My Pride and Joy

My Pride and Joy

For whatever reason, it would seem that I’ve experienced a rather hectic, event-filled, deadline laden, issue driven week. And all that equates to quite a lot of stress! When I FINALLY finished my page layouts I decided that I wanted a treat. As luck would have it, it was HAPPY HOUR! Not at my local Sonic which I am no longer patronizing because of their alignment with the H$U$ but rather the little Caribou Coffee stand at the new grocery store. So off I went in search of my cheap dark Mocha. The perfect ending to a well, let’s just say crazy day.

So, coffee in hand, radio station tuned to the channel which has a great drive-time play list and I was off for my commute back to the farm.

Cruising along, rather literally, I happened to study the “java jacket” that was on my cup. The script printed on that little brown cardboard hot-pad read “you are holding in your hand our pride and joy.”

And that got me to thinking that it’s really too bad that we don’t have a way to communicate so succinctly with our consuming public.

That little sentence told the coffee buyer exactly how the company feels about their product. It’s their everything.

Now, let’s think about that fact for a minute. As producers of food and fiber, aren’t our animals and our crops the item we take a great deal of pride in? Sure, they may also be our means to an end and the way that we generate revenue on our operations, but at the end of the day, they are a great deal of pride and family heritage.

I think that Caribou might be onto something and it is something that those in the business of raising beef, pork, lamb, chevon or even poultry ought to sit up and take notice of.

Sure the coffee shop had it easy – package the message of their pride on every cup it hands across the counter to the final consumer. For those marketing meat directly from the farm can also give a personal touch by labeling their packages and connecting with that consumer. But what about the bulk of ranchers, pork, goat and lamb producers? How do we communicate that sense of pride and joy that our livestock represent?

It’s all about the image, really. If you think about it, the way our farms and ranchers look to those that pass by is one way to convey that message. If you have signs on your farm, proclaiming your name and the year established gives those driving by a sense of what happens there. It’s more than about advertising the sale of bulls or females that might be offered, but a chance to convey the importance of the work done there – providing a safe, tasty and nutritious products to our neighbors whether they live next door or in our communities, across the country or around the globe.