Thursday, May 27, 2010

Prosper thy neighbour

There once was a farmer who grew award winning corn.

Each year he entered his corn in the state fair where it won a blue ribbon.

One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something
interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer
shared his seed corn with his neighbors.

"How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when
they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?" the reporter
asked.

"Why sir," said the farmer, "didn't you know? The wind picks up pollen from
the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow
inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my
corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn."

Cheers!

No comments:

Post a Comment