Welcome to a New Year, a New World in Agriculture
January 1, 2023 In November, I attended my first Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) conference, which was held in San Diego, CA. It was an opportunity to meet in-person with many people I had come to know since starting with Meister Media Worldwide last March and visit with exhibitors on the show floor.
Peter Zeihan, a highly regarded geopolitical strategist, was the keynote speaker for the conference. I’ve heard him speak previously and told my workmates that they were in for a treat.
Indeed, Zeihan did not disappoint. He had the entire room riveted during his presentation. Not only is he a dynamic and humorous speaker, he’s also meticulous and thorough in his research and his breadth of knowledge, which includes history, geography, economics, politics, finance, energy markets, and trade.
His new book, The End of the World is Just the Beginning, lays out the reasoning behind his assertion that not only is globalization retreating, but the world order is headed for some major shake-ups, including the likely collapse of Russia and China’s economies and political structures, civil unrest, and severe famines in Asia and Africa. The one place on the planet that is best suited to endure what seems like a hellscape in the coming years is North America, in general, and the U.S., in particular.
We’ve got demographics on our side, natural resources, the U.S. dollar, innovation and technology, and the ability to produce our own food — a critical and fundamental strength.
Zeihan’s global forecast is as overwhelming as it is plain scary. Let’s face it, since the global economic recession of 2008-09 to the pandemic to the current crisis du jour, we all feel a little jittery, right now.
For me, there’s a simple and dependable comfort I find in the natural world when the manmade world is in the midst of heightened instability. The rising sun. The migration of birds and butterflies. The changing of seasons. Knowing that winter will yield to spring and the farmer’s work begins again.
Of course, agriculture is changing like everything else and there are so many innovations and developments to celebrate. These changes are exciting and necessary. But it’s the reliability and the human aspect of farming and agriculture that I’ve come to appreciate even more over this
past year.
Let’s get growing!
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