The power of a question in agriculture

In the run-up to the 1980 U.S. Presidential election, a cloud of uncertainty hung over the nation. The country was in the grips of “stagflation,” a troubling mix of market stagnation and rising inflation. Unemployment was creeping up, and the cost of living ballooned, shrinking the value of every American’s hard-earned dollar. 

In the White House, President Jimmy Carter seemed beleaguered. A former peanut farmer catapulted to the highest office in the land, Carter epitomised the American Dream. Yet his earnest resolve to uphold established norms in stabilising international relations and the domestic economy couldn’t free him from the perception of vulnerability.

This perception was exacerbated by a floundering American economy and the ongoing hostage crisis in Iran, where 52 American diplomats and citizens were held hostage. At home and abroad, Carter appeared weak and indecisive. 

However, in 1980, many Americans remained skeptical about the President’s challenger, Ronald Reagan. Reagan was largely unknown and untested. A former Hollywood actor turned Governor of California, Reagan messaged peace through military strength on the global stage and spoke hopefully about the future of the domestic economy. But could he deliver? Most Americans weren’t sure, and polling data reflected this uncertainty. 

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One week before Election Day, Gallup released the results of a poll that had accurately predicted nine of the last 11 presidential races. The poll indicated that Carter was ahead by eight percentage points among registered voters. It looked like President Carter would get another four years in office. But that isn’t at all what happened. 

That same night, Reagan and Carter met for their only debate, and to close the 90-minute publicly televised event, Reagan posed a question that changed everything about how millions of voters were framing the election in their minds.

He asked, “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” 

By the time all the votes were cast and tallied a week later, Reagan had won handily, outpacing Carter by ten percentage points in the popular vote and carrying 44 states in the electoral college. In short, Reagan won, and it wasn’t even close.

“That debate was a turning point,” said Reagan’s chief strategist Richard Wirthlin. “Before the debate, we were behind. After the debate, we pulled ahead.” 

A well-framed question worth millions

Most of us struggle to understand how Reagan’s single question could reshape the results of an entire presidential race. It seems wrong. Presidential elections are supposed to be about ideas and values and measure how effectively candidates get out their message through rallies, roundtables, and television commercials over 12 to 18 months.

It seems wrong that one ten-word question could swing the electorate by 18 percentage points in one week.

We think, “The process of changing someone’s mind is hard. That change must come from something more significant than a one-line question from a debate stage.”

So, we put up as many farm signs as we can and make our logo bigger and bigger. We try to show up everywhere the competition will be so we can make sure to shout, “We’re better than they are!” The outsized impact of a question like Reagan’s doesn’t feel right because the input feels too small. It’s not enough. Or is it? 

In his book A New Way to Think, business strategist Roger L. Martin argues that most business leaders limit themselves when they try to innovate purely based on what they already know instead of exploring new possibilities.

He claims that the most significant and valuable innovations in business do not result from systematic deduction but rather through some level of imagination. They emerge less from the “What is?” question and more from the question, “What if?” 

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For example, if Dietrich Mateschitz, the founder of Red Bull, had approached most well-educated executives with an MBA in the 1980s for advice on breaking into the non-alcoholic beverage category, they would have immediately brought up the example of Coca-Cola. After all, Coke has been the dominant player in the soft drink market for the last 150 years.

After careful analysis, the MBAs would likely have told him that, based upon their research, the best way to compete in this category would be to create a better-tasting drink than Coke, put it in a larger can, and price it cheaper. And based on the data they had at the time; they would have been justified in that advice.  

But that isn’t what Mateschitz and Red Bull did.

Instead, they developed a drink that tasted disgusting, placed it in a smaller can, and sold it for double the price of Coke.

Last year, Red Bull sold nearly USD$11 billion of that drink. 

Red Bull’s success did not come from thinking, “What is the market for this product today?” There wasn’t one. It succeeded because Dietrich Mateschitz imagined a future where people would pay enormous sums of money for a drink that gave them more energy, redefined the beverage category, and created an entirely new market category.

In agribusiness today, we need to ensure that, like Ronald Reagan and Dietrich Mateschitz, we are asking ourselves and our customers the right questions. 

Have we been asking all the wrong questions about equipment?

For the last 70 years, everybody in and around agricultural equipment has asked some version of the same question, “How can we increase the size of our equipment so that we can increase productivity?”  

It’s the question that, until 2008, Queensland farmers Andrew and Jocie Bate, were asking as their equipment continued to grow. It was at that point that the Bate’s began to see their management quality begin to decline. Their increasingly heavy machinery started compacting soil, their input applications became less precise and more wasteful, and, most critically, their yields began to decline.

That’s when they started to re-examine their initial assumptions, leading them to ask a different question: What if we could untether productivity from machine size? 

And in 2014, that question led them to found SwarmFarm Robotics, a company built to pioneer the development and use of intelligent robotics in agriculture through a process they called Integrated Autonomy.

This entirely new approach to autonomy on-farm provided more than another driverless tractor or a niche robotics solution. SwarmFarm Robotics puts the farmer’s needs first and created a technology ecosystem around them to help save time, resources, and energy while optimising for profitable and sustainable growth. 

 

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The lesson here isn’t just about a moment in politics or business. It’s about the profound impact that a well-framed question can have on our thinking and decision-making processes.

Ronald Reagan’s debate question didn’t just shift an election; it reshaped the way Americans evaluated their lives and their country’s direction. Similarly, Dietrich Mateschitz and Andrew and Jocie Bate transformed their industries by daring to ask unconventional questions that challenged the status quo. 

In our own lives, whatever part we play in the agricultural value chain, we must remember the power of the questions we ask. Are we merely trying to optimise within existing frameworks, or are we brave enough to ask questions that could redefine those frameworks entirely? Are we focused on “What is?” or are we daring to explore “What if?” 

The right question, posed at the right time, can cut through complexity, inspire innovation, and lead to transformative change. As we navigate an ever-evolving world, let us be mindful of the questions we ask. They might just hold the key to unlocking a future we never imagined possible. 

Dan Schultz is an agribusiness psychotherapist who works with agricultural companies to think differently about their business and their approach to it. Subscribe to Dan’s weekly newsletter, Ag Done Different, for insights and strategies to stay ahead in the agricultural industry.