From the very beginning, we formed our company as an agriculture company and not as an energy company, even though some may see us merely as by-product water cleaners. We identified ourselves as ag because we knew that the end result of our efforts would be to serve the ag community by providing water for the land and animals. But the important ag component to the solution came from the fact that we think like a farmer and rancher.

Here’s what we mean.

The farmers and ranchers have to work hard and scrape by to earn a living. It’s a long tradition. Their great (x 5 or 6 times great) grandfathers were probably raising crops and animals just to feed their own families.

Now, many farms and ranches are massive and technology turns out to be better at predicting a good crop than grandpa’s arthritic knee. But, the good news is that the ag industry still carries that same mentality of how you conduct an ag business:

You don’t throw anything away.

Put it in economic terms, the process of production will always result in by-product items that can be monetized. If you raise a chicken, you’re primarily after the eggs or the dark and white meat. But secondarily, you can sell the beaks, the feet, the feathers, and even what the chicken drops all over your land. That’s because you have thin margins and you have to find a way to get every penny out of that chicken that you can.

So, if farmers or ranchers ran the oil companies, they would have NEVER thought about the water coming from the well as being something to ignore and pay millions of dollars to dispose of. Instead, a rancher would have inherently figured out that the wells are sitting next to ag land and then would have figured out a way to make it beneficial-use water.

But, the oil industry, even with its boom or bust mentality, is still a high margin business with plenty of cash. There is no oil executive (who make the decisions) sitting behind the tinted windows in their skyscraper who is watching the weekly reports to find out if he can buy groceries this week. He or she might be trying to manage their stock portfolio, but not their existence.

You see, you think of other option when you are desperate. Necessity being the mother of invention, as we know.

So, let’s combine our worlds. The oil industry needs to embrace a new, better (but not more expensive) way to deal with the billions of gallons of water that is simply thrown away each year. So, let’s change. Together, we can.

Meanwhile, we’re going to go have our chicken feet snack.