Good...in theory

I would like to nominate a word, preemptively, for the word of the year in 2025: Efficiency.

I would like to nominate Efficiency preemptively, not only because that is the efficient thing to do (why put off ’til tomorrow that which…), but because between now and then we need to actually have a conversation about the word itself. Because when the word comes to the podium to accept the gold statue, we need to know more precisely who we have voting for.

Oh Efficiency! How I would love to know exactly what the frack you mean, what are your aims, and above all else…who’s side you are on.

Who’s side are you on, anyway?

As I turn this word over in my head and how we apply it to the world, ie ourselves, I start to realize that it is a concept that for most of us is decoupled from whatever we aim and fire it at. And that’s a problem. We would like Efficiency (or things done in it’s name) to serve us beyond an acceptable definition. We use it to justify our own actions when no other justification holds. Like Capitalism itself, we have taken Efficiency and placed it on a rung between our daily lived experiences and the gods themselves. And like the gods themselves…it is as a disembodied concept that Efficiency lives. It’s in imagine land, right at Zeus’s feet and have lost control of it.

I don’t claim to speak for the gods, but I imagine that they are probably pretty pissed that it’s even up there. Nothing ruins a good time like Efficiency.

But that’s where we put it. So, Efficiency runs us from on high.

I want to be clear here, I am not anti-Efficiency. I think about it more than I care to admit. But if we don’t bring it back down to earth and discuss whether it needs a bridle and some blinders, we won’t get home safely.

On a farm such as this, there is a conflict. The place has to stay in business and produce what it sets out to produce. If we are to produce what we aim to produce, then Efficiency will play a roll right up to where the outcome is threatened. Because efficiency is not a goal. It’s a tool.

Have you even banged on a thing with a hammer to try to get it to work again and then, broken that thing? I have.  

When we are out in the field, I try to move efficiently (which includes but is not defined by speed, mind you). I try to get others to do the same. Reduced motion, swift but delicate, these are trained skills. This efficiency fits. It doesn’t affect the end product, the produce, in a negative way. In fact, it can improve it if it means we are getting that produce into the shed, washed and into the cooler quickly.

But, if I wanted to take “efficiency” a step further, when we are done harvesting a bed of produce, we should just turn it under and replant it right away. That would reduce the amount of land that we are using, the amount of time spent on field prep, and the amount of planning. Super efficient! But it runs contrary to the goal. This would work for a year or two, to the point where the soil would begin to get depleted and overworked. Perhaps some pests would settle in and make life harder for the quality of our crop. Now we’d have a dilemma. Do we bring a product of less quality (when quality is our goal) to the markets or do we treat the crop with something to kill the pests (when zero treatment is what we swear by)? And what happens in both scenarios when the flavor of the crop is lessened, and our customers notice that our produce isn’t as good as it used to be?

That is where Efficiency at Zeus’s feet bring’s us. To a place where it rules, and the outcome is performative. It serves itself and our ability to have a positive experience in it’s shadow is left even more to chance and denial of reality.

So…I remember when I was introduced to reading fiction, I was told that it was essential when starting a book to suspend disbelief. It was a bridge that one maintains with the author to give them a chance to lead you to an enriching experience. But, I am not Anne of Green Gables and you are not Winston Smith. Despite this, in the modern age we are asked to do the same thing for our direct lived experience, so that we can have an enriched experience. We think we do it for us, when in fact, quite often it’s for the sake of unbridled Efficiency (or things done in it’s name).

When it comes to food itself, I think one can tell when the farm that provided the ingredients let Efficiency run the show. Other factors can play a role, certainly. But one can suspect that is the case when, to enjoy the food, one has to lend their own imagination to bridge the gap. How many of us have had experiences, that are good in theory, but required a decent amount of suspension of disbelief to get us where we want to go with it, thus pushing ourselves further into a fiction. No shame in that, we just want a good life. But, can one discern when one does so and when that is done so that Efficiency is not implicated?

This question doesn’t end with food, but it’s a good place to start.

Anyway!! Best of luck to my nominee Efficiency! You are running the show baby!!  There is much more of 2025 before it comes to a close, so I’m sure there will be other contenders. But, if we get there despite everything, I think Efficiency has a sporting chance.