Urban Elites, Organic Farming & The Hypocrisy of No Skin-In-The-Game

Brian Stoffel
5 min readJun 14, 2017

The first two years I returned to America from the El Toledo coffee farm in Costa Rica, I was convinced that every farmer everywhere needed to adopt the practices El Toledo had. Armed with a job as a columnist and as a regular shopper at farmers’ markets, I wasted little time shaming anyone who used chemicals.

Then I became a dad. Putting food on the table took on new meaning. And almost overnight, I realized what an ignorant ass I was being. The problem: my opinion was completely free, and I had nothing to lose by voicing it. Those I was talking at had everything to lose.

Have things really changed that much? Perhaps not. Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Many of the ideas I’ll talk about here borrow heavily (exclusively?) from the work of best-selling author and trader Nassim Taleb. He would argue that the fact that I had no skin in the game — or exposure to positive and negative consequences as a result of my opinions — rendered my opinions moot.

In ancient times, societies realized the best way to align incentives was by forcing decision-makers to have their skin in the game. The bridge builder was forced to live underneath his bridge; the King would be on the front lines of any war.

Our world today is a far cry from that: bankers that almost brought down the financial system got golden parachutes, and can you imagine Donald Trump…

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Brian Stoffel

After 5 yrs as DC middle-school teacher, my wife & I moved to Costa Rica & discovered an inspiring farm. We split our time b/t there and the US w/ our two kids.