Thoughts on How I Want to Tell My Story Even if the Prompt Isn’t Ideal

Sure, you can get a really challenging comment anytime or anywhere but there are days where you are more or less likely to have those challenging or really uncomfortable conversations.

I want to choose how I approach the world, not let the actions of others dictate how I react. Choosing my own course of action first and foremost is my choice, I just have to remind myself I prefer to be proactive. That I want to be positive too. I want to hear various opinions as I make my choices. I want to have real discussions at times, not just brush the surface, on things that are important to me. I can be the one who chooses how to tell my story, even if the prompt for me to tell that story is a very challenging or negative prompt.

One Specific Chance to Tell My Story

To get my head in a good spot, I took a little time earlier to reread a post I wrote as I had an experience that tested really tested me. I was really tired from a trip that had taken a few turns for the worst. I thought I had turned the corner as the person sitting next to me began to chat. The specific conversation that drove me to write this blog post several years ago is something that I’ve replayed several times in the day-to-day. This is a go-to grounder for me in knowing I can do this well.

Our conversation turns to the normal chit-chat that I have to admit I usually avoid on flights. She’s from London originally, hence the accent I noticed she has but she was right it had mellowed since she’s lived in Memphis a long time. I’d been running all day and was just glad to be on the final leg of this trip.  I asked what she does and she says mostly volunteer work now.  She asks me and I reply that I work in the cotton business for a company that improves seeds… its Monsanto & the seeds are called Deltapine.

There was an audible gasp, and her eyes opened so much it startled me. She said “Monsanto is evil.” This is where the stress came in. I have read this before, but the fact that I was hearing it today since I’d been making a lot of effort to stay positive seemed like a test. Really. And to have the person, who I’ve pleasantly visited with for five minutes, looking right at me like I’m evil, having just said that heard I am part of Monsanto. It was certainly a test…a test of the Janice-response system.

via Speechless or Ready to Rant? I Chose The Middle Ground – a colorful adventure.

It is fine for people to have a very different opinion of my employer than I do (as the footer on every page says, this blog is my personal expression & I am solely responsible for it’s content).

What Grounds Me

I am grounded in the reality that I know how I was raised and the type of person I am. I am grounded in the reality of having met hundreds — perhaps even thousands of farmers — and having heard their first-hand stories of their farm, how they make choices for their farms and families and more. If you’d like to read a few of the things that ground me, here are some of the links that first came to mind though many many great ones are out there!

• Do Farmers Have Choices? — There seems to be a consensus going around that farmers have no choice when it comes to the seed they choose to plant. Or if they do have a choice, large corporations like Monsanto force it upon them. And if anybody tries to voice their opinion and let the farmer’s themselves speak upon their choices, the individual suddenly becomes a pawn for Monsanto. Okay so the above example may be a little extreme. Doesn’t mean I haven’t seen it happen again and again online. Why is it that because we are behind a computer it gives us the license to be disrespectful? Anyway, back to farmers. I was interested in what the farmers themselves have to say about their seed choices, how they choose the seed they do, and why do they CHOOSE to plant GMOs or maybe they don’t? So I asked several farmers some questions… And here’s what I found.
• A Food Choice Mom — Reading headlines, articles friends share, working in both the private sector of agribusiness as well as the public sector of agriculture policy while being from a 5th generation family farm I have come to claim my space as a food choice mom.  A food choice mom? Does that mean I let my kids choose whatever foods they want to eat? While they might love the idea for a few days, my kids do not eat whatever they want, whenever they want. That’s not being a food choice mom.
• I Occupy Our Food Supply Everyday — Today is the day.  The Occupy movement is going to occupy our food supply.  According to the occupiers and Farm Aid president Willie Nelson large corporations have too much control over our food.  I won’t deny that there has been a lot of consolidation in the food and seed markets over the years, but that seems pretty common and big does not equal bad as some occupiers would have you think.
• Decision 2013: Drought Resistant & GMO Cottonseed Varieties leading the polls — About this time each year, the Wilde household takes on a full blown campaign atmosphere.  The Farmer I Kiss and I both have very strong opinions about which brand and variety of cottonseed to plant.  Lying around the house you will find lots of magazines and brochures conspicuously left opened to a favorite brand, or maybe a new, exciting variety.  Big red circles have been drawn around the front runners. 
• what you need to know about monsanto and gmo food — They aren’t the enemy. For real. Monsanto is not the bad guy. They are a large agriculture biotechnology seed and chemical company. They do spend butt loads of money to create new hybrids, seeds, and pesticides. They do own patents on many different seeds and chemicals. They are also in the business of making money for all those greedy stockholders. Which might be like the business where you or someone in your family work. However, it seems the hatred, finger pointing, or plain and simple blaming for all things health or food related is at Monsanto. Yet, whenever I ask someone why the hostility towards Monsanto all they can say is they are making America fat or causing food allergies but can’t elaborate past buzz words or news headlines. And here is what is really confusing, they aren’t the only biotech company.

My Thoughts

My thoughts on agriculture have been a long time in coming together. I’ve had decades of discussions in the cotton picker, in conference rooms, over simple meals in the homes of people who were destined to become life-long friends. My biggest concern is that people focus on a single word or phrase and don’t take time to try to understand. It is a problem I have had a time or two myself so I know it takes work.

I write mainly about things I do on my personal time like travel (the big roadtrip has been front and center recently), but occasionally I also offer glances into what happens at work or some of my personal opinions about agriculture, a field I’ve worked in my entire career but only with Monsanto the last six years. Here are a few of the posts that may interest you.

Hearing Directly from Monsanto

If you would like to hear the opinions of my employer, I invite you to check out the various places we publish information. Here’s a quick list of a few resources:

• Monsanto Company’s website 
• Beyond the Rows is Monsanto’s blog (which I write for occasionally)
• Facebook page
• Twitter Account
• Instagram

You may want to log in to a site called GMO Answers, which is where Monsanto employees are among a group of experts answering questions as they get asked. You are welcome to ask questions there or you may find someone has already asked that question and find someone has already offered their reply!

Have a great weekend!

I sure plan to! I got to see an INCREDIBLE baseball game last night and there is another game later today. That sets this weekend in the right direction for sure!

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