“Calm is contagious”--simple words from former Navy Seal Commander Rorke Denver.  These are valuable words of wisdom from someone who knows a tough situation in times of high stress and particularly important for current times and the foreseeable future.  Commander Denver talked about some simple but powerful strategies in his virtual address to this year’s American Farm Bureau convention. His message should resonate with farmers and ranchers. As a group of Americans that deal and even plan for natural disasters and hard times, keeping one’s head is one of the basic necessities of daily life.  When the rain comes relentlessly during spring planting farmers gear up and wait for the opportunity to get in that muddy field and plant those seeds sometimes only to have the rain quit for a time and their crop dry up. Ranchers work tirelessly through those frozen nights to care for their livestock during calving or lambing and sometimes the next summer Mother Nature holds off the moisture for the grass needed to grow those animals. As farmers and ranchers, we prepare our equipment and put-up extra hay for these times knowing they will come.  It’s hard not to get excited, but we know staying calm and keeping our heads will get us through. We can take this phrase and put it to work in the coming days, weeks and months.  Relax, take care of what is immediate and the things we can affect.  Don’t get excited about what is out of our control.  Do the basic things right and it will make the more complex things easier. If we can remain calm in these high-tension times everyone around us will be better off.  There is a difference between raising the level of tension in the room and letting your peers know your stance on a subject. This simple, straight forward tidbit is just one nugget of advice available for consumption from this year’s American Farm Bureau Virtual Convention. By Todd Fornstrom, Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation President