F2F VI

 Last week we headed out to Omaha to attend Farmer2FarmerVI, put on by Farmers Business Network.  Due to the pandemic, they took a two year hiatus.  There were about 3000 farmers in attendance from all over the country.  FBN has had a large expansion into the Canadian prairie Provinces, and also into Australia.  There were many Canadians in attendance and one farmer that flew the 8000 miles from Australia. The company has grown tremendously since we last met.  Despite fierce industry resistance, there are now 55,000 farmer members, farming 110 million acres, supported by over 1000 employees.  What started with data analytics to help level the playing field, has now grown to include input manufacturing and distribution, seed genetics research and production, insurance products, livestock feed and supplies, operating loans and finance, land investment opportunities, marketing assistance, and sustainability programs.  A pretty impressive company that started just eight years ago by a couple of millennial tech guys in California!  It involved three days of speakers, seminars, networking, trade show, consulting, and lots of food!

The first keynote speaker was Alex Honnold, the legendary rock climber and subject of the National Geographic documentary film "Free Solo".  He is the only human to free solo climb (no ropes, help, harness, gear) Yosemite's 3000 foot El Capitan.  His feat has been called the greatest athletic achievement in the history of the world.  He shared his story and how his training, mental focus, and preparation tactics can be used by anyone to overcome the mountains and obstacles in our lives.

The next speaker of note was the legendary Navy Seal and Seal trainer Jocko Willink. He is now a Leadership trainer, author, and strategic advisor.  He shared his story and how Seal training can be used by anyone in leadership positions. He stressed the importance of humility, teamwork, and not passing blame for mistakes.  Training, discipline, self discipline, and structure give freedom to the team members during execution.  Never make tactical decisions(short term) that hurt your strategic (long term) goals. I kept thinking of the spiritual applications of his lessons as well as the intended business applications.

The other speaker that impressed me was Peter Zeihan, a geopolitical strategist and author.  He consults with Governments and businesses to help people understand how the world works.  He has an expert understanding of demography, economics, energy, politics, technology, and security.  His insights and predictions on how the world will evolve geopolitically in the future were very interesting. Afterwards, I met him and bought one of his books, which he signed for me.  An early Christmas gift to myself!

We stayed in a nice hotel downtown several blocks from the convention center.  I usually walked to the meetings in the morning and took a shuttle bus back at night.  The weather was cool, but nice while in Omaha. We didn't eat out, shop, or sight-see this trip.  The old farmers wife did a lot of online Christmas shopping from the hotel room while I was attending the more "boring" meetings!  We had light rain on our way home.

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.                        I Corinthians 13:2