Efficiency isn’t good or bad – it’s just efficiency.
Culture ascribes value and privilege to certain words and phrases, and “efficiency” is currently enjoying that privilege. I will argue why that value needs to be stripped from the word. I’ll also show how efficiency can be a positive or a negative force in our industry and society.
The most efficient way to control a population is through socialism or corporatism. However, I believe there are strong arguments against both systems. Neither the intentions of the government nor those of any industrial complex (enforced by government) should run our lives.
Is there anything more efficient than the way bread is produced in the US? However, a curious and/or thoughtful person is aware of the harm this hyper-processed product does to our health. Optimal efficiency would require food companies to produce a nutritious, healthy product while remaining profitable and sustainable.
I had this epiphany while telling Kit about the beef industry in Romania. I explained how some larger seedstock herds bought back steers from their customers and maintained small feedlots, small abattoirs, butcher shops, restaurants, and storefronts all on the same campus. Kit remarked that it didn’t sound very efficient. That’s when I realized that efficiency can be either a vehicle for profitability or the antithesis of human flourishing.
A cow weaning 45–50% of its body weight at seven months of age represents optimum efficiency. Any more efficiency and she’ll struggle to breed back for lack of energy to sustain herself. Any less efficiency and she’s taking too much care of herself while not delivering a good enough product.
Maybe “optimal efficiency” is a concept we need to aspire to?
An extremely feed-efficient bull on a growth test in confinement will be leaner and later-maturing. His daughters will be inefficient in a forage-based system.
Optimal efficiency, in the context of the beef cattle industry, ensures that the cows are productive, the pastures are flourishing, and the banker is smiling!
Quote Worth Re-Quoting
“When you have to make a choice and don’t make it – that in itself is a choice.” ~ William James
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