Think About it -- Lessons From The Farm 9 (How we’ve always done it).

When I was young, farming didn’t interest me. It was the main activity of the area and family before me and before them. But I couldn’t leave it fast enough.

38 years after we left Kansas, we returned. Now we own and live on the small family farm. I even read books about agriculture now (nothing I would have ever done before). Even in that reading however, I find applicability to security operations. Thus, the following example.

Very good friends visit us here on the farm every year. Like me, his full time career (a doctor) is drastically different than his farm he returns to at the end of each day. After his visit this year, he sent me a book; “Managing Pasture” by Kansan, Dale Strickler. From pages 2 & 3 of that work, a relative theme struck me about security.

Strickler wrote;

In 1900 corn was planted in rows 40” apart (the width of a horse which would pull implements between the rows). This resulted in 3,900 corn plants per acre. The average yield was around 29 bushels per acre.

In 1960 corn was planted in rows 30” apart (the width of a tractor tire which would pull implements between the rows). This (and other advances in agronomy) resulted in 16,000 corn plants per acre. The average yield was around 58 bushels per acre.

By 2015, more advances in agronomy resulted in 32,000 genetically improved corn plants per acre. The average yield by then was around 168 bushel's per acre.

But …

In 1900, farmers in his area of Kansas needed 6 acres of grass pasture per cow.

In 1960, they needed 6 acres per cow.

In 2015, they needed 6 acres per cow.

Strickler’s conclusion (indeed the book’s message) is that we haven’t considered pasture with the same agronomic education and improvement as with traditional food crops. Good pasture management can support more meat per acre if we educate ourselves and apply effective effort to the process.

Think About it

Criminal activity, and the resources with which to prevent or mitigate it, continually evolve. Take a fresh look at everything you do. There may be better ways to do some of those things now.

Of all disciplines needed for effective church management, the way we do security should never be “how we’ve always done it."

Key and lock management might be good places to consider for many.