We Need a Great Fruit Grower [Opinion]

When you hear a TV commentator say something like: “Here’s the latest from Washington,” you start to cringe, don’t you? Be honest, most of the time you think: “What are those idiots up to now?”

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Haven’t you had enough with the lawyers and doctors who we’ve elected to serve us? Many seem to have lost their way. That duty, that service to the people who put them in office, isn’t all that evident.

You know what we need?

We need a fruit grower.

I frankly don’t know anyone I would rather see on the job. We need someone who is, well, grounded. Check.

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When things are bad, you want to lean on someone who knows the value of putting down strong, healthy roots. Check, check.

Part of the beauty of having kids is you find yourself looking at the world through their eyes. (That got pretty hairy when they were in their teens.) But now my kids are 20-somethings, and I feel like I should apologize for who we sent to D.C.

I don’t recall being as embarrassed by our elected officials back when I was in my 20s. Infuriated, maybe, but back then at least we still tossed around the term “statesman” occasionally. People don’t use that term much these days. Well, maybe for John McCain, but he was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, a man among men.

Fruit growers would not be an embarrassment. Methodical people in the main, sure, they may not “Wow” you, but the average fruit grower is a pretty solid individual.

The key to me is that perhaps no one plans as far ahead, decades out. Other business people may think they take the long view, but few have business plans that call for new products to be sold — such as new varieties — where the owner doesn’t know precisely what those products will be.

But despite that long view, the fruit growers are unusual in that they can say with a fair degree of certainty there will be some unavoidable event — most likely an act by Mother Nature herself — that will throw their business plan topsy-turvy.

When I meet someone new outside our industry, I can often detect envy in their eyes, especially when I go on about spending time in orchards and vineyards. But when they hear about the downside of being so close to nature — and what it can do to your business — I can see their eyes just check out, their interest gone.

When this happens, I can practically see the bubble over their heads. Their thought: And even after everything goes OK, they still have to worry about the weather? The weather? I’ll pass on that risk, thank you.

But the fruit grower, especially the great fruit grower, takes that considerable risk in stride. Actually, they not only take it in stride, they welcome it. They know this: Any challenge faced by the many represents a fantastic opportunity for the few. And the greater the challenge, the bigger the payoff. In fact, I would venture to say that many of the greatest business deals in this country were made precisely because of that risk.

So the time has come for more of you fruit growers to do your duty and consider a turn in DC. Back in the day, the idea was for citizens to serve, then return to their previous lives after a term or two. Today the career pols like their cushy setups; the government becomes who they are. But I see fruit growers returning home to what they love.

What we need now is a fruit grower.

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