Memories of Jack

This past week I lost a long time teacher and mentor. I just wanted to take a moment for a post on this new blog to talk a little about memories of Jack. I started working for him around 14 or 15 years old and he had a lot to teach me. After college I moved away and set out on my own career path, but after a bachelor's degree and 54 hours of graduate study, I can say with certainty that there were valuable principles, lessons, and experiences I gleaned form working with Jack that I could have never learned in school. While I'm still paying on my educational debt, I'll never be able to price or repay the debt of gratitude I have having had the opportunity to work for him and learn the valuable things I learned.

I started working for him as he was winding down his CASE IH farm equipment dealership, helping him on his farm  (dairy, beef, and alfalfa hay) and propane business, as well as maintenance and construction projects associated with his son's rental properties and several houses he was involved in building. Jack was a WWI veteran and at this time he was in his 70's and that was 20 years ago; it never struck me how old he was to speak of his agelessness. Lots of fun filled after school and summer adventures.

Here are a few quotes (they may not be originally his own but I associate them with him)  and experiences:

• The first time helping him in the hay field, he would not let me start until I could demonstrate tying a square knott
• "a fool and his money soon part" 
• "behind the 'at'" he would say if I ever asked "where is it at" - not even my English teacher taught me that.... 
• Lessons on  work ethic, the labor markets, regulation, and entrepreneurship that made economics course work come naturally appealing later in college, I probably could not have learned more from Hayek himself.
• There is so much more to compensation than what can be quoted in an 'hourly' rate.
• "a cat can't catch mice in mittens"
• "don't butcher me up"- anytime I got a little reckless driving any number of things I probably should have had a license to operate
• Two people can put up a lot of alfalfa hay. 
• You can paint a 10,000 gallon propane tank with a 2" brush. 
• "if half the decisions in life you make are correct, you'll do OK"
• How to drive anything from a forklift, tractor, bobtail propane truck, to an eighteen wheeler.
• How to use sand to move an 18 wheeler up a 6% grade covered in snow and ice
• Cutting power lines with a bolt cutter from a forklift and living to tell about it
• He told me a story once about one of his top tractor mechanics. When folks came into the shop and started loitering and distracting to work, he started stepping on their feet so they knew it was time to move on. That might be a great tip these days in the distracting open floor plan office spaces of corporate America
• Taking a short cut down mainstreet while pulling a manure spreader on Halloween night is not a good idea.
• Even on the most frustrating days, and after I may have made the worst of mistakes, I never saw the man get angry....but he never let a teachable moment go to waste

There are things that I have left out I'm sure. This is a working list...I'm sure it will grow. In Atlas Shrugged Ayn Rand wrote "All work is an act of philosophy." That is something I can fully appreciate after my years working for and with Jack.

How Chipotle Can Have Their Food with Integrity and Eat it Too

This article from The Wall Street Journal sums things up pretty well I think, A Chipotle Education.

“In other words, Mr. Ells promises to bring his restaurants into the 20th century. One reason large chains dice foodstuffs in a central kitchen is to avoid contamination. And while Chipotle derides “factory farming”—last year the company put out a comedy series about the “utterly unsustainable world of industrial agriculture”—such economies of scale exist to deliver safer food at a lower price....Chipotle’s anti-GMO and locavore advertising has been part of a commercial strategy to differentiate from competitors and make a buck. Perhaps no longer: On Tuesday the stock tumbled below $500 for the first time since May 2014, with the price down about 25% for the year. Sales are expected to drop precipitously this quarter. The market is a brutal teacher when customers and investors realize a company isn’t practicing what it preaches.”

-The Wall Street Journal, Dec 22, 2015

I also recommend Jayson Lusk's take on this:

"Marketing aside, there is a real trade-off to be made between selling "clean", fresh, food sourced from small-local vendors and food safety.  There are likely some taste benefits with fresh, unfrozen food and there is nothing inherently wrong with being willing to pay a bit more for wares from smaller more local providers.  But, choosing these options may make ensuring food safety a bit more challenging." 

I think there is a possible way out for Chipotle. As suggested in the WSJ article, rebrand with a PR campaign promising to bring Chipotle into the 21st century, with a commitment to strict food safety standards (maybe talk about some high tech apps that help better manage food sources,safety, food handling etc. to address the recent issues) but also embracing modern food supply chains and technologies including GMOs. Maintain a commitment to 'local' food sources where possible, but make this very much a specialty offering brought to market under only the strictest standards. Or instead, maybe redirect the 'local' aspect of food through community investments and promotions of local producers and sponsorship of farmers markets etc. vs actually incorporating them into their direct supply chain. Or, highlight key suppliers and their practices, concentrate on the people vs. the geography. McDonald's is doing something like this, but Chipotle could really get the message out there. Maybe in the future, the beef or lettuce in your Chipotle burrito won't come from the farm a mile down the road, but emphasize the real people behind the food, and note, they are 'local' to someone somewhere.

Finally, issue a statement indicating the change in direction:

We at Chipotle have undergone exhaustive research and investment in order to make our products better, safer, and more sustainable than ever before. After consulting with our customers, suppliers, and leading scientists, we are revamping our supply chains and product technologies in ways like never before. etc..

They can go on to explain perhaps how incorporation of GMOs will lead to reduced emissions and pesticide use and improve biodiversity, how optimized animal feeding operations maximize animal welfare and minimize air quality issues etc. They can be as specific or nuanced as need be, there are plenty of PR people to figure it out. But the improved perceptions, cost savings from supply chain improvements etc. might even give Chipotle the opportunity to offer something better at an even lower price!

There are plenty of producers, industry experts, researchers, and agvocates out there that might be willing to help, if only, instead of demonizing the industry that supports it, Chipotle open mindedly embraces it with a spirit of genuine integrity. 

Of course this is all somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but I think the unfolding of events at Chipotle should give other food products and services firms a little pause about how they want to front their product in the face of the science and economics involved. Acknowledging these trade offs certainly could provide some insight to truly sustainable strategies going forward.

See also: 
The Economics of Local Food
I, Chicken
Greg Page on EconTalk: Channeling Hayek on Food and Agriculture
Religiosity, Beef, and the Environment
Modern Sustainable Agriculture