What is a professional image? When you are representing yourself or your industry in public, what kind of an image do you project? In the past few weeks, I have had to think about what it mean to be professional. I had the experience of working with a "professional" that left a bitter taste in my mouth.
Many of the people I know in the agricultural industry have a "can do" attitude. Most of them want to figure things out for themselves or even do it themselves. Many of us have heard such terms as a "Farmer Fix" or it has been "Farmerized." I do not mean these terms as an insult, but instead as a creative way to make something work for a situation. Many farmers are great inventors. Too bad they don't take the time to file a patent.
I am no different; I like to figure things out for myself as well. My husband will attest to my stubborness when I am trying to do something on the computer. I have told him many times "I am not going to let this computer beat me." When coming up with our website, between our daughters and I, along with a technical person, Matt, we figured it out on our own.
I took offense to a "professional" who recently criticized my website. It wasn't the content that was criticized, it was the mix match of fonts and colors. Another instance where I questioned her professionalism was her obvious disdain of the collection of photos around our farm that have been taken over the years. These photos appear on our website, our presentations, and brochures. They were not up to her quality because they were not taken by an acceptable camera. In fact, many of them were taken with our cell phones. She wanted me feel ashamed of my work because of the tools I used. As a result, we ended our association with this person and we are looking elsewhere.
The past month the dairy industry released a new slogan, "Get Real" and "Milk Truths." Wow, what a backlash was heard from people that are Vegans or from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Videos were being broadcast over social media about the "abuse" and "mistreatment" of dairy cows. What I was impressed to see was the response of many dairy farmers and other professionals in the dairy industry.
While PETA and Vegans were talking about the horrible conditions that cows live in and how terrible milk is for humans, farmers and others that are close to the industry, did not lower themselves to the level of exaggeration and misrepresentation from these people. Instead, people in agriculture cited research documents and many personal testimonials and experiences. The anti groups cited much emotion and non validated opinions as "research."
While dairy farmers believe in the quality nutrition of the milk they produce, we also support all farmers. The last I heard, three out of three people eat every day. Chances are a farmer produced the almonds, the soybeans, or the grain that went into all these alternative diets and fads.
We farmers know how we treat our animals. We are the ones that spend countless nights nursing a sick animal back to health. We are the ones that work weekends and holidays to care for them. Why would a farmer mistreat their livestock? If the cows are not comfortable and well cared for, they don't produce. If they do not produce, how is that good for us?
We farmers give all consumers a choice; farmers will produce whatever the consumers want. I ask that consumers do not take the choice away from us or others. Let's all stay professional and treat each other with respect. In the end, there is room enough for all.
Many of the people I know in the agricultural industry have a "can do" attitude. Most of them want to figure things out for themselves or even do it themselves. Many of us have heard such terms as a "Farmer Fix" or it has been "Farmerized." I do not mean these terms as an insult, but instead as a creative way to make something work for a situation. Many farmers are great inventors. Too bad they don't take the time to file a patent.
I am no different; I like to figure things out for myself as well. My husband will attest to my stubborness when I am trying to do something on the computer. I have told him many times "I am not going to let this computer beat me." When coming up with our website, between our daughters and I, along with a technical person, Matt, we figured it out on our own.
I took offense to a "professional" who recently criticized my website. It wasn't the content that was criticized, it was the mix match of fonts and colors. Another instance where I questioned her professionalism was her obvious disdain of the collection of photos around our farm that have been taken over the years. These photos appear on our website, our presentations, and brochures. They were not up to her quality because they were not taken by an acceptable camera. In fact, many of them were taken with our cell phones. She wanted me feel ashamed of my work because of the tools I used. As a result, we ended our association with this person and we are looking elsewhere.
The past month the dairy industry released a new slogan, "Get Real" and "Milk Truths." Wow, what a backlash was heard from people that are Vegans or from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Videos were being broadcast over social media about the "abuse" and "mistreatment" of dairy cows. What I was impressed to see was the response of many dairy farmers and other professionals in the dairy industry.
While PETA and Vegans were talking about the horrible conditions that cows live in and how terrible milk is for humans, farmers and others that are close to the industry, did not lower themselves to the level of exaggeration and misrepresentation from these people. Instead, people in agriculture cited research documents and many personal testimonials and experiences. The anti groups cited much emotion and non validated opinions as "research."
While dairy farmers believe in the quality nutrition of the milk they produce, we also support all farmers. The last I heard, three out of three people eat every day. Chances are a farmer produced the almonds, the soybeans, or the grain that went into all these alternative diets and fads.
We farmers know how we treat our animals. We are the ones that spend countless nights nursing a sick animal back to health. We are the ones that work weekends and holidays to care for them. Why would a farmer mistreat their livestock? If the cows are not comfortable and well cared for, they don't produce. If they do not produce, how is that good for us?
We farmers give all consumers a choice; farmers will produce whatever the consumers want. I ask that consumers do not take the choice away from us or others. Let's all stay professional and treat each other with respect. In the end, there is room enough for all.
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