Andy's Angle

My first full-time job, and my first foray into advertising sales, was at a Christian radio station specializing in Bible-teaching ministries. Hosts like James Dobson and Bob Burney taught the Gospel from dawn ‘til dusk each day, and I did farm news and markets for 90 minutes in between. Our General Manager, as Godly a man as I’ve ever met, used to tell us “profit isn’t a dirty word.” That seemed shocking to some who came to the business as part of their faith journey, but is perfectly logical when you realize the statement’s profound truth.

For my boss, the radio station couldn’t fulfill its mission of sharing God’s Word if the company couldn’t afford to keep the lights on and the staff paid. Unfortunately, our society today is increasingly adopting the attitude of the corporation being the enemy, and of profit as one of the seven deadly sins. A profit motive, however, is the very thing that keeps this nation alive, and our standard of living so strong compared to the rest of the world.

A firm must derive a profit to remain in business. This is one of the basic tenets of Adam Smith’s fundamental work in creating the science of economics. To take this a step further, think about your own job. While you may be self-employed, like my wife and I, chances are you either work for, or have worked for in the past, a company owned by someone other than yourself. If that company can’t operate profitably, it can’t continue to employ you, or anyone else. A corporation doesn’t exist to employ people; it exists to produce a good or service that it can sell at a profit. Without the profit motive, it wouldn’t sell the good or service, and therefore wouldn’t need any workers.

Greed, by the way, is different than profit motive. When companies, say Enron for example, do unethical or illegal things to accumulate more money, that is different than earning a profit. Notice I used the word “earning.” That is important, because when a company has generated a profit, it has earned that money. And yet, profitable corporations are vilified in the mainstream press on a daily basis. An article I read this week in a major business magazine reminded me of this sad fact. Writing about Pfizer’s plan to expand its free drug program to folks with annual household incomes under $43,000, the writers explained the company was trying to “repair its image.” Really? Why does Pfizer need to repair its image? Because, according to the article, the company earned a profit last year exceeding a billion dollars.

A billion? “GREAT!” says I. Why so great? Well, last I checked, bringing a new drug to market costs at least a billion dollars. Hopefully, the company will feel inclined to boost its R&amp budget, and continue bringing lifesaving drugs and treatments to the market. Pfizer, you see, saves lives on a daily basis, but only because it is able to sell its products profitably. No profit, no Pfizer, no lifesaving drugs.

The “big is evil” mantra hit me early in my days as a reporter. Some people, you see, despise big farms, especially big livestock farms. One of the first pieces of “hate mail” I received as a broadcaster came because I wasn’t critical enough of large “Dutch Dairies” in Northwest Ohio. The letter writer was incensed that I believed the families that owned those farms had every right to grow to a size at which they felt they could sell milk profitably. If those dairies couldn’t succeed at farming profitably, they wouldn’t employ the dozen or so farmhands who milked the cows and harvested the grain and forage to feed the cows, they wouldn’t have bought the thousands of bushels of corn and hundreds of tons of hay the cows consumed from local farms, and they wouldn’t have paid taxes to benefit the local schools and governments.

Nowhere in agriculture is this illogical derision of the corporation any more prevalent than in the deep-seated hatred some have for Monsanto. Arguably the most successful agribusiness in the last century, Monsanto creates and markets game changing biological technologies that allow farmers to produce more product more profitably. That means more food to feed more hungry people. Purists in the organic and natural foods industry will blame Monsanto for a whole host of ills, but the science and the statistics are conclusive. Monsanto provides a valuable service and product at a profitable price. If they could not do so, we’d still be walking bean fields and spraying a lot more chemicals on our fields than we do today.

Speaking as a small business owner I can tell you that our organization isn’t the United Way. We do what we do because we love it, but if we couldn’t pay our staff or keep the studios open, we’d probably do something else. At a company that could operate profitably, of course.

The media hatred for corporations of large scale and the irrational sneering at companies reaping significant profit is not only illogical, it’s also bad for America. The United States was built on the backs of landowners and industrialists who pledged their lives and fortunes to the cause of liberty. They were able to do so because they had first earned those fortunes. Giants of the early part of our nation’s history like Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Henry Ford made this country great with their vision, their ideas, and their determination. They employed those talents and gifts, however, to put bread on their families’ tables and to put a dollar in their pocket. And that, my friends, is too important a lesson to miss.

I'm sitting in the show ring at the Ohio State Fair Lamb Barn. That's right, in the sawdust beside the announcer's stand, and twenty feet from twenty lambs in the middle of competition. I love the Ohio State Fair, and the Junior Market Lamb Show is our traditional kickoff to the events of one of my favorite events of the year.

ABN is the only media outlet you'll find on the fairgrounds every day of the Ohio State Fair, more or less from dawn until dusk. Usually you'll find us ringside at one of the shows, like today, and typically you'll find at least one of us at our stage in the ABN Radio Taste of Ohio Cafe talking with consumers and fair-goers. We do "double duty" logistically because we think our place is in the barns supporting the Junior Fair exhibitors and Ohio's farm families. We also think it's our duty to tell the story of those farm families to the consumers who come to the fair for fun, food, and entertainment.

Our coverage of the fair is more extensive than ever before thanks to Social Media. Our radio broadcasts from the fair are heard across our statewide network of affiliates as always, and you can find complete coverage at Ohio's Homepage for Agriculture, BuckeyeAg.com. For the most up-to-the-minute coverage, visit us on Facebook, or on Twitter. In addition to those feeds, you can find me personally on Facebook and Twitter, and you can follow ABN's own Lindsay Hill, Clark Siddle, and Lyndsey Murphy via Twitter.

Lyndsey, by the way, is serving as Vice President of the Ohio State Fair Junior Fairboard, and doing a great job.

Stop by for a visit ringside, in the ABN Taste of Ohio Cafe, or zipping around the grounds on the Propane Powered John Deere Gator. See you at the fair!

Link: http://issuu.com/bjeick/docs/form_to_function_sale_catalog_-_2009

You've heard me (like a proud Dad with kids' pictures in his wallet) talk about my love for Shorthorn cattle and our own fabulous females at my Buckeye Cattle Company. What started with an accidental acquisition of a Shorthorn cow in my early years of 4-H grew into a lifelong passion and admiration for the breed I consider to be the standard-bearer for quality and consistency in the show ring, in the feed yard, and most importantly for me, in calving unassisted and raising exceptional offspring.

Moving away from home to pursue and education and later a career took me away from my own small crossbred cowherd in Hillsboro, and years and lack of my own personal involvement convinced me to slowly liquidate my cow inventory, selling my last cow nearly five years ago. I was effectively out of the cattle business altogether. Until the Form to Function Sale.

My friend Marlene von Stein was dating this young livestock promoter named B.J., and he was hosting his first production sale as Sale Manager. His company, Livestock Promotions, was diving into purebred cattle marketing with a major Shorthorn sale. To say the least, I was intrigued. A young entrepreneur making his way into a business I had long loved with a breed for which I had sentimental attachment was a strong lure. The fact, however, that Byland Polled Shorthorns of Loudonville was one of three farms holding the sale was too much to resist. My first cow, that accidental acquisition, was Byland Jenny OP6, or as we called her, "Opie."

Having met Dr. Byers after his late father was inducted into the Ohio Agricultural Hall of Fame, I thought a trip to the sale would be at the very least a nice way to spend an evening. The leading female in the sale, a five-year old cow from the heart of the Byland herd, had caught my eye and sparked my interest in perhaps delving back into the business. Arriving at the sale and seeing the cow in person was all it took. Buckeye Cattle Company was back open for business.

Less than a year later we have a dozen females, including three key donors, in the herd, own a share in an amazing new A.I. sire, and are geared up for the fall sale season. Our Donors are key features in two major Shorthorn sales, including the 2nd Annual Form to Function Sale. B.J. Eick, an extremely dedicated and talented sale manager is hosting the sale once again with Bowman Superior Genetics, Byland Polled Shorthorns, and Shady Maple Farms. September 4th in Greens Fork, Indiana (Richmond), a tremendous set of functional females and jaw-dropping genetics opportunities will sell. My good friend Col. Kevin Wendt will sell again, and Kevin knows as much or more about selling Shorthorn cattle as any auctioneer in the business.

Our lead donor, Byland Cathy 2RD7, a Mel-Bar Rodeo Drive 347 daughter, will sell six embryos sired by JSF Capiche, the first Shorthorn bull acquired by Select Sires in a quarter century. This mating is tailor-made for the Form to Function sale, and I'm excited about the calves they will spawn. Capiche is going to be a force in the breed, and our own Cathy has made some amazing daughters, including two that we own out of Byland's JSF Real World.

I'm honored that B.J. and Luke Bowman invited us to be a part of their 2nd Annual event, and I'm looking forward to joining you at the sale September 4th. The Shorthorn female is one of the most reliable mothers in the business, and she has a place in your operation. She'll lay down and have a calf without your help, chase away the coyotes, and raise a stout and efficient steer, or a heifer ready to follow in her productive hoofprints. The Shorthorn Angus F1 females are unparalleled in commercial cow-calf operations, and Shorthorn bulls will scale down smooth out more framey, rugged made females of Continental breeds.

Check out the Form To Function catalog from Livestock Promotions, and join us at the 2nd Annual Form to Function Sale September 4th. Oh, and you can see our offering on Page 12 in the book.

I’ve always thought the Army advertising campaign about “An Army of One” was nonsense. When the United States Army went from being “All That You Can Be” to “An Army of One,” I got nervous. Fortunately for our nation I have no empirical reason to believe my fears were justified, but let my explain my apprehension at the slogan. My generation is self-absorbed.

From participation ribbons at the county fair to “most improved” awards at school, my generation, like the hippies of the ‘60s, has always believed we were the most important people on the planet. Blame it perhaps on our Baby Boomer parents who all wanted us to grow up having it a little “better” than they did, certainly blame it on the rise of feel-good self-esteem psychology in the public school system, maybe even blame it on Big Bird and Burt & Ernie, but kids of the last thirty years have by and large been raised, taught, and guided to think that they are unique and special individuals with no greater care than self-fulfillment, self-enlightenment, and self-entitlement.

Think about the great phrases and slogans of the last three decades… How many times have you heard “if it feels good, do it.” Or perhaps someone rationalized a bad decision by saying “well, if it makes you happy.” I’ve written before of my belief that my generation is only now learning the reality of sacrifice. We’ve never been touched on a national level by armed conflict on the scale of either World War, Vietnam, Korea, or the Cold War. We’ve almost always enjoyed unemployment in the single digits. Credit has almost always been readily available, and cheap to enjoy. “Always,” of course, meaning in the last three decades.

From the time of our birth on (because no one in my age bracket remembers the unmitigated disaster known as the Carter administration), we’ve more or less had it made. The great Ronald Reagan taught Americans to believe in America again, and put the nation on a path to prosperity that lasted over two decades. It took a freewheeling and bipartisan Congressional spending spree the better part of the past ten years to finally take us from “Morning in America” to “Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil.”

So with that cultural context in mind, you can understand my trepidation when the cornerstone of the greatest military force in the history of man adopts a “me, me, me” advertising campaign. An Army is about a cohesive orchestration of force and discipline. With agility and precision striking fear in the hearts of its enemy, and with grace and dignity restoring order out of chaos. These attributes come from sacrifice and duty, not the realization of some great new-age self-awareness.

I tell you that to tell you this: One is not big enough to be great. With few exceptions, true greatness takes a team, a network, a unit, working in unison, with shared vision and a common unifying force. Speaker and author John Maxwell describes this principle as trying to make a difference working with people who want to make a difference. In our organization I know this is true. I am not good enough, smart enough, talented enough, or fast enough to accomplish everything our team needs to accomplish. By surrounding myself with people who are stronger than I am, we are able to accomplish exponentially more than one or two of us could on our own. The results are not merely the sum of the parts, in other words.

For example, this weekend dozens of tractor enthusiasts will gather in Celina, Ohio for the 2nd Annual Great Buckeye Tractor Cruise. Last year these drivers, their sponsors, and dozens of volunteers raised nearly $6,000 for Camp Quality of Ohio, a camp and mentorship program for youth struggling with late and terminal stage cancer. I hope we’ll raise even more this year. A friend of mine is a competitive cyclist. Each weekend he rides dozens if not hundreds of miles around scenic parts of our great state. This year he’s participating in The Pelatonia, a 100+ mile tour to raise money for the Ohio State University James Cancer Hospital. Each rider in the event is asked to raise at least $1,000 for the James. My Masonic Lodge hosts a golf outing each June to raise money for Breast and Prostate Cancer research. Over the last three years, over 150 golfers, volunteers, and donors have raised over $15,000 to fight these diseases.

Notice the unifying theme? Strength in numbers, the power of synergy, the sheer force of what Roy Williams calls “Exponential Little Bits.” By combining the power for greatness in each individual, rather than focusing on each individual, amazing things happen. My friends’ donation to the James will undoubtedly help sick people in our state, but by riding and giving alongside hundreds of other riders, hundreds of thousands of dollars will be raised to fund that same effort, and thousands of people will benefit.

Our society would do well to remember that American Exceptionalism is the philosophy that has guided the most successful tenures of our nation’s history. The notion that our nation, because of our shared vision and combined strength, is something great and singularly awesome in the history of our species is seemingly forgotten in modern elitist society. Listen to the nightly news or read the morning paper and its clear how many have forgotten what makes our Federalist Republic the greatest societal accomplishment in recorded time.

Washington forged a nation; Lincoln saved the Republic; Patton and MacArthur won the War to End All Wars; Reagan crushed the Soviets; all with the same guiding principles, none of which revolved around a single person, or the importance of individuality. Duty, honor, country. Those are ideals worth fighting for. While the vast majority of us in modern society don’t serve this country in a military sense, I suggest we internalize those ideals in our own lives, working and serving for something larger than our own selfish wants and interests.

If we can abandon what the opening ceremonies of the FFA refer to as the “darkness of selfishness,” perhaps our own “Army of One” can make a difference, indeed.

In the middle of a great discussion with some friends and regular debaters on food systems and the US farmer. Discussion has been going on the better part of the afternoon, and has focused on tug of war between those of us who believe in the unmitigated success of US agriculture in feeding an ever-growing population and those who feel that system is inherently wrong and needs replacing. Follow me on Twitter and join the debate!

Food is food. The statement may seem obvious enough, but there exists in our society today a very real tug of war for the hearts and minds of consumers over what exactly constitutes that which seems so obvious. Use of terms like “all-natural,” and niche markets like “organic,” or “hormone-free” have given farmers and food marketers many opportunities… and a few headaches. The biggest challenge facing food marketers today is to avoiding poisoning the minds of consumers while attempting to claim a competitive advantage.

All of us in business want a competitive advantage. If a product has a feature missing from their competitors’ product, they will use that differentiation to sell more product, or sell product at a premium price point. This was traditionally very difficult in the farm & food market as most food products would typically be classified as a commodity, in other words something where the market-based price is more or less forced upon the producer, with little room for premium to be earned.

Think about buying meat ten years ago: your choices were basically beef, pork, or chicken. Once you’d settled on which you wanted, your choice was pretty straightforward: ribeye or t-bone, pork chop or tenderloin? Today, however, the choices in the meat case alone are voluminous. Differentiations in quality grade, production practices, and perceived value of branded products make the selection process much more in-depth, and in theory, enjoyable. By speaking to various customers with different tastes and preferences, farmers and food marketers have given themselves the opportunity to differentiate their product and in theory earn a premium.

Here’s where we run into trouble. Some food marketers, you see, find that the easiest way to differentiate their product is by hurling invective at their competition. Take for example the case of organic milk. For years, organic activists (note I’m not categorizing all organic farmers as activists here) have attempted to persuade consumers that non-organic milk was somehow less healthful, nutritious, or wholesome that regular, commoditized, Vitamin D milk at the grocery store. In so doing, they enticed a segment of the populace to purchase the organic product at a significant price premium.

This pricing point, however, encouraged additional production of organic milk; so much so, in fact, that a surplus of organic milk exists in the market today. That, in turn, has led to those organic activists like the Cornucopia Institute, to single out the largest organic farms to allege that they are somehow bending or violating the national organic standards set by USDA. The point that these activists are missing, however, is that consumers aren’t buying enough of what they’re selling.

The organic market has collapsed, thanks in no small part to the economy. Organic foods, and any “luxury” food items, fall by the wayside when consumers have fewer dollars to spend. In our parents’ time, this meant more ground meat purchases and fewer whole muscle cuts. In today’s food marketplace, that means more traditional products, and fewer purchases of niche products like organic milk.
The problem with radicals like Cornucopia attempting to smear larger organic farmers is the presumptive and dismissive nature some industry activists take toward “outsiders” attempting to get into a particular niche or specialty area of production. If Dean foods wants to market organic milk, and American consumers want to buy that product, that’s the function of the market, isn’t it?

Beyond my concerns about organic activists are the larger groups of food marketers attempting to denigrate food producers they deem somehow “less worthy” of the consumer dollar. Take the well-publicized case of Chipotle. Formerly one of my favorite stores (I haven’t purchased one of their burritos in over two years), this restaurant chain long ago adopted the “holier than thou” tactic of advertising. Suggesting that meat served in their restaurants is superior because it comes from animals completely pasture-raised, untreated with antibiotics, without the use of growth-promoting supplements. To make those purchasing decisions, of course, is perfectly fine, and is no concern of mine. To lie to the American public by claiming that meat raised otherwise is less wholesome, nutritious, or tasteful, however, is scandalous.

Claiming that food produced in mainstream production facilities tastes better is not only a matter of opinion, it is weak marketing in and of itself. A segment of consumers will prefer to buy meat from untreated animals for the same reasons some parents refuse to allow their children life-saving vaccinations. Personal and cultural practices are just that: personal decisions. To suggest to the masses, however, that your average hog farmer produces a meat product that is less healthful, nutritious, or flavorful is an untruth unverifiable by science to this point. The relevant body of work suggests that food is food, plain and simple.

Production practices and processing methods are matters of choice for each producer and processor to use to their best advantage in producing a safe, wholesome, and profitable product. Food choice is a wonderful thing for consumers, as it gives us a much wider array of opportunities to enjoy the bountiful harvest of the American farmer. I am wary of food marketers who attempt to sell their own premium product by slandering the commodity product of a competitor. If my product isn’t strong enough to sell without tearing yours down, I’m not much of a businessman in the first place.

Food is food. If you enjoyed some today, thank a farmer. All farmers.

I had a great day yesterday, starting with breakfast at Henry's Restaurant in Kenton. A group of agricultural leaders ranging from business professionals and farmers to county commissioners and agricultural educators meet once a month to break bread and talk shop. Dear friend and fellow Shorthorn breeder Ron Cronley invited me to address the group at the July gathering. Ron serves with me on the Board, and is current President, of the Ohio Shorthorn Breeders Association.

I shared with the group my thoughts and observations on a few key events and issues in agriculture, including the HSUS situation and the latest on the proposal to create the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board, the latest on the state budget as it relates to OSU Extension and OARDC funding, as well as the issue of the national energy tax known as the Waxman-Markey Cap & Trade Bill.

Attendees also discussed issues regarding the decision to opt-in to the ACRE program rather than the tradtional DCP, the latest with wind energy development in the county, and the overall economic status of the county and agriculture in general. I was thrilled to be a part of the discussion, and look forward to attending future breakfasts with friends like Ron; agricultural educators Stephanie Jolliff, Don Paulin, and Extension Educator Gene McCluer; and WKTN-FM ag reporter Andrew Flynn.

Ten years ago a dear friend introduced me to Dr. Stephen Covey. Not personally, mind you, but through his seminal work The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. As a young State FFA Officer, I wanted nothing more than to be effective. Working with students across the state to help them unlock the potential they each held deep inside would require every ounce of effectiveness I could muster. Dr. Covey’s writing, and his namesake organizational system, became a vitally important part of my service to that organization.

From time to time, I pull out that original book, and have just recently brought my original “Franklin” planner back out of retirement. As a tech junkie, I’d abandoned pen and paper methods to the tools available through my laptop and iPhone. In reacquainting myself with the 7 Habits, I stopped to reflect on one that resonates with me perhaps more than any other: Begin With the End in Mind.

When Dr. Covey advises leaders to begin with the end in mind, he’s talking about having a destination, a goal, a North Star by which to chart our course. We surely can’t arrive where we’re going if we don’t know where there is… The many feel-good axioms about the journey being as important as the destination belittle the fact that too often, parroting the importance of the journey is merely an excuse for not arriving anywhere of substance.

With this critical principle in mind, then, I’ve spent a few days contemplating what “end” various groups have in mind with current issues and agendas related to agriculture and rural America. Top of mind, certainly, is the ongoing escalation between Ohio farmers and the radical vegan activists at the Humane Society of the United States (not to be confused with your local humane society or animal shelter). HSUS successfully passed Proposition 2 in California, so one would certainly categorize them as effective. With CEO Wayne Pacelle’s self-characterization of HSUS as a “sophisticated political organization,” we understand that this group is effective at lobbying legislators and running ballot initiatives at the state level.

But with what end in mind did the organization begin? Again, looking to the CEO’s own words, and to the clear guiding principles on the HSUS website, we can clearly divine that HSUS is looking to the eventual eradication of animal agriculture in this country, and the gradual removal, by force (both political and economic), of meat, milk, and eggs from your diet.

While animal rights activism is very high on farmers’ radar today, another major issue facing food producers is the Waxman-Markey Climate Change bill. While a healthy debate over the validity of global warming alarmism continues, this bill already passed the House of Representatives, if by the thinnest of margins. Mainstream agriculture is rightfully concerned about the ramifications of this bill due in no small part to the generally accepted notion of this bill as a national energy tax. Costs of all energy products, from household electricity to the diesel and propane farmers use in raising and producing our food, will double or triple over the life of the bill, driving up the cost of food, in addition to almost any other consumer good you might purchase.

So if we put ourselves in the shoes of environmentally minded legislators and “begin with the end in mind,” what long-range goal might we discern? I would suggest that in a roundabout way this bill is about social control. Environmentalists want us to drive smaller cars, but you and I like comfortable American SUV’s. By passing a national energy tax that ensures the cost of driving that SUV will be untenable, legislators and regulators attempt to force you into a hybrid that you neither want, nor would buy of your own volition.

Automobiles aren’t the only consumer products for which this scenario is true, by the way. In short, the Waxman-Markey bill is about pushing more Americans out of the “luxuries” of the middle class and into economic strata requiring more government reliance. Ultimately, government is in the business of being in business. Government neither creates nor builds anything; private enterprise alone can do those critical tasks. Government cannot provide anything it has not already taken from the people; government largesse is simply a redistribution of taxpayer dollars from their original owners to the masses.

For a range of reasonable government expenditures such as defense, food safety, and infrastructure that redistribution is part of the deal. We live in an interdependent society. Man may have been created independent of all other beings, but as dependence forms a more closely knit society based on mutual protection and security, mankind are most happily engaged in social and active life. It’s when that same government extends itself beyond those basic necessities that we see legislation like Waxman-Markey. The powers Congress would like to exercise in passing this bill are neither explicitly granted in the Constitution nor necessary to the exercise of those expressly granted.

And so we arrive back at the original question: what is the end goal? In the case of the federal government, it is to maintain (and I would suggest actually to increase) the power, size, and scope of the federal government. By either increasing the number of roles that government plays in our lives or increasing our individual reliance on the federal government, Washingtonians can rest easy at night knowing their jobs are firmly ensconced in our own inability to say “no.”

I challenge you, when you read the paper, listen to our radio program, or watch the evening news, ask yourself with what end in mind the day’s various newsmakers began. I think you’ll find it an eye-opening exercise.

A number of states have leadership programs focused on agriculture. In Ohio, the LEAD program is in something of a state of flux, and Ohio Farm Bureau is preparing for the 2nd Class of its AgriPower Institute. In Illinois, the Illinois Agricultural Leadership Foundation hosts a two year Program focused on developing "knowledgeable and effective spokespersons to become policy and decision makers for the agricultural industry."

Through the unfortunate pneumonia of my good friend Chuck Zimmerman, I'm in Chicago to present a session on Social Media and agriculture. My session kicks off in 30 minutes, and I'm planning to discuss the role of social media in today's dialogue on farm and off. From Facebook to Twitter, from blogs to podcasting, the use of new and social media technologies in and around food production is both real and critical to farmers and farm policy.

Chime in the conversation; join us on Twitter by using and following the hashtag #IALP.

...in church this morning, actually. Our new Pastor (who's doing a great job, so far) used the story of Jesus' miracle with the fishes and the loaves in her sermon this morning, and talked of course of the faith required in the retelling of that miracle and how many of the Lord's followers didn't really understand the significance of the event. I'm thinking of fleshing this out a bit more for my column this week, but the whole thing got me thinking about the miracle of modern food production.

American farmers feed more people both at home and around the world than at any time in recorded history, and do it with far fewer resources, in terms of land, labor, and a number of other inputs. The amazing productivity of our modern agriculture system is really mind-boggling when you think to the amount of food our forebears produced even just fifty years ago.

Food for thought this Independence Day weekend. Let's hope we allow farmers the freedom to continue advancing the goal of feeding hungry people around the globe.

I've never liked simply calling it "The Fourth of July." Such a generic reference belies the true importance of the day, and more importantly of the great gift of that period of time, some 233 years ago, when a group of patriots decided that we as a people deserved better. To whitewash this, our most critical national holiday, as just a date on a calendar or in a history book is on par with public schools' renaming the "Christmas vacation" to nothing more than a "Winter Break."

There are a few things I've found compelling and inspiring this morning as I reflect upon the significance of our singularly American Independence. First and foremost is the reminder of the uncommon valor and sacrifice made by our Founding Fathers in signing our Declaration of Independence. I'm grateful to Tom Blumer for once again providing that keystone.

Secondly, remember that we are, yet today, under attack. Our civil liberties and freedoms are not sacred to all men, as they are to you and I. From radical environmentalists and animal rights activists attempting to equate our rights to those of plants and animals, to Islamo-fascists abroad and socialists liberals in Washington who loathe the great truth of American Exceptionalism, we can not take for granted our God-given rights, codified in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of these United States.

Sometimes I find it illustrative to turn to film for a little added inspiration. Hollywood doesn't often provide us with much conservative rhetoric, but there are a few gems I'd like to share.

Aragorn, leading the men of the West, senses the weakness of their resolve, and reminds us all that a day will come when the time of Men may indeed fall, but that will not be this day. The West is most certainly under attack, from without and from within. Western civilization is criticized at every turn in the state-run media, and we must stiffen our necks and harden our hearts to every insinuation that ours is not the greatest civilization ever known to time.

Simply put, every man will die, but not every man will truly live. May we each, as Americans, embrace the liberties granted us by those brave men and women who so valiantly paid the highest price for the ideals represented by our Independence Day.

One of my favorites. So much so, in fact, that I played the part of Colonel Jessup in my one and only dramatic performance for Strollers Community Theatre at The Ohio State University. Jessup is right in many ways; we sleep under the blanket of freedom provided by men and women whose names we'll never know, and whom most Americans never give a second thought.

And finally, perhaps the greatest war movie monologue ever, reminding me that George C. Scott was a brilliant actor, and that General Patton is perhaps the greatest American General in modern history:

Good health, good cheer, and may God continue to Bless America.