As I’m sure you’ve noticed, my columns tend to be pretty businesslike. So as we approach the end of another year, it strikes me as a good time to consider where we are and what we’re doing.

It’s been a year of playing defense in our nation’s capitol. The atmosphere in Washington is not anti-agriculture.  But it is becoming painfully clear that if the President’s administration succeeds with their policy, the result will be more regulation, added burden and as an unintended consequence, fewer family farms.

You’ll never convince me the President of the United States has it in for family farmers.  In fact, my head and heart tell me if I had an opportunity to visit with him directly, he’d argue my conclusion. He’d say his way will provide more opportunity for family farmers.

At the end of the day, we all want the same thing – clean water and air, safe food and a healthy planet. We disagree on the best way to get there. But we agree on the need to preserve the family farm.

Now what? “Us vs. them” is a non-starter.  Given today’s demographics, we lose that argument before we even make it. There’s more of “them” than “us.”

What if we drilled a little deeper? Went beyond the business considerations of these policy issues and started talking about the deeply held reasons we’re on the farm?

With Christmas just around the corner, it’s an ideal time to slow down, take a deep breath and do a little inventory.

What do we have in our lives that will make a compelling argument in this American public policy discussion?

We have families we love and support. We help our neighbors. We have a work ethic. We’re honest. These things come naturally to us and they have for generations. We have a rural culture. We have a way of life. Think about these values. They’re all positive.

We also don’t talk out loud about these things. To do so would be bragging, and we learned from our parents that’s not a positive virtue. But with no disrespect and with the best of intentions, maybe it’s time we give some thought to that. For a couple of very compelling reasons: They’re true and they resonate.

If all we talk about in support of our way of life is how new ideas will negatively impact our bottom lines, is it any wonder that some who disagree with us may perceive us as greedy?

If all we say, in response to these new ideas is, “we prefer the status quo,” should we be surprised we’re often pigeonholed as behind the times?

But if we begin the conversation with the real reasons we’re on the farm and want to stay, if we couch our policy arguments in terms that any reasonable human being can relate to and appreciate – then we might stand a chance.

There’s a reason I returned home after leaving the family farm as a young man to strike out on another career. Oh sure, there were a host of specific considerations and factors involved in that decision, but in the end, they all boiled down to one: My father asked me to.

What better time than the holidays to think about why we do what we do?