"a set of community rules for Christian living and the principle of worldly separation". Former members are shunned and are not to be spoken to. Society Hutterite communes, called "colonies", are all rural; many depend largely on farming or ranching, depending on their locale, for their income. Colonies in the modern era have been shifting to manufacturing as it gets more difficult to make a living on farming alone. The colony is virtually self-sufficient as far as labor, constructing its own buildings, doing its own maintenance and repair on equipment, making its own clothes, etc., is concerned. This has changed in recent years and colonies have started to depend a little more on outside sources for food, clothing and other goods. Hutterite agriculture today is specialized and more or less industrialized. Hutterite children therefore have no close contact with farm animals any longer and are not protected from asthma through close contact with farm animals, like Amish children are, but are now similar to the general North American population. Governance and leadership Hutterite colonies are mostly patriarchal with women participating in roles such as cooking, medical decisions, and selection and purchase of fabric for clothing. Each colony has three high-level leaders. The two top-level leaders are the Minister and the Secretary. A third leader is the Assistant Minister. The Minister also holds the position as president in matters related to the incorporation of the legal business entity associated with each colony. The Secretary is widely referred to as the colony "Manager", "Boss" or "Business Boss" and is responsible for the business operations of the colony, such as bookkeeping, check-writing and budget organization. The Assistant Minister helps with church leadership (preaching) responsibilities, but will often also be the "German Teacher" for the school-aged children. The Secretary's wife sometimes holds the title of Schneider (from German "tailor") and thus she is in charge of clothes' making and purchasing the colony's fabric requirements for the making of all clothing. The term "boss" is used widely in colony language. Aside from the Secretary, who functions as the business boss, there are a number of other significant "boss" positions in most colonies. The most significant in the average colony is the "Farm Boss". This person is responsible for all aspects of overseeing grain farming operations. This includes crop management, agronomy, crop insurance planning and assigning staff to various farming operations. Beyond these top-level leadership positions