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The Hunter and the Farmer
By Jules | 13 July 2024 | 5 min. read
Once upon a time, in a faraway land, in a distant time, there lived two men.
One was a terrific hunter who could score any game he wanted. The other was a fantastic farmer who could nurture any crop into thriving, fruitful, and productive life.
For a while, these men lived ignorant of each others’ existences, focused on providing for themselves and their loved ones with their own respective skills. But they each faced a problem.
The hunter was exceptionally skilled at hunting, there was no denying it. He made a successful kill each day, and each night he and his family would eat. But, he never had time for anything else. He had to spend the whole day hunting in order to successfully obtain providence within the limited hours of daylight, and he never had enough time or energy left over to plan for the coming day, week, or month.
Neither he nor his family enjoyed any food security, knowing that the success of the day did not translate into fed mouths the next day, and this worried him greatly. What would happen if one day he got injured? Where would food come from if one day he found there were no more beasts to be hunted?
The farmer was, likewise, an expert at his work, with the greenest thumb anyone could imagine. But he, too, worried.
Months passed between each planting and harvest season, months during which he and his family had to find ways to survive. He knew he could count on plentiful crops to feed himself once harvest time came, but in the meantime, he struggled to find stray plants and beans that could satisfy his hunger as he patiently waited for the providence of yield. He had food security in the future; but how could he ensure that his current needs could be met?
Well, it came to pass that one day the hunter and the farmer met.
The hunter had left his camp to find a new hunting route, and he chanced upon the farmer in his fields, watering the ground. He watched in amazement before interrupting the farmer in bewilderment.
“Why are you throwing water into the soil so carefully?”
The farmer laughed, and then explained to him that he was watering seeds so that they might grow into big, healthy crops in the harvest season.
Then, the farmer asked the hunter, “Where are you going with the sharp pointy pole?”
The hunter smiled, explained to him what a spear was, and informed him of his upcoming hunt. He described to an astonished farmer how it was possible to hunt wild animals that could then be eaten for food the same day.
“The hunter was exceptionally skilled at hunting . . . [but] neither he nor his family enjoyed any food security. . . . The farmer was, likewise, an expert at his work . . . but how could he ensure that his current needs could be met?”
After this, the two men stood in silence for a minute, each contemplating the other. The hunter suddenly saw a solution to his food security problem, and the farmer to his current food scarcity problem.
Can you guess what happened next?
The farmer and hunter came to an agreement.
The farmer would provide the hunter a portion of his abundant harvest when harvest time came, and, in the meantime, the hunter would provide the farmer with a portion of his abundant hunt each day.
By working together, hunting and farming, the two men were able to help each other, their families, their communities, and ultimately their civilizations not simply survive, but thrive.
Hunting and farming do not replace each other; they reinforce each other.
And it’s the same in marketing.
You need both a hunting and farming approach to meet short and long-term needs.