{"id":942,"date":"2025-02-21T12:22:10","date_gmt":"2025-02-21T17:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/?p=942"},"modified":"2025-02-21T12:22:10","modified_gmt":"2025-02-21T17:22:10","slug":"lets-just-wait-and-see","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/2025\/02\/lets-just-wait-and-see\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cLet\u2019s Just Wait and See\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I hate waiting. Whether it is a line at the store or an anticipated event, waiting makes my teeth hurt. Patience is not my virtue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lately, there have been lots of changes happening in the world, in lots of areas, and they are happening fast. We have lots of unanswered questions; we don\u2019t know where things will end up. This is true in farming (think economics, policies) as well as every other sector.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The response I hear most often is \u201cLet\u2019s just wait and see.\u201d Arrgghhhh. Inaction feels awful. BUT rushing to action when we don\u2019t know how things may or may not change isn\u2019t wise. What to do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A different way<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This past week I\u2019ve been thinking about another way to approach this. It comes from the field of Future Studies. I know that sounds kinda weird, but future studies is a way to think about the future specifically during uncertain times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What if, instead of just waiting for the future to get here and then figure out how to react, we tried to imagine several different possible futures and think about how we might respond to each one? I\u2019m not talking about a huge big planning effort\u2014that kind of scenario planning is for business and communities. But what if each of us had at least some ideas for what we would do if A, B, C, or D happened?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Possible futures<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One way to imagine what A, B, C, or D are is through various categories of future that futurists have developed: A=Continuing on the same path, B= Downturn or collapse, C=New normal, and D=Transformation.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Questions I might think about could be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: If things continue on the same path we have been on, what do I, my family, my farm, need?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B: If things get really bad in farming, what are options for me, my family, my farm?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

C: If we need to readjust because of changes in farming\u2014new markets, new varieties, new value-added\u2014what do I need to do to be ready for that adjustment?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

D: If technology really transforms farming, what does that mean for me, my family, and my farm? What do I need to do to be ready for technology?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doing this as a mental exercise, by myself and with my spouse, is giving me some ideas for what I might do depending on how the world changes. I feel a little more prepared, even though I know I can\u2019t possibly imagine everything that\u2019s going to happen. Instead of waiting, then starting from scratch trying to figure things out, I will at least have some ideas to work from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hate waiting, but I don\u2019t mind preparing for possibilities. It keeps me from feeling helpless and frustrated. It keeps me believing that we can all keep thriving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019d like to read more about scenario planning, you can look here<\/a> or \u00a0here<\/a>. It\u2019s interesting reading<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I hate waiting. Whether it is a line at the store or an anticipated event, waiting makes my teeth hurt. Patience is not my virtue. Lately, there have been lots of changes happening in the world, in lots of areas, and they are happening fast. We have lots of unanswered questions; we don\u2019t know where […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":217,"featured_media":943,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=942"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":947,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942\/revisions\/947"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}