Growing Deep Roots
Sometimes you just need to take the country roads to clear your mind and fill your soul a bit. As I drove back to northeast Iowa to celebrate the life of my uncle who recently passed, I was reminded that sometimes the best thing you can do is shut out the noise and open your eyes to the beauty of God’s masterpiece.
Green rolling hills, fields of growing corn, pristine hog operations, pastures of grazing beef cattle and black and white dairy cows heading to the barn just have a way of putting my life into perspective.
I’m reading a book this summer called, “Growing Slow.” For those who know me well, don’t laugh. I’m not great at this, but aren’t we all a work in progress?
“It’s okay to grow slow, because when you grow slow, you grow deep,” says author Jennifer Dukes Lee.
We all know that deep roots matter on our farms – whether in actual practice or in theory. Too often we get caught up worrying so much about the pace of our growth that we miss the importance of the depth of our roots.
To grow deep, we must grow slow, Lee says.
That concept rang true while working with members of the 2022 Pork Leadership Institute. I was touched by their responses to why they do what they do every day. So many went back to growing slow in the pork industry.
Phil Hord of Hord Family Farms says he’s learned a lot over the past 30 years watching the industry change while growing up on his family farm in Ohio. He continues to work there today as director of sow production/research and innovation implementing new ideas based on years of experience.
For Jill Brokaw, a third-generation pig farmer at Biddle Farm in Illinois, it’s because of two words: family legacy.
“I grew up working on the farm,” Brokaw says. “I get the opportunity to feed the pigs that feed the world and that’s a great job.”
Although Ali Kraber, director of public affairs at Iowa Select Farms, didn’t grow up on a pig farm, she grew deep roots on a hobby farm in a small community where many bigger families struggled to afford to feed their kids.
“I saw what it meant to be food insecure and that drove me to go into agriculture. To me, being able to be a part of that story and help communicate that story to a wider, diverse audience is what gets me up every day,” Kraber says.
What I love most about the pork industry are the people who make it possible. Pig farmers passing the torch from generation to generation, youth showpig enthusiasts uncovering opportunities beyond their wildest imagination, and those people behind the scenes inspiring others to choose ag.
I think that’s why the tears welled when saw a line of young people dressed in official FFA attire at his burial. My uncle Steve devoted 43 years to teaching, coaching and mentoring young people as an FFA advisor.
He understood the importance of slow growth, too. Shaping young lives isn’t an overnight process. It takes years to grow those deep roots.
I've seen so many examples of how deep roots are helping our industry flourish lately, from an in-depth interview with NPPC’s CEO to Zoey Dinkla’s thoughts on barn culture.
Read More from Jennifer Shike:
Break the Stigma: It Starts With You and Me
When You're A Little Uncomfortable
Feed the Right Dog and 4 Other Things I Can’t Get Out of My Head
