President Obama on Sept. 15 signed an executive order requiring government agencies “to use behavioral science insights to ‘better serve the American people.’ According to a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, federal agencies have been instructed “to identify policies and operations where applying findings from behavioral science could improve ‘welfare, program outcomes, and program cost effectiveness’.”

Striving to improve government efficiency is nothing new as governments have been “nudging” people since time began. Penalties are put in place to keep you from doing what government officials believe shouldn’t be done. Taxes are used to influence our decisions, and tax breaks are given to encourage certain behaviors or actions.

Consider the breaks given for a business to locate in a certain town, a certain area or town or within a particular state. Before deciding whether to expand, relocate or change in their business, executives now factor in government programs to see which town or which state will give them the biggest breaks. Incidentally, Forbes magazine reports that Utah is the top spot for business. North Dakota comes in second; Nebraska ranks seventh; Minnesota is ninth; and Iowa ranks 12^th.

One of the biggest nudges right now is the penalties put on to our best sources of energy. “The EPA is worried about climate change and is making a huge push for clean air. Biofuels like ethanol fit so well into their plans, yet the EPA wants to reduce 2015 and 2016 blending requirements by at least 20 percent.”

Another nudge is being given to improve water quality. Believe me, I support water quality but what concerns me is how government agencies have the ability to control public perception simply by choosing which information to release and when. As I’ve written before, today’s technology can detect smaller amounts of pollution in our waters. Standards have changed, so more bodies of water than ever before make the “polluted list.” However, farmers are doing a better job of adapting conservation practices that make a positive difference in improving water quality!

Public school lunch programs scream behavioral change. “Big Brother” definitely has his hands on kids’ lunch trays, and the latest nutritional guidelines aren’t even being used for better health for the kids. Instead, federal guidelines released last spring call for a reduction in red meat consumption based on the claim that a plant-based diet reduces the carbon footprint. So… the overlying reason to change U.S. dietary guidelines is actually a political ploy to manage beef production practices that don’t even take into account what sustainable production practices are already in place by U.S. beef producers!

Right or wrong, the party in power uses laws and regulation to push their agenda, and that’s why it matters who gets elected. I realize what I’m about to say next isn’t politically correct, but we’ve got to “stop feeding the bears!” (NOTE: This blog is entirely my own opinion.) The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) cost almost $80 billion in 2013, which is twice the amount it cost before President Obama took office on Jan. 20, 2009.

Making Americans dependent on social programs and using taxpayer money to advertise welfare programs won’t lead to government efficiency or to a more productive society! Making it easier and easier for people to sign up for social programs is a nudge in the wrong direction!

The big buzz now is that all Americans must be treated equally, but is everyone putting forth an equal effort?! Honestly, isn’t anyone else besides me concerned about President Obama’s mandate to use “social science” to serve people?

The U.S. Government was set up with very specific powers. How have we gotten to the point where federal government controls what we eat, what we use for energy and essentially how we live? What’s happening to our individual freedoms? Every aspect of how we live is being nudged by government!

Hopefully, my blog today is a “nudge” to all voters! Americans should have equal opportunity, equal potential. Hard work and ingenuity is what made our country great, and it can make this country grow again if we let it. Government “nudges” and social equality do not work because you can’t take from workers and give to the non-workers or the will to work fades! Remember, communist regimes in Germany and Russia fell for a reason.

Enchanted Acres pumpkin patch of Sheffield, Iowa is hosting a Make-A-Wish Fall Ball on September 26, 2015 from 9am to 5pm.  A $5 per person, or $20 per carload gate fee will be given to Make-A-Wish Iowa.

“We are excited to be having a fall family event this year at Enchanted Acres,” said Val Plagge, Make-A-Wish volunteer.  “As an organization that focuses on children and families, we are always looking for ways for families to have fun and learn more about Make-A-Wish.”

The Make-A-Wish Fall Ball will include a Peter Pan and Tinkerbell Story Time, Horse Drawn Carriage Rides, Pirate Bounce Houses, Balloon Animals, Face Painting, and plenty of photo opportunities. Families can also enjoy Enchanted Acres’ features and attractions:

• Decorate a glitter pumpkin.
• Fire the corn cannon.
• Feed the giggling goats.
• Pet the rascally rabbits.
• Explore the playground. Wander through the woods.

“The Make-a-Wish Foundation believes a ‘wish experience’ can be a game-changer for a child with a life-threatening medical condition. At Enchanted Acres, we believe in helping families create magical memories of picking pumpkins and enjoying fall fun including hay rides and campfire s’mores. I couldn’t be more excited about partnering with Make-a-Wish of North Iowa to host a one-of-a-kind Fall Ball” said Shannon Latham, owner of Enchanted Acres.

A $5 per person, or $20 per carload gate fee will be given to Make-A-Wish North Iowa. Be sure to use the hashtag #FallBall15 on all of your social media posts; a person will be drawn at random for prizes from Enchanted Acres.

The world is a big place, but it’s getting smaller every year. The “worldwide web” connects us at the touch of a button. Foreign investors are buying up farmland here in the Midwest, as well as across the globe. The current U.S. election cycle has added to the noise and confusion about food and farming.

While driving hundreds of miles this past week, I couldn’t help but think of the global picture. My mind has been on the Ukraine. I keep pondering an article printed July 30^th in The Guardian entitled, “Ukraine agribusiness firms in ‘quiet land grab’ with development finance.”

The government – and politics – has a big influence in Ukraine. When I traveled there two years ago as part of the Iowa Farm Bureau’s Black Sea Study Trip, we saw how farmers were really starting to make farming work. The country and its farmers had struggled to develop infrastructure and the know-how to work independently after the Soviet Union and its collective state farms were dismantled in the 1990s. Tracts of land, in about 5-acre parcels, were distributed among the population.

Farmers found a way to put together tracts large enough to gain some efficiency of scale, and during our visit, many of them were optimistic about the future. Times change, however, and agriculture in that region seems to hit some proverbial bumps in the road due to an ongoing power struggle between Russia and the EU.

Small Ukrainian farmers have found financing very hard to come by, yet the wealthiest farmers have been able to expand their operations through loans from a branch of the World Bank known as the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Hundreds of millions of dollars have been loaned, according to that article in The Guardian, due to a mandate to help end global poverty:

“The IFC, which like all World Bank institutions has an explicit mandate to end global poverty, says its investments in MHP have created jobs and supported food security in Ukraine and beyond. Central to the IFC’s mission is a policy to ‘do no harm’ and achieve positive development outcomes by investing in the private sector.”

The article goes on to share how much of this money has been loaned to build the Ukraine’s largest chicken production and processing facility. Residents in the area are concerned about noise and water pollution, yet their concerns seem to be falling upon deaf ears.

I hope you’ll take some time to read the entire article. Then think about where we are in this country – and where we could be. Politics, and the officials in power, definitely impact lives. Whom we elect makes a difference. Do America a favor and be sure you know how each candidate stands on positions of interest to you!

Posts Related to Ukraine:

• Learning About Ag from Half a World Away
• Farmers Markets Open 24/5 in Ukraine
• How Eastern Europe’s Farm Measure Up

As I was reading the Sunday paper – without bothering first to find my reading glasses – I was a little startled by what I read. Then I found my glasses, read the article once again and realized that my eyes weren’t deceiving me. The article was startling!

This experienced reminded me about some people’s perceptions about farming. I’m often startled when a non-farmer looks at me and starts a conversation by saying, “I hear…”

Some non-farmers believe they can solve every “perceived” problem we have in agriculture without any experience in the day-to-day operations of farms. They hear we don’t need to use any chemicals, and most of them don’t give any thought as to why chemicals are used. They hear GMOs are bad, so they tell us we shouldn’t plant them. These same folks often don’t know there aren’t any nutritional differences between conventionally and organically raised foods. They also don’t know the huge benefits genetically modified insulin has for diabetics.

It seems these days many people are just interested in fighting for a cause: calling for reduced use of farm chemicals to preserve water quality; advocating for a plant-based diet; or supporting organic production to save humanity. (NOTE: No human deaths have been caused by GMOs, but millions of people die unnecessarily each year because Golden Rice has been stalled by GMO opponents.)

Another cause-related issue that’s making recent headlines is a partnership between the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Defense (DOD) to provide “transitioning service members with agricultural training.” The USDA always seems to find money for feel-good programs like its Food for Progress Program that helps foreign farmers expand their operations. Meanwhile, the DOD can’t seem to ever find funding. Sounds like a beautiful match, right?

This joint effort is aimed at service people returning to civilian life. With most government programs, it’s so tough to jump through all the hoops to meet the requirements. An article published yesterday by Agri-Pulse states:

“According to the USDA, this initiative will ensure the estimated 200,000 service members who complete the Transition Assistance Program annually have access to USDA programs ranging from farm loans to conservation programs to nutrition assistance to rural rental housing and homeownership opportunities.”

I feel better just reading that! (Insert sarcasm here.) Don’t you? But wait… do any of these servicemen or women know anything about farming? I’m not saying that a person who didn’t grow up on a farm can’t farm, but I am saying it will be tougher for him or her. The article states, “members leave the military with a variety of essential skills – including leadership and discipline – that could be directly applied to a career in agriculture.” If only that’s all it took!

Further down the article, it reads that the USDA gave 6,500 veterans $438 million in farm loans. That sounds like a huge amount of money until you take into consideration that money was over a 6-year period. According to my math, about one half of one percent of the 200,000 veterans are eligible each year for this program! Each farmer in this program, on average, received $67,384. That’s not much money to buy a farm of any size or even make improvements to existing buildings. That amount could buy one nice, used tractor.

The farm program was cut by The Sequester program, yet the USDA is creating new programs. Billions and billions of dollars’ worth of programs! They don’t have a clue where it all goes, but I’m sure it makes them feel good giving it away. The question is, “How much good are these programs really doing?”

Maybe I’m not reading this right. Maybe I’m just grouchy. Or maybe, just maybe, that $438 million would be better spent on the more serious health and mental problems many of returning military members face.

I’m writing this blog late on Labor Day after driving about 700 miles home from Oklahoma City. I had so much fun over the holiday weekend with four of my granddaughters, one just over a week old!

Three granddaughters and I left my wife, Janice, with young Keely for another week. The girls were pretty subdued on the ride home, which gave me time to reflect. I couldn’t help but wonder what these young girls have to look forward to… What will our country look like 50 years from now?

These days it seems that plenty of folks are full of doom and gloom about the direction our country is headed. With events like those in Ferguson and the recent murder of a police officer in Texas, it’s easy to get caught up in the negativity. But we must find hope! I think back to national events in my life time, recalling the race riots of the 60s. There were war protests on college campuses. President Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy were all assassinated! Yet, strong leadership and commitment by the people got the U.S. through those tough times.

“If you have a strong commitment to your goals and dreams, if you wake up every day with a passion to do your job, everything is possible.” This quote by Canadian wheelchair racer Chantal Petitclerc, Paralympic Champion and World Record Holder, popped up in my newsfeed. Her inspiring words really hit home tonight, as I truly believe with faith and determination, we will overcome our problems.

Then I thought about how Petitclerc’s words applied to #RealPigFarming. (Yes, it always comes back to pigs with me!) I’m fortunate to work at a job about which I am passionate, but I see so many people just putting in their time. They put in their 8-hour shift, and then they clock out. This lack of work ethic is not unique to the livestock industry, but the consequences are greater. Working with animals takes patience. If you don’t like animals, than this isn’t the job you should have! Those animals needs us to always do the right thing, every day, even when we are worn out

Farming, whether you’re raising crops or livestock, requires dedication. Farming is hard work and the hours are often unpredictable. Sometimes the job just doesn’t end. Passion is what drives us to put in extra time – often times without pay – and to do the right thing when no one is looking. Passion inspires us to do better, to be better. Passion also fuels us to reach our goals and dreams.

Speaking of dreams, what happened to the American dream? Could all the “help wanted” signs in windows and ads in newspapers be the result of a nation filled with people who lack goals, dreams and hope? Even if one of these jobs isn’t your dream job, it’s a place to start as you work your way into other positions with more responsibility.

It’s next to impossible to start farming from scratch, yet we’re seeing a real labor shortage in agriculture. Fruit and vegetable production is especially labor-intensive. Entry-level salaries for agriculture and life sciences graduates remain strong, with positive average salary increases in most sectors of the industry. Agriculture is like any field; you start where you can and work your way up! Are today’s kid being encouraged to dream big and reach to work toward reaching their dreams?

My mind was racing with thoughts as I drove down the road today. I see so much potential in today’s kids, and I have high hopes that this next generation will bring it all back together! Let’s get our schools back to encouraging accomplishment. Let’s encourage kids to pursue their passions help them achieve their full potential!