"If we are not even free anymore to decide something as basic as what we wish to eat or drink, how much freedom do we really have left?" ~ Ron Paul

"True competition in the delivery of medical care is what is needed, not more government meddling." ~ Ron Paul

"Subservient societies neither maintain nor deserve freedom for long." ~ Ron Paul

"There's a risk I could win." ~ Ron Paul

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Joel Salatin, founder of Polyface Farms (located in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley), is nationally recognized as one of the most influential local and naturally sustainable farmers in America. Salatin was featured in the films Food, Inc. and Farmageddon, which expose the corporate-government relationship in the field of agriculture. Salatin is also the author of eight books, including “Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal.”

Joel Salatin has endorsed Ron Paul for president twice, once in 2008 and again in 2012. This is what Salatin said of Paul in 2008:

I don’t think I’ve ever felt as comfortable with a Presidential candidate as I do this year with Ron Paul. Generally the conservatives worship Wall Street, the military industrial complex, and American empire building around the world. The liberals worship government agencies, government solutions, and never saw a tax they didn’t like or a baby worth saving. So where does a guy turn who wants small government, no subsidies, pro-life, no corporate welfare, and a hoe-your-own-garden military? Finally we have a candidate: Ron Paul.

The reason the mainstream can’t handle him is because he doesn’t fit the stereotypes. And therein lies his strength. As a Christian libertarian environmentalist capitalist, Ron Paul embodies the reasonable approach to thorny issues. He would rein in the globalists by unleashing grass roots entrepreneurs. That’s true free marketing, not pseudo free marketing via corporate welfarism and criminalizing small business. He thinks we should be able to choose what to eat and how to educate rather than big brother government being the only credible approval source.

Rather than squandering the nation’s treasury and goodwill to insure cheap oil, he would unfetter backyard tinkerers whose 100-mile-per-gallon carburetors and cottage-sized alternative fuel prototypes could make the U.S. energy independent. He understands that the real answers do not come from the top down, but always come from the bottom up. And that is why he often casts the solitary opposition vote in Congress. Bless him.

Salatin maintained nothing but praise when he endorsed Paul in the 2012 presidential election:

I’ve been a fan of Ron Paul for years, since the first day I learned about his positions.  He’s the only one with enough backbone to take on the entrenched corporate-government fraternity by attacking with the power of freedom, thereby unleashing entrepreneurial dreams on the marketplace.  Currently cowering under the withering fire of guns, badges, and bureaucracy, America’s home-based and back-yard innovators have plenty of antidotes to the problems that plague our culture.

Paul understands the power of bottom-up creativity.  Reducing the military, both foreign and domestic, reducing regulatory power, and reducing the penetration of prejudicial government interests in the culture is the balanced approach to restore constitutional normalcy.  Paul is the only national figure willing to go to the mat for these precious principles that will ensure tomorrow’s opportunities.

Joel Salatin is a pioneer in the growing local, sustainable, and natural food movement. His endorsement of Ron Paul is an endorsement of the principles of freedom and liberty, which Paul has strongly stood for since getting elected to Congress in 1976.

Joel Salatin photo made by Parkle Lee. 

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I had never heard the term “locavore” before coming to Berea College in 2010. I have been interested in localism and sustainability for quite some time, but I didn’t realize the local food movement had established its own descriptive term. The locavore movement presents an opportunity for people to reexamine how they live their lives; are people comfortable buying food from halfway around the country or the world? Do people place value on the security of knowing who grows their food? Locavorism’s relatively small-scale success so far has come by appealing to people’s ecological values, and presenting what looks like a viable alternative to highly industrial food systems that make up the majority of food production today. The locavore movement has a good deal of substance, but the movement’s lasting potential is threatened with narrow and rigid goals.

Personally, I find “locavore” to be a limiting term. From my experience growing up in Nevada City, California, many people are interested in localizing their lives far beyond the food they eat. In lieu of the volatility and inconsistency of the U.S. economy, people are attempting to regain control over their finances and banks by joining institutions such as credit unions, which promise more local control and input compared to national corporate banks. It is possible that my perspective is slightly biased having grown up in an area with very independent individuals who seem to constantly investigate new possibilities of engaging in transactions with others. However, it is apparent that more businesses and institutions are succeeding based on their commitment to local ownership and transactions. Daniel F. Agan Jr., President of the Massachusetts Credit Union League, recently explained, “Credit union growth is being fueled by their commitment to the local community.” [i]

Despite the passion and claims of some, I do not believe the locavore or local movement in general will expand primarily because of environmental concerns. People’s environmental concern will play a role in it, but I have my doubts that environmentalism alone will lead to a sustainable route of localism. People have different ideas of what constitutes environmental sustainability and how to achieve those goals. Very few would state that the heart of the environmental movement comes down to the food that we choose to eat. Locavorism can play a major part in environmental awareness and concern, but environmental issues stretch beyond whether we buy our food from the farmer down the street or from farmers in South America. In other words, you are likely some form of an environmentalist if you are a locavore, but you do not have to be a locavore to be an environmentalist. Locavores will limit the potential of local food expansion if they publicize the movement largely on environmental grounds, because there are numerous other environmental movements competing for attention and support from the very same crowd.

Economic influences and preferences drive individual decisions more than anything else. People vote with their dollars and naturally support businesses and systems they value over other current options. For example, just because Wal-Mart offers the cheapest produce doesn’t mean that people won’t support a local farmer for a few extra dollars; if it is fresh, locally grown produce people value, they are probably willing to dish out some extra cash if necessary. Every action comes down to the personal value people place on something. This is what the movement of locavorism must publicize if they want to send a sustainable and lasting message to people. Preserving the environment is great, but if locavores can show people that they can preserve the environment and maybe save a few bucks by supporting local agriculture, the movement will have a much higher likelihood of sticking around for the long haul. If you don’t appeal to the economic interests of people, your movement will have a very difficult time sticking.

Through continuing economic difficulties, the desire for self-sufficiency will be the primary driving force behind increased local focus. This local focus won’t be based solely upon environmental or ethical values; it will simply be the practical and efficient thing to do. If the economy is seriously in the doldrums, it is sensible to buy food from a local farmer rather than rely on the global food market. The global food market faces many risks and variables in a healthy economy, but those risks are amplified in times of economic and environmental hardship. With a rapidly expanding national debt, steady monetary devaluation, and increased bureaucracy and centralization, I personally am not optimistic about the future of the U.S. economy and believe serious economic pain is ahead. People are forced to become creative and solve problems in new ways during an economic pinch, and this turning point will magnify the opportunities and benefits of localism.

A shift to localism will not happen overnight. It will slowly expand as people and communities tinker with different ideas (such as grocery store co-ops, credit unions, or local agriculture) and find alternative ways to efficiently provide needed services on a local level. People will recognize the importance of control and flexibility in food that comes on a local scale. Today, people are increasingly vulnerable to weather conditions on large-scale farms; freezes in Mexico this winter “damaged such crops as tomatoes, cucumbers and bell peppers, leading to shortages and price increases.”[ii] Within the spiritual cooperative community, Ananda, in which I spent my life growing up, community members are constantly starting small projects sparked with individual creativity and interest (such as raising goats, chickens, or bees). Localism and community lifestyle will find a place in “mainstream” thought as people begin to directly experience the benefits of engaging in certain operations, businesses, and projects on a local level.

Locavorism is a subset, not the cause of, localism. So long as locavores bundle the larger goal of localism within their movement, it will be a movement that can last for generations. Harsh economic times will push people to explore local alternatives and possibilities, particularly in areas such as finance and agriculture (two key components of a successful and flexible local economy). Locavorism will expand both indirectly and directly due to this exploration of localism; some will purposefully change their diet to eat a majority of local food, others will simply start eating homegrown food as local agriculture systems become more common and successful. Shaky economic conditions on a national (or even international) scale will prove to be the greatest jumpstart to the localism movement.

[ii] “Freezing weather knocks ‘T’ out of BLTs.” Karp, Gregory. Chicago Breaking Business. 15 Feb. 2011.
http://chicagobreakingbusiness.com/2011/02/freezing-weather-knocks-t-out-of-blts.html

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“A farm includes the passion of the farmer’s heart, the interest of the farm’s customers, the biological activity in the soil, the pleasantness of the air about the farm – it’s everything touching, emanating from, and supplying that piece of landscape. A farm is virtually a living organism.” – Joel Salatin

The deepest experience and impression of nature only arises on an individual level. There are many different stages of awakening awareness in nature, the most basic being the food we eat on a daily basis. Consider the packaged, wrapped, dehydrated, heavily processed food people commonly purchase. From the very beginning, people eating a majority of food of this sort are likely to be detached from nature, not to mention unhealthy. Modern industrial farms have concentrated themselves into a centralized business model relying on packing animals into small cages, spraying fields and crops with chemical pesticides, all of which is propped up through bureaucratic regulations that destroy local farms. My belief is that the nature experience, on a most basic and individual level, begins with local farms. People will have a much greater respect and understanding of nature when they regularly eat and observe whole, natural foods that come from a local source.

“Part of our responsibility as stewards of the earth is to respect the design of creation… That’s something you can devote your life for.” – Joel Salatin

Operating the Polyface Farm on 550 acres of land in the Shenandoah Valley, Joel Salatin is defying just about everyone when it comes to producing organic food. Salatin describes himself as a “Christian-libertarian-environmentalist-capitalist farmer,” and has focused his career on sustainable, environmentally-friendly, animal-friendly organic farming. One of the many unique aspects of Salatin’s approach is that he only sells food to individuals, restaurants, and other outlets within a four-hour-drive radius of his farm, in an effort to encourage people to purchase their food from local farms in their area.

“We think there is strength in decentralization and spreading out rather than in being concentrated and centralized.” – Joel Salatin

Salatin’s “secret” is feeding livestock a rich and diverse mixture of grass, which is supported with no pesticides or chemicals whatsoever. The cattle freely roam among the fields, restrained only by a portable electrified fence that can be easily moved in less than an hour with one or two people. The farm’s chickens are housed in portable coops that are transported with tractors. Salatin maintains a rotation of sorts by first letting cattle graze a portion of the field, and then letting the chickens roam that same area the following day. This simple process provides an easily maintained and renewable source of daily fresh grass for the cattle, gives the animals freedom to move around without much restraint, and it leads to incredibly tasty meat and eggs.

“I appreciate the fact that you obviously love life and the living.” – Polyface Farm customer

“You, as a food buyer, have the distinct privilege of proactively participating in shaping the world your children will inherit.” – Joel Salatin

This is a breath of fresh air compared to the industrial meat facilities today. In these facilities cattle are heavily restrained, the farmers hardly interact with the animals, and a huge portion of the cattle is fed corn (which is often grown with questionable techniques using pesticides and GMOs). Salatin has a tremendous respect of and connection with his animals; a connection that cannot come through the detached and horrific slaughtering processes in industrial meat facilities today. Clearly there is an importance in the environment animals are raised in and its impact on the taste and vibration of the food. Salatin sees and treats animals as free creatures, not soulless drones waiting to be eaten.

“I am a caretaker of creation. I don’t own it, and what I’m supposed to do is leave it in better shape for the next generation than I found it.” – Joel Salatin

The greatest gift Joel Salatin is giving to the world, however, is not his food. He is showing people that there is an alternative. What kind of impact would Salatin have if he simply held signs and protested to a corporate or government building? What effect would he have if he simply lobbied government to mandate his farming beliefs? Probably none at all, and no one would remember him for it. Salatin is taking action. He is not waiting around for someone else to implement his vision; he is taking initiative and proving that low-tech, sustainable, organic, animal and environmentally-friendly farming is not a lost cause. He is a living example that it is actually a tremendous success.

“I see myself today as Sitting Bull trying to bring a voice of Easternism, holism, community-based thinking to a very Western culture. If we fail to appreciate the soul that Easternism gives us, then what we have is a disconnected, Greco-Roman, Western, egocentric, compartmentalized, reductionist, fragmented, linear thought process that counts on cleverness. Now, how’s that for a mouthful?” – Joel Salatin

Joel Salatin’s relentless pursuit of self-sufficiency has given us a remarkable example of how to happily and prosperously live in tune with the environment. All the buildings on his farm are constructed with lumber from the forest resting on his land. His animals are fed natural grass. The land is irrigated by its own ponds. He prospers through a local customer base who jump at the opportunity to support such a venture. Salatin’s achievements are laying the groundwork for the future of localism: respecting and appreciating the beauty and freedom of nature, working sustainably with animals on a very personal level, supporting both inner happiness and the local community, all through operating a profitable business. With individual initiative and creativity, nothing is impossible. Such is the story of Joel Salatin.

“How much evil throughout history could have been avoided had people exercised their moral acuity with convictional courage and said to the powers that be, ‘No, I will not. This is wrong, and I don’t care if you fire me, shoot me, pass me over for promotion, or call my mother, I will not participate in this unsavory activity.’ Wouldn’t world history be rewritten if just a few people had actually acted like individual free agents rather than mindless lemmings?” – Joel Salatin

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