A steep decline of men in the workforce, fewer married couples with children and less churchgoing.

These societal trends may not seem like obvious topics for a keynote dinner speech at one of the biggest U.S. agriculture events of the year, but ag policy veteran and North Carolinian Ray Starling says that’s exactly the point.

“Culture isn't really what we end up debating. It's what we bring to the debate that's already settled in our minds. It's the old story of one fish swimming by another and saying, how's the water? And the other fish saying, what's water?” Starling, general counsel of the NC Chamber, said in remarks Thursday evening at the USDA’s Agricultural Outlook Forum.

In a lively talk full of humor as well as complex issues such as rising drug use among U.S. males and what happens when eating alone becomes commonplace, Starling said his goal wasn’t to pass judgment but rather get a changing ag industry to mull the bigger picture.

“I'm asking you to pause this evening and ask yourself: How is the agricultural water that we are swimming in?” said Starling, who previously served as chief of staff to former Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and principal agriculture adviser to President Donald Trump. “What might we take note of that helps us understand where this industry could be going in the short term and then certainly in the long term?”

For example, fewer men in the overall workforce and more women recognized as leaders in the ag industry brings up questions like: Does farm equipment need to be made differently? Could succession planning start to change? Do women borrow money differently than men?

“As I actually heard a speaker say this afternoon in a session that I attended, when culture changes what we eat changes, how we regulate changes, who farms changes, what we subsidize changes, what we honor changes,” Starling said to the crowd gathered in Arlington, Virginia. 

Another issue is a decline in people connected to churches, a trend potentially impacting an ag industry that has a history of many American farmers viewing their careers and faith in tandem, Starling said.

“Many farmers may still live out those virtues, but perhaps without that shared story that dignifies it, without that rootedness in religion,” he said.

Further, the threat of fewer churches dotting the rural landscape could be devastating to the social infrastructure of small farm towns, Starling noted.

“The greatest long-term risk to imagine for agriculture is not our yields. It's not even regulation,” Starling said. “It is losing that true north center agreement on what we believe this industry is actually for.”