The term sustainability has been around for a long time. It meant something totally different to my parents who struggled to sustain their post-WWII agriculture way of life with the backdrop of the Great Depression still on their minds. Today’s culture associates itself more with the pursuit of achieving global environmental sustainability.
One definition of the term says sustainability refers to the ability to maintain or support a process continuously over time. It is that definition I can relate to best. In fact, my motto when I began writing marketing strategy for Top Producer decades ago was: Agricultural production should be afforded the standard of living commensurate with those professionals in the non-ag world.
It was the opportunity of writing this column that enabled the start of my marketing consulting firm, Gulke Group, Inc., over 30 years ago. Sustainability was a Top Producer mission before it was fashionable.
Sustainable agriculture was vogue back then in the form of contour, minimum and no-till farming to conserve moisture and help prevent erosion. Substantial progress was made in that area over the past three to four decades, making agriculture a pioneer in sustainability. For myself, and others like me, sustainability of the land and environment is nothing new under the sun — our success depended on it.
Preparation for the future and sustaining a way of life that was indeed commensurate with my other professional counterparts meant understanding my children would one day go to college, and preparing early for that expense was paramount to ending the tenure without debt. Mission accomplished.
I knew at about 21 years old that I would eventually get sick, as everyone does. Preparing for an emergency wasn’t a matter of if but when. Mine came in the form of triple bypass surgery over 20 years ago. I sustained that one without a monetary disaster.
Is Your Future Sustainable?
Retirement was in my future 50 years hence, and education (described in last month’s issue) helped me attain independence from others, and most of all from a banking institution. My goal was to start young to ultimately let my life’s work someday become a tool from which to clip coupons, similar to what a non-ag person would do investing in bonds or the stock market. Mine came slowly acquiring land over time that one day would cash flow my direction.
According to a report from the Federal Reserve, only about 35% of non-retirees felt their retirement savings was on track in 2024. Another report by the National Institute on Retirement Security in 2023 found the typical Gen X household had just $40,000 in retirement savings. I feel very fortunate to have picked my parents well and for life’s lessons in agriculture that afforded a sustainable retirement. The non-ag vocation did well using the DJIA as a reference, but I suspect the agriculture investment did as well when it comes to accomplishing my motto as described above.
Sustainability for me has been to use, to my best ability, the hand I was dealt. For me, I sustained the quality of life I longed for and will leave a legacy that says opportunities abound regardless of one’s vocational choice The U.S. SIF Foundation reports that U.S. ESG and sustainability-focused investments total $6.5 trillion. Yet we can’t find sufficient funds for health care, retirement security or education that is second to none.
The Declaration of Independence states that among the unalienable rights of all individuals are “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The phrase originally meant the right to pursue a life of virtue, community well-being and personal fulfillment, rather than solely pursuing personal pleasure or material wealth. Sustaining that life is not my right or entitlement, but an opportunity. If not here, then where?
