Normal is a relative term. Normal compared to what? Normal compared to new traditions or normal compared to old traditions.

At our summer meeting of the Western Region State Farm Bureaus I was struck by a phrase one of the speakers kept using… “new normal.” While that’s certainly not a new phrase, it was the way he used it that grabbed my attention. As a former legislator and lifelong rancher, he shared time with us talking about policy development and agriculture succession planning. He recognized that as a generational agriculture family they had to adapt to the “new normal” all the time. From the way they irrigate to the way they grow their crops to the way they pass on the agriculture legacy, the new normal is always pivoting.

His message was inspiring and a reminder that the new normal doesn’t have to be intimidating, it can be exciting. The fear of the unknown can cause us to freeze in our tracks. Not acting on the unknown can also cause us to get stuck in our tracks and possibly slide back down the hill.

Food security is national security. With all the issues filling up our tracks we must constantly strive for the new normal to keep moving forward in our calling to grow food and care for the land. Take for example the scare tactics spreading across social media. Scare tactics are not new, however, the use of social media is a new normal we face. The old normal came in the form of books written with stories full of scare tactics. The books would be widely distributed in hopes the reader would join the author’s crusade.

The same goes for the issues impacting food production. Over 100 years ago, our ancestors faced concerns similar to today. Those include, but certainly are not limited to, predators, water, property rights and many of the other issues impacting the ability of farmers and ranchers to grow food thus impacting national security. The similarities in issues also contain differences in the new normal about how to address these issues for the time in which we live.

Like our ancestors that came before us, I’m confident this generation of agriculturalists will saddle up for solutions to keep agriculture strong. In fact, “Saddles to Solutions” is the theme of the 106th annual meeting of the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation. As we move into policy development season, Farm Bureau members will begin at the county level to discuss issues that are impacting their ability to produce food and care for the land. From the saddle to the meeting room, we encourage you to identify the problem and then bring the solution in the form of a resolution. This is how change begins. A voting member brings an idea forward for discussion. The idea, in the form of a resolution, moves through the grassroots policy development process one step at a time. If approved by the voting delegates, the policy is placed in the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation policy book. By this point, it has been vetted four different times by members.

If you’ve never saddled up for your county Farm Bureau Federation annual meeting, I invite you to take that step this year. Reach out to your county president or watch the calendar on this page for meeting details. For those of you who saddle up every year for solutions at your county annual meeting, thank you.

Remember, we are made for a time such as this. What are you going to do with the time you’ve been given? What solutions are you bringing to the table?