“A country with a failed agro sector is in serious trouble, let alone a continent.”
THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
Time is the universe's most unlimited resource but the most limited for mortal beings like you and me.
Knowing time is a limiting factor, I treat mine carefully and focus on doing meaningful things that create and increase global human Happiness.
Please note that “Happiness" is different from "Happy”.
One can be Happy from a good joke, while Happiness is a more profound feeling of positive contentment and joy.
I feel Happiness knowing I help improve farmers’ livelihoods by producing better-quality yields that are tastier and healthier for humans and the environment.
I know how to do agriculture; luckily (for me), agriculture is the sector with the greatest need to improve people's lives, i.e., SDGs 1 and 2, which means I have a vast ground to create and increase Happiness.
In pursuit of my Happiness, I was willing to leave my Kibbutz and family (parents, brothers, and sisters), spend many years at the university, and establish companies that would challenge the conventions.
I did this, and much more, while often doing things I didn't enjoy and taking high risks, thanks to an inner feeling that filled me with Happiness, knowing I was doing something significant for many others, and by this, I increased the “global goodness”.
Happiness does not mean living a Happy or easy/lazy life, though it can be for some people.
Happiness is so essential to human survival that the United States Declaration of Independence counts it as one of three natural human rights: "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness".
SADNESS
Mr. Getaneh writes, "Many 'professionals' actually would like to distance themselves from agriculture and related activities!"
People shouldn’t stay one second in a place that doesn’t bring them Happiness.
What makes me sad is when people leave a company, a business, or a sector, not because they don’t love the work, the people, or what they do.
Not because they deem it unnecessary or foresee it as lacking a future, but because they perceive no potential for it to serve as a livelihood supporting their desired lifestyle.
I am filled with sadness seeing wonderful people, professionals, and experts leaving the agro sector only because they lost faith in the future of this industry in their country and the ability to receive a decent income. In some cases, this leads to leaving their country.
This is not uncommon in developing countries. Yet, without those professionals and experts, developing countries struggle even harder to promote their agro sector.
The job of professionals and experts is to apply specific techniques and methods to increase efficiency and, as a result, to increase the income of their organizations.
Let's be clear: most professionals and experts in the agro sector specialize in technical issues and methods, which they and others believe are the source of increased income.
Yet, they typically leave the agro sector because of low income and the inability to see a significant income increase in their future by doing more of the same technical improvements.
There you have it – if the technical professionals and experts in the agro sector don’t believe that what they do will increase the overall income, and hence theirs, why would anyone else think technical improvements will be the game changer?
REALIZATION
Not only professionals and experts leave the agro sector, but also the young future generation of farmers who see no perspective and current farmers who are looking to escape poverty.
Those people represent the entire agro value chain, which depends on farmers' economic state.
Where farmers are poor, the value chain, including professionals and experts, is poor, and vice versa; where farmers are prosperous, so are the people in the other parts of the chain.
I believe in the ability of farmers in developing countries to live a life of prosperity and professionals and experts to find interest and attractive livelihood in the agro sector.
I believe all parties to the agro-sector value chain in developing economies deserve Happiness and can reach it.
Like most participants in the developing economies' agro sector value chain already realized, the direction of the economic tide will not change due to more technology, SDGs, land, labor, sun, water, subsidies, etc.
More is not the medication to the challenges the agro sector in developing countries faces.
In my columns, I don't write about how to furnish the agro-sector building, e.g., technologies, but about how to design the solid foundations of the building that can later, based on needs, have one, ten, or even one hundred stories and furnished with the state of the art tech.
Looking into the fundamentals of successful agro-industry, we find that technologies are always there, but they join later as a layer upon existing solid foundations.
In developing economies, the foundations of the agricultural sector are loose and unstable, and therefore, instead of high-rise buildings, we see tiny houses; instead of prosperity and Success, we encounter poverty and misery.
Looking for what enables a thriving, prosperous agro sector, one that would keep the best people in it and will attract more, has shifted our view and discussion from the shiny and glamour advanced tech and services to the gray, unrewarding, and free-of-glory job of laying the fundamentals for sustainable, lasting prosperity.
We can’t reach a prosperous agro-sector without talking about what some consider to be the “soft stuff”: business models, ecosystems, values, vision, missions, goals, organizations, order, cooperation, integration, and Success (refers to the broad meaning, unlimited to financial).
In practice, those “soft stuff” set the foundations for a thriving, prosperous sector.
Without the soft stuff, or if misusing it, farmers and the entire agro sector in developing economies will remain impoverished, lag, hopeless, and lack the chance for Happiness.
We discovered that the “soft stuff” is the hard things, and the “hard stuff”, e.g., technologies, services, and finance, are the easy things.
An Israeli farmer and agronomist are more successful and rated higher in Happiness (#4 globally) versus the Indian or African farmer and agronomist not because they are ten times smarter or have access to a technology ten times better, but thanks to the “soft stuff”.
Make the soft stuff your highest priority, for they are the hardest.
Think of how many people you know in your company, community, or country dealing with the agro-technical and financial “hard stuff” - engineers, technicians, agronomists, marketing, salespeople, CFOs, etc.
Besides the cleaning and food services people, are there any who are not part of those business-technical roles?
Now take another moment and think of the number of people you know in your company, community, or country dealing with the “soft stuff”- business models, ecosystems, values, vision, missions, goals, organizations, order, cooperation, integration, and Success.
Is there even one assigned to any of those missions? If yes, how central are they to the organization?
THE SOFT STUFF
I grew up looking to be a farmer, as did the other children in my class.
In my Kibbutz, like any other, there is a team, not one or two, but a team that deals with the “soft stuff” daily.
Thanks to the team that deals daily with the “soft stuff”, the Israeli rural communities are as successful as they are.
The rural community where I was raised thrived, and the outcome of many thriving rural communities is a booming agro sector.
By the way, while the team in charge of the “soft stuff” has existed in any Kibbutz from its first day, my Kibbutz had its first agronomist 22 years after its establishment; it was my father.
The "soft stuff" team is like the operation system that works behind the scenes; nobody sees it, but it is essential for the organization's Success.
When you visit Israel, you see the front, which is the technologies, services, buildings, and the results of those. However, you NEVER see the “back office operation system”.
You never see it because you don’t ask to see it, and Israelis are so used to it since they were born and raised into it that they don’t consider it worthy to present and explain.
In all my ventures, whether Dream Valley, Biofeed, or the IBMA conference, I always start with the "soft stuff" and ensure it remains and strengthens year by year.
Like any operation system, the “soft stuff” is unseen, but when well designed, it makes the entire system more stable, works more smoothly and efficiently, and ultimately produces better results.
CREATE HAPPINESS
Agriculture is not a temporary, transitory, or neglected business in developing countries.
In most cases, the livelihood, food security, health, honor, and pride of many workers and their family members depend on the agro sector.
Don’t let down the smallholders, which only you can help.
Make Values Your Legacy,
Improving the agro-business, whether governmental, NGO, or private, is mandatory for those wishing to create prosperity and bring Happiness to the entire value chain participants.
This requires redesigning the organization based on “soft stuff” foundations, strategic planning, preparations, and careful execution to ensure the desired outcomes.
You can do it yourself or with support. Either way, don’t wait; do it!
Here are ways I can support your transition:
* Consultancy on rural communities and the agro-sector (tailor-made).
* Local/national programs related to export use the Dream Valley’s operational concepts of a global vertical value and supply chain connecting input suppliers with farmers in developing economies and farmers with consumers in premium markets.
* Crop protection: Biofeed, an eco-friendly zero-spray solution development, production, and protocols.
* IBMA Conference - To learn, share, and practice novel business models: Attend the IBMA 2024 conference. The 2024 conference theme is “Reshaping Agribusiness Models for Building Prosperous Rural Communities."
Contact: +972-542523425 / nisraely@biofeed.co.il and be part of this transformative journey!
TAKEAWAY MESSAGES
Ø CREATING HAPPINESS among its people is the ultimate goal of any leader.
Ø THE AGRO-SECTOR MUST BE efficient, competitive, and profitable to keep and attract professionals and experts.
Ø THE SOFT STUFF IS the solid foundation of a Successful agro sector.
Ø CREATE A LEGACY by focusing on the "soft stuff".
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More on the October 7th genocide in South Israel:
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*** Mental and Economic Freedom Are Interconnected. ***
See you soon,
Nimrod
Dr. Nimrod Israely is the CEO and Founder of Dream Valley and Biofeed companies and the Chairman and Co-founder of the IBMA conference. +972-54-2523425 (WhatsApp), or email nisraely@biofeed.co.il
P.S.
If you missed it, here is a link to last week's blog, “The Secret Power That Connects and Energizes Successful Companies, Communities, and Nations.”
P.P.S.
Dream Valley is a field-proven disruptive business model based on the successful Israeli model.
To learn more and become a Dream Valley partner, contact me at nisraely@biofeed.co.il, +972-542523425 (WhatsApp/Text)
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Change Begins With A Decision
That The Existing Reality Is A Choice
and Not A Decree of Fate