The teachable moments

Parenting magazines commonly note that your child's first teacher is you. As the days unfold you encounter opportunities to teach your child about life, perhaps even without realizing that you are doing it. They watch us and they mimic us even when we don't think they are looking and they typically regurgitate those words, we hoped they hadn't heard us say, at the most inappropriate times. Often we are consciously teaching them--practicing songs and alphabet letters and teaching them how to tie shoes. We do these things without even realizing that we are in a teachable moment.

We, in agriculture, need to put our "teacher's hat" on more often and take advantage of the many teachable moments that we have every day. We go to the grocery store, we sit in the bleachers at our child or grandchild's ball game, we go to church and community functions and we interact with other human beings. These are all potential teachable moments.

When we hear someone talking about health or food or agricultural topics, we need to be armed with some basic facts and take the initiative to address them if they don't have their facts quite right. We can do so in a calm, friendly and professional manner, so as not to offend and we can put a face on food production by doing so.

How often have you cussed about some bill you got in the mail that was absolutely incorrect? You storm downtown to the office and you are going to let somebody have it. But what happens when you get there? If you are greeted by a smiling face and someone who is willing to patiently and professionally listen to your concerns, you probably cool off a little and everything gets worked out without any blood being spilled.

It is that face to face contact that makes the difference. You are actually dealing with a real, live human being. They have thoughts and feelings. They have good days and bad days. Their computers break down, their cars get flat tires and their kids get sick. They, just like you, are human. When we can deal with each other on a one to one basis we develop a connection that hopefully interjects a more civil tone to what could be an explosive situation.

The same is true for setting the record straight in regard to the many management techniques we utilize in food production to guarantee that Americans have the safest, most abundant food supply in the world. If we approach someone who is misinformed, or even someone who is just seeking information, in a calm, friendly, proud and professional manner we can touch them on a personal level. We can reach them with our facts as one human being to another, as one parent who wants safe food for their kids to another.

We have scientists and researchers across the country that are continually working to improve the techniques we use to produce food. We have scientific data to back up our production systems. We can study these facts and use them to support our presentations to consumers, but the best tool we have in our toolbox is ourselves. Our ability to make one on one, face to face contact and develop a personal dialogue with consumers is our greatest asset. We can then use this teachable moment of personal interaction to share not only our passion for producing safe food for our kids but also the science that supports what we do.

Obviously there are people in this country who believe that animal agriculture should not happen on the shores of this great land and they have a rather vocal minority. Fortunately the majority of consumers are just looking for the facts and hoping to put a face with the products they buy so that they no longer have to envision everything they eat being cranked out in some evil factory.

So the challenge to each of us in every aspect of the food production industry is to seek out the teachable moments each and every day. If each of us impacts just one person in a positive way for five days a week, we can greatly combat all of the negative and misleading information that is being fed to our consumers. We can share our love of the land and our knowledge of the industry to educate people who have never set foot off of the concrete. We can make a difference, one person and one teachable moment at a time.

Find your teachable moment today and every day. And when you have a great experience, be sure to e-mail me. Sharing these experiences will be great inspiration to others and may serve as motivation for them as well. The first step is always the toughest, but the reward is well worth the effort. Now put down that paper and go find your teachable moment!

Editor's note: Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.FacesOfAg.com, or e-mail Trent at trent@loostales.com.

Fast Facts about American Food Production

--There are 76,000 farmers in the United States that produce 80 percent of all the food.

--The average American farmer feeds 150 people.

--We have the same exact number of beef cows we had in 1995 yet we produce twice as much human consumable protein.

--There are one-third the number of dairy cows today as there were in 1945 and they produce three times as much milk as they did then.

--Laying hens, thanks to modern facilities, produce nearly an egg a day annually.

--The hormone used in beef implants is estrogen. Estrogen is found in humans, animals and plants.

Estrogen content: 3 oz serving of beef from a non-implanted animal, 1.39 ng/ml; 3 oz serving of beef from an implanted animal, 1.89 ng/ml; garden salad, 1200 ng/ml; leaf of cabbage, 2000 ng/ml; tablespoon of soybean oil, 28,000 ng/ml; birth control pill, 34,000 ng/pill. (Note: a nanogram (ng) is the equivalent of one blade of grass in a football field)

--There is 100 times more IGF-1 (a growth hormone present in all humans and animals) in a person's saliva than is present in milk from cows that have been treated with rBST (growth hormone known as recombinant Bovine Somatotropin). There is no difference in the level of IGF-1 in milk from treated and untreated cows so paying extra for milk that is produced without rBST is not of any physiological benefit to the consumer. Human breast milk actually contains more IGF-1 than cows milk. Would nature provide something at a dangerous level to infants?

7/16/07

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