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A good addiction - tell your storyI had another enlightening trip to California last weekend. I continue to spend quite a bit of time with California dairymen and we entered a conversation about controversy. Lord knows they have certainly experienced more than their fair share of it. Joey Airoso is a dairyman from Tulare County and he agrees with that statement. He also added, "You know the frustrating thing about it is that last fall I had the local ABC news affiliate come to the farm. While the crew was capturing footage, they all commented that they had no idea it would be this clean or impressive." After quite a period of time nothing had aired on the television so Joey called to ask why. The news staff responded by saying there was nothing controversial about it so they didn't feel the need to air it. I suggest all of us in agriculture need to read up on Cocaine. I must admit when I heard the first news report I wondered why in the world a company would name an energy drink Cocaine. Odds are good you have heard about this because they were given millions of dollars in free publicity. The company, Redux, has really benefited from all of the free advertising because after the FDA banned the name Cocaine they decided to rename it Censored. This is new-age marketing and I think there is something here that all of us in agriculture could learn a thing or two about. With that said, I think it is worth mentioning that I believe the line needs to be drawn in the sand. I do not support any controversial tactics that disrespect human life. In what is now being called the "Imus effect," it appears that two more shock jocks have felt the impact of not respecting their fellow human beings. I hear that even rap singers are beginning to understand that. We can be creative and humorous without name calling and belittling other humans. I think all of this is worth discussion because I regularly visit with people in agriculture who are frustrated that so many do not appreciate or even know that food producers exist. But at the same time we are the first to refrain from almost everything public because it might be perceived as being controversial. A perfect example happened on Dec. 23, 2003, when one cow tested positive for BSE . Not one of us in beef production wanted this to happen, but when it did the National Cattlemen's Beef Association was ready to address the trust issue as we were thrust into the limelight. As a result of that incident and the work done by our industry leaders in response to it, consumer confidence has improved and beef consumption has increased. My point is that there will always be opportunities to tell the story about the industry that we are all so passionate about. It is just that someone else might pick the time and the place when we are allowed to do so. In either case, we must step into the light of the camera and speak our mind when that time comes regardless of how controversial the topic might seem. Trust me, those who don't agree with you certainly will be willing to take the stage if you don't. Furthermore, what will happen after you actually do put yourself into a position that you previously thought was too much to handle is that you will get the great sensation of a little high. Much like cocaine without the side effects, this is one addiction we could all live with and our industry could benefit from. 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. B 8 5/21/07 1 Star WK Date: 5/17/07
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