Each of us has about 40 chances to accomplish our goals in life. I learned this first through agriculture, because all farmers can expect to have about 40 growing seasons, giving them just 40 chances to improve on every harvest.
Sometimes, the things we think are so simple but not so easy to grasp are the things that work the best.
My parents had a gardener when I was growing up, and he and I would dig in the dirt together - my mom and dad were definitely not digging with me! When I was 5, he helped me plant some corn in our backyard, and I remember how fascinating it was to watch it grow. Little did I know that 50 years later I'd be growing corn in a different way.
I've always loved being outdoors, getting my hands dirty.
You've got a global food problem. You've got a food problem in the United States. You've got a food problem in Africa... in Asia. And so the truth is, the U.S. is going to have to produce more, on not very many more acres, honestly. And so we're going to have to do a better job.
The whole concept behind 'Forty Chances' is really a mindset: If everybody thought they had to put themselves out of business in 40 years, you had 40 chances to succeed in what your primary goals are, you would probably be more urgent and you would be forced to change quicker.
You can't just stick with something that doesn't work.
We've learned that project by project, you can't change millions and millions of lives.
Crop insurance should be a policy that keeps people from going broke, to make sure they can farm next year, but not to make them rich.
My mom told me I never had enough Tonka toys when I was growing up.
People are hungry not because there aren't enough farmers or food, but because they don't have access to it or can't afford it.
Eliminating hunger in America is doable, because we have the resources to do it.
Let me tell you about a place where technology won't work. When you walk onto a farm and are standing on soil, there is no technology that is going to take that soil and transform it into something that is five times more productive.
Africa is the most weathered continent in the world; 75 percent of its soil has been degraded. You don't just bring that back. I always like to say it's like putting an oxygen mask on a cadaver; it just isn't going to work.
Immigration reform doesn't impact me personally; nothing my foundation works on does. But the truth is I have a long history of ties to Latin America. Some of my best friends are in Latin America.
A lot of crops depend on labor, but they're done by farmers that don't communicate with one another. They're never in the same room together.
I have spent more than a decade trying to improve the lives of some of the most vulnerable people on earth, and they've taught me countless lessons.
Approaching life through '40 Chances' gives reasons to hope and actions to take, and it offers fresh approaches that our world desperately needs.
