Air January 30, 2002

Thank you Mark, and good morning everyone. We have a brief break from meetings this week. The next round includes Alfalfa production in Riley county on the 5th of February and the Corn Production Meeting in Milford on the 13th. Call me for more details!

Every once in a while, it is good to have a reality check. Spouses and children are good at keeping us squared away and in touch with the real world, and on my job, all of you are my reality check. A couple of weeks ago, I had a reality check when someone gave me what for because of what I’d said on my program. The comments were very fair and direct, and yes they did take great disagreement with what I said. And they came from someone for whom I have a great deal of respect. To be right honest however, I was a bit taken back, BECAUSE I couldn’t remember what I had talked about. The particular program had aired about a month prior and I can guarantee that by this afternoon, I will already be thinking about next weeks program and next weeks newspaper column and my next newsletter and it’ll be a struggle for me to remember the week or weeks just past! Well, I went back to the office and dug out the script that I’d used for the program in question. As I read it I became somewhat concerned because the message that the listener had recieved was NOT the message I intended to get across. Had the listener failed? Absolutely not! I had failed as a speaker. I see my job as being two fold. To deliver research based information and to make you think. In reviewing what I had wanted to get across and what I said, I didn’t accomplish my goal. Naturally, information and education are two way streets. I can learn as much, no probably more, from all of you, than you can learn from me. Your job is to challenge me and make me think. If you think I’m off base with something I write or say, you need to take me to task. This listener did and they made me think, they made me think a lot because they made very good sense. They were doing their job. So why haven’t the rest of you challenged me on some of the things I say? Keep me on my toes, make me think and help me do my job better!

This is Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook 2002.

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