The Efficiency Mindset

Mindsets are all the rage these days in describing human mental health and behavioral change. Let's explore how an industrial focus on efficiencies has impacted agriculture and food systems.

Way back in 2016, life coach guru Tony Robbins started talking about shifting away from scarcity thinking, into an ‘abundance mindset.’ Widespread adoption in finance and leadership circles ensued, so that now, achieving success through abundance thinking is common in business.

This week, in a workshop that is a must-watch for every aspiring direct-marketer, Charlotte Smith explains how the ‘service mindset’ changes the game for shy, guilty, hesitant and fearful farmers. Those who use land to grow food to feed people have nothing to apologize for, yet it can be terrifying and crippling to charge prices for farm-raised foods at a level that will sustain the business.

Emma Chow and Calla Rose Ostrander break out the meaning of the ‘regenerative mindset’ in another excellent podcast from Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food. When the mind breaks through into regeneration - most often as a result of healing - humans adopt new models for making decisions that optimize the health of relationships, communities, and the natural world, which in turn maximize the benefits to self.

This podcast drives home the point that regenerative agriculture is about so much more than soil health. Regeneration starts with people, not definitions.

The proof? Mounting public financial incentives for better farmland management practices include explicit criteria, absent any dualistic agenda.