Reflections on a Career: Little-Known Influences and Professional Highs and Lows

God for His gifts and opportunities Family for their support, patience, and endurance

Appropriate “Thanks”

People and events that influenced me and altered the path of my life and career

Mention a significant accomplishment – and its negative consequences

Describe my lowest professional period – with its positive side notes

Focus today

Two books and a trophy◦USDA Yearbook of Agriculture – Marketing◦I Dare You◦Trainee of the Cycle award

Begin with

Topics which occupied much of my professional interest and time – market structure, market channels, prices, pricing, market information, price reporting, cooperatives, etc.

Formed my concept of agribusiness and directed me toward a B.S. in Agribusiness

At its publishing date (1954) I was 10 years old

Marketing yearbook

To be your best – 90% satisfied at a plateau, 4% strive for leader level, 1% reach the “kingly” level

Four square balance in your life – mental, physical, social, and religious

My square became more like a pie with several pieces – husband, father, professional career, church/spiritual, physical, community/volunteer

Whatever the number of pie pieces - maintaining a balance has remained very important to me

I Dare You …

Second training school in the army – named the Trainee of the Cycle – seemingly inconsequential honor

Trainees were evaluated on several criteria – I was not the best in any category, but ranked near the top in each

Reinforced the “I Dare You” concept of balance Helped form a philosophy: never strived to be the

best at anything but tried to do well everything I did

Reinforcement from a trophy

Remember opening a letter about the time of my HS graduation

Awarded a four-year scholarship to Iowa State University to study Agribusiness

Along with the money was a guaranteed summer job with one of the seven cooperatives sponsoring the scholarship◦Importance – paid tuition, summer income for

school, work experience

Back up a few years

After my BS degree, became a management trainee with Farmland Industries

Plans for the Peace Corp were altered by Uncle Sam – and I “volunteered” for the US Army to attend OCS

Usual path for newly commissioned infantry officers was 7 months in a training unit, then off to Viet Nam

However – an army major at Ft Gordon, Ga may have saved my life when I reported for duty – assuredly at least, he greatly changed it

A Food and Agriculture Officer???

Life-saving change?

Poor undergraduate academics at Iowa State – 2.4 GPA

Mother said I majored in fraternity and drinking Rejected for graduate school by all but one school Given a second chance at only one – Kansas State

University – where I was admitted on probation due mostly to one person – Milton Manuel◦Why? Because of my interest and work experience

with cooperatives and my service in the army and Viet Nam

Where to after Viet Nam?

Hired by Ron Knutson, then Administrator of the Agricultural Cooperative Service-USDA

Gave me several opportunities and one piece of lasting advice◦About 10% of your time should be spent on

something of intellectual interest◦This philosophy led to my first journal article – 6

years after finishing my PhD

First professional position

Second boss at USDA – Randy Torgeson Gave me an unmatched career-enhancing opportunity◦Packerland Packing Co.

Resulted in a little-known publication◦“Slaughter Cattle Pricing and Procurement

Practices of Meatpackers”, USDA Agriculture Information Bulletin, 1979

Career-influencing opportunity

Credit Leo Blakely with me coming to OSU Presented a paper at a southern regional research

committee meeting on price discovery in October 1977

Learned of the OSU Livestock Marketing position Began here in April 1978

Path to OSU

Only 31 years to go!!!

Time check?

WORC (ND, SD, MT, WY, CO, ID) expressed their concern to Congress about packer concentration and captive supplies in 1995

WORC petition to USDA for rulemaking in 1996 USDA received over 1,800 comments◦1,757 “for” (73% in form letter form)◦ 45 “against” – including mine

USDA rejected the rulemaking petition in 1997

Dubious professional accomplishment

Petition process followed closely our results of a study on captive supplies which didn’t find the “correct” answer

Began hearing my name criticized, noticed a reduction in invitations to speak, and my name was specifically mentioned – blacklisted – from participating in subsequent USDA studies

Downside

Fortunate to receive several awards – mostly in association with teams – evidence of having the opportunity to work with many accomplished professionals◦Electronic Marketing◦HAYMARKET◦Alfalfa Integrated Management (AIM)◦Oklahoma Quality Beef Network (OQBN)◦Grid Pricing of Fed Cattle◦Packer-Feeder Game ◦Master Cattleman program

Professional recognition

Key for me was doing work on the fuzzy border between extension and research◦Offered me dual credibility◦Synergism in terms of accessing data and

presenting results Access to unique data was extremely important to

publishing several articles

Whatever degree of success…

As NAMA student chapter advisor, recruited a student to work on strategic alliances in the beef industry

Did some innovative, unique research Then ego swamped common sense! Published a Beef magazine article with table of

strategic alliances and their ranking Wrote an apology/retraction/errata statement for Beef

magazine

My professional low

Beef magazine editor also wrote an editorial comment Later spoke on the same beef program with the breed

association executive

Two positive footnotes

Have some – but few – regrets Mostly, I have good memories --- of many people,

opportunities, and experiences at OSU

Simply like to just say -- Thanks!!!!!

Looking back