The continuing COVID-19 pandemic is having a major impact on economies all over the world. Businesses are being closed, work hours reduced and many people have been laid off. The stock market has lost a full one-third of its value in a very short time. This is causing most of us to take a long, hard look at our financial situation, both the way we earn our money and the way we invest it.

With corn planting underway in many parts of the country, I couldn’t help but think just how risky that decision is. I am not talking about risk from the standpoint of weather and concerns regarding growing conditions—I am talking specifically about the decision to plant corn, period.

So here we are, in a situation that most of us have never been in: spending the majority of our time “in lockdown.” We are used to the frantic pace that is life. While the kids eat a quick breakfast of processed cereal, we make sure they have money for a school lunch where ketchup is considered a vegetable and then off to school they rush.

We often think of ourselves as a single organism called a person. However, we are actually made up of a dazzling array of parts (arms, legs, ears, nose, eyes, etc.) and pieces (heart, liver, kidneys, pancreas, stomach, intestines, etc.). Somehow all these parts and pieces function as one intact organism, or so we believe. There are actually tiny, microscopic organisms that live in our gut, our mouth, our skin and many other places in our bodies. How many? More than 100 trillion of them. We have more microorganisms living on us and in us than the size of our national debt. Together, all these microorganisms are known as the human microbiome and they are ten times more numerous than the number of cells in our body.

With the chaos occurring in our country at present, we need to slow down, gather our thoughts and “touch bottom.” This story, shared with me by a former Navy SEAL, illustrates this point.

As I described in my preceding blog, it is getting crazy out there and the panic buying is not subsiding. What is occurring in our nation, and around the world, only serves to substantiate why we need regenerative agriculture now more than ever. It is no longer just about the climate, our water quality, and our ecosystems. They are all still vitally important, but an even more pressing need has emerged.

The continuing downward slide in the cattle market has left many with knots in their stomachs. Should one “jump ship” and sell at what is most likely a loss, or does one hang on for a while longer? Instead of making a quick decision based on emotion, let’s slow down and look at the big picture. This is where the power of being adaptive needs to be applied.

We are now experiencing times that many alive today have never been exposed to. We are witnessing our own human condition and our response to something that seems overwhelming and possibly insurmountable. The tangible result is being manifested in widespread panic and fear. Fear that we will run out of toilet paper. Fear that we will run out of food. Fear that our businesses and jobs will implode. Fear that we may contract the coronavirus (COVID-19) and become a statistic.

A trip to the local grocery store today turns up many empty shelves—a sight that most Americans have not seen before. This is just one of a myriad of ramifications of the coronavirus outbreak. Without a doubt, this will affect us for months to come.

Under the heading of “In case you needed even more reasons to switch to regenerative farming,” a recent poll conducted by South Dakota State University indicates that a significantly higher percentage of farmers who are using soil health-improving practices in their operations experience less stress, are more satisfied with farming and are more optimistic about their futures than their conventional farming peers.

Continuing the discussion around unintended consequences, all we have to do is look around us and the evidence is staring us in the face. We simply have to recognize and acknowledge the facts before us. In the process of doing that though, we also have to admit that we have not been the land stewards we should have been. Most of us do not believe we were being poor stewards. As a matter of fact, we have defended ourselves as being excellent stewards. But the evidence says otherwise. Let’s examine it.

Consumers are currently being bombarded with commercials and ads for various forms of what I term “fake meat.” Curiously, many who are manufacturing and selling these products, as well as their supporters, prefer to call them “clean proteins.” The ads appear to be almost everywhere—on the TV, in magazines, radio, billboards, store signs, newspaper and any place imaginable. It’s pretty much impossible not to see, hear, or read about fake meats. Not only are there direct ads, but there have been, and continue to be, numerous stories about “clean proteins” and their benefits for human health, animal welfare, the environment, and climate change.