a land purchase or amenities such as barns and corrals to accommodate livestock. I also don’t have the time. It takes an incredible time investment to maintain a garden large enough to provide enough produce until the next growing season.

My family raises beef cattle. When I was little, my dad substantially increased the cow herd with the purchase of 120 first-calf heifers. The ranch has continued to grow in the last two decades, but believe me, family is the absolute core of that business.

Does it look like the small herd dad started with? Of course not, but if anything, it’s more family-centered than it was back then.

I don’t think it is right to disparage one type of agriculture over another – i.e. organic, grass-fed, conventional, farmers markets, etc. There is a need for each type, and that’s being said by a person raised on a conventionally-run ranch. I also support the right of people to choose where they source their food. Agriculture is a business, and the law of supply and demand is equally at play here as it is in every other business.

However, if you have questions on the source of your food, there are so many places where you can go directly to that source instead of a marketing campaign by a large company such as Chipotle. Farmers and ranchers from all genres of agriculture are putting voice to what they do.

Just a handful of people who are a great resource about agriculture:

• Crystal Young – Crystal does an excellent job of sharing her agricultural experiences as well as her love for turquoise. She wrote a post on her reactions to Chipotle’s ad. (Twitter)
• Trent Bown – Trent is recently back in the blogosphere, but his video about his dairy and was downright great. I really can’t say enough good things about it. Go. Watch it. (Twitter)
• Emily Zweber – I have learned a great deal from Emily. Her family owns an organic dairy, and I’m thankful for the way she has broadened my views when it comes to different types of agriculture. (Twitter)
• Jennifer Elwell – Jennifer is the voice behind Food, Mommy. I am continually impressed by her thoughtful, well-researched posts on food and nutrition. (Twitter)
• Jan Hoadley – Jan is another person who has been indispensable in helping me learn more about other areas of agriculture. Coming from a commercial Red Angus ranch, it’s been a lot of fun to see different agricultural practices. (Twitter)
• Jeff Fowle – I know you’re probably seeing a pattern here, but every time I read Jeff’s site, I learn something. The man has a very common sense approach when he addresses food and agriculture issues. I always walk away with something new to ponder. (Twitter)
• Meg Brown – Meg is an inspiration. Opinionated and passionate about the beef industry, she shares her experiences with both ag and non-ag folks and is always willing to strike up a conversation and answer questions. Plus she has an amazing meatloaf recipe! (Twitter)

Marketing is a misleading source of information. At best, ads (for anything) should be a spark for researching a topic in-depth. Jennifer Keller wrote a great piece on truth in advertising and her experiences in presenting to the same students as a Chipotle representative. As the Euripides quote goes, “Question everything. Learn something. Answer nothing.”

Finding answers is an elusive hunt. What constitutes an answer for me won’t be the same for you based on our different experiences, values and outlooks on life. I hope this Chipotle ad sparks questions. I hope it drives people to search for more information about where their food comes from, and I hope talking to the farmers and ranchers who are at the beginning of food production are high on the list of people to visit with.

Here’s one final question to ponder: have you ever seen a commercial suggesting computer technology go back to the start?

Transparency has become a buzzword in agriculture. Be transparent. Open your doors. Show the world what you’re doing on your front porch.

And I agree. Sticking our heads in the sand is not an effective way to deal with the powerful political and activist groups who oppose animal agriculture. It’s also not a good way to pick up a conversation with consumers who are interested in learning about where their food comes from. I like talking to people about cattle ranching, and I can’t do that if I never poke my nose beyond my front door.

The problem with buzzwords like transparency is that they lose power the more they’re tossed around. They lose meaning, and once the meaning is lost, how do you take action?

It seems to me that there are two main questions to answer about transparency in agriculture.

1. What does transparency mean to you?
2. How are you going to act on your definition of it?

I want to make it clear that I agree with the concept of transparency. I just want to encourage everyone – including me – to really stop and think about the reality of transparency in our own individual lives.

We are not all going to be Cargill on Oprah, an agricultural social media rockstar or an owner who hosts weekly ranch visits. And that’s okay.

But we can have a great impact in little everyday type of ways. With the people we work with, the folks we meet at church, the friend we invite out to ride fence.

That sounded fluffy. Fluffy is for down pillows and 70s shag carpet.

Stop talking. Start doing.

PS: Check out Ryan Goodman’s ideas and list of links on this question: how would you work differently if a non-farmer/rancher followed you around for a day?

PPS: There might be a part two on Transparency in Agriculture as I just thought of something else that relates in a roundabout, Erica-type way. It’ll probably be called…Transparency in Agriculture, Part 2.

When I think of child labor, I think of kids in sweatshops making Nike shoes or little homeless kids forced into being drug couriers on the street. I don’t think of agriculture – and I certainly don’t think of the way I grew up – when I hear the term child labor, but that is the way some people are headed.

In a recent Huffington Post article Child Labor Rules Stalled At White House As Farm Accidents Continue:

Last week, two 17 year olds were critically injured in Oklahoma when they were pulled into a grain augur while on the job. Responders had to cut the augur to free the boys, who were flown to a hospital with severe leg injuries.

Yet the White House continues to sit on new child labor rules proposed last year by the Department of Labor that some safety advocates say could have prevented that accident.

Although the rules proposed by the Labor Department have not yet been made public, sources familiar with them say they would deem certain work activities on farms too dangerous for minors to perform, potentially strengthening laws that haven’t been updated in 40 years.

I grew up on a cattle ranch. I started helping dad feed cows at 5 years old, learned to drive tractor in the hayfield, moved up to raking and then baling. I was shoving calves five times my size up the chute, working long days, bucking bales, riding horses and chasing cows. Was this child labor?

Ranching and farming accidents make my heart fall just as much as the next person’s, but legislation isn’t the answer to reducing the number of agricultural accidents. It is, and always will be, about proper agricultural safety training. Age has nothing to do with it. Throwing a 40-year-old man out on a combine who has never driven it before is a much higher risk than a 17-year-old who has been taught how to operate the equipment. As one of the comments said on the Huffington Post article, “What law do they think they can write that prevents accidents?”

I didn’t start driving a tractor in the hayfield to pick up bales until dad showed me how to run it. The speed wasn’t much more than a sedated snail’s pace, and dad was able to jump on if I got in trouble. Complete mastery at that meant moving up to raking hay – a much higher-paced job. And then baling with all types of moving pieces, power take-off shafts and potential for fire.

Working with livestock can be dangerous, no matter who you are. Even though I’ve worked with cattle my whole life, I still get kicked, hit, bruised and stomped. So has everyone else who’s been ranching for decades.

How can revisions to child labor laws impact that? Will it change the way children of ranchers and farmers grow up learning at their families’ sides?

Instead of safety advocates focusing on child labor legislation, the focus needs to be on proper agricultural safety training. Offer agricultural safety courses. Implement agriculture and safety classes into rural school districts. Get articles into farm and ranch publications providing safety tips and reminders of the dangers of working in agriculture.

Waiting on the White House to do something (that probably won’t help anyway and could negatively impact family operations) is a proven waste of time. Do something that matters today. Do something that can have an impact – even if it’s just one person – right now.

“In the end, the farmer’s diligence made a big difference and helped us catch two suspected bad guys,” said Grant County Sheriff Tom Jones.

This quote was from a story earlier today about a rancher who called authorities to apprehend two suspects who were trying to make off with $6,000 worth of metal from his property.

3 Key Factors in Catching Ranch Thieves

1. The rancher was alert. This rancher was out and about at 4 in the morning. He was in a position to notice something amiss. He knew the truck and trailer were unfamiliar. He knew that metal theft is a likely candidate. He was consciously paying attention to his surroundings.

2. He observed. Sometimes it’s better to hold on to your cards before busting a place wide open. As a person trying to protect her property, I would have been very tempted to confront the thieves the moment they began trespassing on my property. But as a person with a criminal justice degree, I applaud the rancher for assessing the situation and gathering information.

3. He called the authorities. Instead of handing out his own justice, the rancher called the authorities in for an arrest, and he did it at the right time. Not only were the thieves caught in the act with stolen goods, it also put the rancher in a safer position. You never know how dangerous another person can be, whether they are under the influence of alcohol or other drugs, or what weapons they have.

In many cases, ranchers and farmers aren’t there to observe. Many operations are sprawled out over many acres and many miles, and everything can’t be watched all the time. Limiting the opportunities for theft is often the best route. And, however fruitless it sometimes seems, report any thefts to your local authorities. They may not hunt down the thieves, but a record of the reported theft will be kept on file. Patterns can be tracked as well as methods of operation.

Have you had metal, fuel or other goods stolen from your property? What did you do about it?