b'To the way of thinking that values selling over holding, there is nothing more realistic than doing the numbers. To this way of thinking, markets are realer than places. Corporations are realer than towns. Factories are realer than farms. Profitability is realer than fertility. Making a killing is realer than making a living. Economic growth is realer than pretty much everything else.For the better part of a decade, I started most of my public talks with this pig. Willis Farm, Thornton, IowaStare this free-range, Niman Ranch pig in the face and reflect on how investing affects all living things. 1313 Niman Ranch pork, beef and lamb has been for decades a standard setter in terms of humane, sustainable husbandry.THINK: a thousand hogs outside on 100 acres of pasture vs. thousands of hogs confined in a quarter-acre-sized barn. The company started in 1970 as an 11-acre farm north of San Francisco and has grown to some 750 farms in a dozen states. Paul Willis, the owner of Willis Farm in Thornton, Iowa, is Niman Ranchs founding hog farmer.21'