It looks like a lot of us will remember 2011 as the “Year of the Showdown.” Between lockouts in the NFL and NBA and government gridlock in the House and Senate, compromise didn’t come very easily last year. So why can’t we all just get along? Of course, I wasn’t personally involved in any of the above disputes, so I have no idea what was said or done behind closed doors. But I’d bet dollars to donuts these conflicts boil down to one thing ... a lot of unreasonable people.

It is a classic Hollywood scene. A soldier is caught in crossfire, trying to determine the best way out of his predicament. The soldier knows that sitting idle will be the death of him if he does not identify a way out. It appears that all angles present some degree of risk, but one must be chosen. What is next? What’s his plan? Time is of the essence. Creating a plan in such an environment would be stressful, to say the least, but still necessary.

One way of generating effective solutions is to assemble a team of trusted members of your staff, family and suppliers to investigate any new possibilities that might be available to your operation. By allowing open input from a variety of sources, a solution often emerges that is greater than any one individual on the team might have created. Here are some actions you can take to optimize the performance of your team: • Meet away from the farm. This is as easy as renting a meeting room in a local hotel. (And turn the cell phones off!) The few hundred dollars that may be necessary to rent the room will be returned many times over with the increased productivity of your meeting.

Have you experienced a situation where having many communication tools at your disposal has actually made it more difficult to effectively and efficiently communicate? We can’t deny that things like email, voicemail, texting, Facebook and smart phones have increased our ways to connect with one another. But are we truly communicating with each other to get things accomplished and avoid mistakes? With all the tools we have to “talk” with one another, we still gain great value in bringing team members face-to-face for effective and efficient farm team meetings.

There is a major controversy regarding the employment of illegal or undocumented immigrants in the workplace. The term “undocumented immigrants” refers to foreign citizens residing in the U.S. illegally. Many Americans believe that undocumented immigrants are being employed in jobs that could be filled by unemployed members of the workforce. Many illegal immigrants are working in low-skilled jobs in sectors of the economy (agriculture, hospitality, construction, etc.) that American workers are unwilling to fill.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve come to realize the best part of holidays with little ones around is watching how excited they get about the surprises that await them. Whether it’s a birthday party, Christmas morning or Easter Sunday, their energy and excitement is off the charts. But as we get older, our enthusiasm for participating in some of these traditions just isn’t the same. Sure, the occasional scavenger hunt can be kind of fun, but being the only one who can’t find his plastic Easter egg tends to lose its luster 30 years later.

When’s the best time to start eating healthy? After a heart attack. How about exercising? After you’re already overweight. The best time to stop smoking? After someone you know has lung cancer. When’s the best time to start talking to your teenager? After the cops call. And when’s the best time to buy homeowner’s insurance? As soon as you buy a house. Duh?

Editor’s note: The following is a follow-up report to an article titled, “What does a gallon of milk cost?” published in 2009. Google made that article popular with consumers on www.progressivedairy.com; it has received more than 10,000 pageviews in the last two years. Click here to read Ben Yale's article from the September 1, 2009, issue of Progressive Dairyman. Following milk from the farm to the truck to the plant through the processing into the bottle onto another truck to the store and into the dairy cooler is easily understood. Following the money back from that cooler to the farm is a different story.