Things I haven’t figured out…
Why residential and commercial construction isn’t held up to the same nonpoint source pollution criticism and scrutiny as agriculture, when development has “disrupted the natural water balance, increased flood peaks and stormwater runoff, caused more frequent flooding… widened streams and increased erosion, reduced fish passage, degraded habitat structure,… fragmented riparian tree canopy… and decreased substrate quality,” according to the EPA.
Why some people think family farms are only those with 25 cows or 25 sows.
Why polls suggest Europeans trust Greenpeace more than they trust the European Union.
Why people don’t vote.
How the United States can foster a cheap food policy and agricultural profitability at the same time.Why we’re more concerned about whether or not our schools are equipped with computers than whether or not our students can read and write.
Why anyone really needs a La-Z-Boy recliner that has a heated massager, built-in phone with caller ID, electric cooler and can holder.
Why some within the ag community ostracize the small, or hobby, farmer.
Why motorcycle riders won’t wear helmets.
Why more people don’t have a will or an estate plan, or even a retirement plan.
How to get my husband to pick up his dirty clothes.
How the global society can have a rational debate over genetically modified organisms.
Why agriculture is not seen as a positive economic development sector and allotted the appropriate state-level resources.
How to fix a tenure system – from the elementary school to land grant extension system to the university – that promotes and then cements in place poor educators.
Why people smoke, when the total medical care burden (cost) of smoking in the United States amounted to an astounding $72.7 billion in 1993 (image what the figure is today, seven years later).
How to encourage ag community members to look at the big picture and remember that the world doesn’t revolve around the farm.
How, on the other hand, to encourage nonfarm residents to recognize that the contributions agriculture makes to society go well beyond the table.
How to catch the children who are falling through the cracks.
Why it’s so easy to talk and so hard to listen.
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