I had the opportunity to contribute to a content series led by the National Pork Board last year called “Lessons from the Farm.” The idea was to demonstrate the industry’s We Care® Ethical Principles through stories about the strong values shaped on farms across the country.

At first, I wasn’t sure I could contribute. I didn’t grow up on a farm. Sure, I’ve spent my 20-plus-year communications career working for agriculture producers and companies. I also grew up in a rural part of Iowa as the daughter of a millwright. But, kind of like the proud, and slightly petulant, “native” bumper stickers you see on cars in Colorado, it doesn’t matter how long you live there, appreciate the landscape or embody the lifestyle; those who were not born there will never be from there.

Sometimes, agriculture feels this way. Like an exclusive, members-only club no outsider could possibly understand, appreciate or join. I know this isn’t intentional, but it is real and one of the dangers it creates is excluding the type of diverse skills, thinking and support from outside the industry that farmers need to be successful in an ever-changing operating environment going forward.

I have definitely been in hiring discussions where we lamented the lack of production experience among our candidates. In fact, I had a boss tell me one time we just needed more people like me, who came from a farm. He was pretty flustered when I told him I agreed, we needed more people like me — who are passionate about working for farmers — but that I wasn’t, in fact, from a farm.

Then there was the guy recruiting for a public relations firm with a major seed company account who questioned what I could possibly know about crops when I had only worked for cattle farmers and ranchers. What?!? Our world and our industry are too interconnected to think someone from one agriculture sector can’t understand another.

“Exclusive club” status also contributes to an unproductive “us vs. them” narrative. Farmers take pride in being among the few who feed the many, as they should. It’s a noble calling and Lord knows I’m thankful. But if we insist we know better than the people we’re serving because of where or how we were raised (something we all have very little control over, by the way), we risk alienating the very people we most need on our side.

Back to the #lessonsfromthefarm. The series started around Father’s Day, so I contributed a lesson from my dad, which was “be curious.” You can read that one here. Writing that piece gave me the idea to find additional ways to share lessons from my dad, who has been my biggest business and life mentor. Which leads me to the lesson from Dad I wanted to share here related to the feeling of exclusivity we sometimes create in ag.

As I have shared, I did not come from the farm. But, I was also warned from an early age that I didn’t come from money, and my dad didn’t know important people, so I was going to have to work hard. This makes me smile now because I had a full and rich childhood. My dad maybe didn’t know important people by society’s definition, but he knew/knows people with character and conviction.

The point is, you can’t change where you come from — from the farm, city or in-between — but you can work hard and make a difference for a cause that matters. And that’s what we should care about as an ag industry. We should be enthusiastically inviting in the people who bring talent, hard work and passion — regardless of where they come from … or who their dad knows.

I look forward to sharing additional lessons from Dad with you. And I’d love to hear any lessons handed down to you by your mentors.

My name is Jacque and ... I didn’t grow up on a farm

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