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Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Freedom farmer named Person of the Year
Charlottesville, Virginia's largest independent paper, The Hook, has named Joel Salatin Person of the Year.
Described by New York Times Magazine as the “high priest of the pasture,” the Christian libertarian Salatin is a fierce critic of government interference in the movement toward local, natural food production.
“Why is local food so expensive?” says Salatin. “Because we have suffocating regulations.”
Salatin colourfully refers to local Health Department inspectors as “food Nazis.”
The Western Standard has covered Salatin’s crusade for government-free food is a story entitled “Freedom Farmer.” You can read that story here.
Posted by Matthew Johnston
Posted by westernstandard on December 23, 2009 | Permalink
Comments
Of course this is based on the presumption that all farmers are honest and would take care to only sell products that would not be contaminated with you name it. I'm not sure I would be comfortable eating food that had no oversight unless I knew the source. I do agree that egg,cheeze, milk marketing boards are a detriment to lower prices. I also agree that local food is over regulated, but when about 80% of our population lives in cities, the vast majority would be exempt from ever knowing the local producer.
Posted by: peterj | 2009-12-23 5:07:58 PM
Charlottesville, Virginia's largest independent paper, The Hook, has named Joel Salatin Person of the Year.
Posted by Matthew Johnston
There must be some mistake. Only Marc Emery is allowed to be Person of the Year.
Posted by: The Stig | 2009-12-23 5:28:23 PM
Mr. Salatin has been fighting for individual freedom linked to responsibility and accountability for many years. Those who prefer to purchase their food from government regulated sources, like peterj, are free to do so at their own risk. Mr. Salatin has never sought to impose his way on everyone. What his battle has been about is the right to provide local people with the products they want. These people are familiar with his farm and his operation and want the freedom to choose the food they purchase.
Posted by: Alain | 2009-12-23 6:18:44 PM
Posted by: Alain | 2009-12-23 6:18:44 PM
Somehow I thought I was saying the same thing you posted.
Posted by: peterj | 2009-12-23 6:25:57 PM
peterj, I think you were and I am sorry for having missed it. Sorry.
Posted by: Alain | 2009-12-23 6:38:03 PM
i've been following Salatin for quite a while, and agree with his "polyface" concept of sustainable farming and food localism. it works.
and the best thing about it is that he's neither a leftist back-to-the-lander hippie nor a red state republican welfare subsidy farmer.
as for regulations, i am a localist, and check my sources. its not up to taxpayers to pay for my lack of diligence.
Posted by: shel | 2009-12-23 7:12:32 PM
Being a libertarian doesn't mean being anti-government too many libertarians just rule out all government anything without thinking about the why.
Frankly the reason we have strict food inspection for food products isn't because some people are evil and might sell bad tasting corn at full price but because a lot of people make mistakes and sometimes those mistakes kill people. No part of the casual buy sell arrangement includes a part about "this chicken might kill you but you have no way of telling".
I'm opposed to forcing farmers into pools, and I'm also opposed to price fixing so how do you propose you solve it? Price fixing is bad mmkay, that's why diamonds and oil cost so friggen much. Without ANY regulation it WILL happen, it DOES happen.
Not to mention the whole national security issue with not having diverse food crops. Canada is pretty good for this right now tough.
Posted by: Pete | 2009-12-23 10:08:08 PM
"Only Marc Emery is allowed to be Person of the Year."
Posted by: The Stig | 2009-12-23 5:28:23 PM
Hear Hear!
Posted by: Boris Dlugosch | 2009-12-23 10:37:15 PM
is what we are being forced to buy truly qualify as inspected and deemed safe food/
Unless you buy organic vegatables the vegatables you eat are genetically altered.
genetically altered food grows fast, has different fiberous texture and trhicker skin in order to insure they make it to market. vegatables that are grown fast lack nutrients needed to sustain life, never mind flavor. when is the last time you were made aware that the farmers economic interests were considered first and your health not even on the chart? Is this adequate food inspection and grading of ALL plant based edible human consumables?
Does the egg board tell you that every egg you eat is from a cancerous chicken or at the very least a chicken that has lukemia? When you force a chicken to grow in a third of the time it normally takes does mutation and disease surprise anybody? where is the government protectionism in this case, certainly not on egg cartons. The chicken and egg industry is one of the most dangerous of jobs to humans due to dying from vile bird bacteria.
Milk is blood, puss and steroids, and through a court case launched against American Milk the phrase "Milk does a body good" could not be proven to be true and subsequently this damaging lie had to be discontinued becaause of court order.
So in closing in no way shape or form do we have strict inspection or standards on food, it is quite the contrary if you do a little research.
what appears to be standards are just there to fool people like most of you who wrote here.
Posted by: Almond Choclate Milk | 2009-12-23 11:30:32 PM
I also like Joel Salatin.
I hate it when the government medicates my food and water.
Fluoride in water ----> fluoridosis
Chlorine in water ----> bladder cancers
Vitamin A added to milk -----> prostate cancers
Synthetic folic acid to milk -----> more cancers
To name just a few.
To say nothing of all the growth hormones, antibiotics and other crap that is fed, injected or IV'ed into chickens, swine and poultry.
Now I see the government thinks its a good idea to put a chemotherapy drug in junk food to prevent us from getting cancer from all the other crap that they have either legislated or allowed to be in food.
This is absolute madness! They are completely mad!
As long as we have a free market where people can buy their organic food farmer direct, we will be OK.
Give people the choice to eat chemical food and crap or healthy food from farmers directly and I don't care what big pharma lobby does or what some naive busybody social-engineering bureaucrat does to get another food regulation passed.
Posted by: snowgirl | 2009-12-24 2:27:27 PM
Snowgirl, while that sounds noble about give the people the choice to eat, unfortunately it doesn't really exist.
Problem is consumerism. Has to look presentable. No one will buy shriveled up tomatoes or such.
We used to buy green groceries, from an organic shop, but the produce looked sick and tasted the same as the store stuff, but double the price.
Just learn to avoid certain items, like grown in Mexico tomatoes and such. Big difference in taste and texture than the hot house BC types.
Posted by: john brooks | 2009-12-24 3:55:28 PM
"Without ANY regulation it WILL happen, it DOES happen"
Posted by: Pete | 2009-12-23 10:08:08 PM
With regulation it WILL happen, and DOES happen.
Posted by: TM | 2009-12-26 7:34:54 PM
I live on a farm and produce all my own chickens,eggs, and vegetables, and trade with my neighbors for beef, pork, and milk. Let the government try and stop me. My chickens eat a variety of food, including all our table scraps, and you can sure tell the difference from store bought eggs. The pale yellow yolk in store eggs, along with the runny whites, look nothing like the deep orangey-yellow yolks, and more consistant whites on my free range chicken eggs.
Posted by: DrGreenthumb | 2009-12-28 11:47:57 AM
Salatin is good at getting media attention, and it's true that corporate farming is bad for people, animals and the earth, but Libertarianism is all about doing anything you want anytime and nobody can step in to stop you, and Salatin's operation includes killing, so I don't buy it. He's one of those guys who believes in a Father God in the sky, a God who kills his own son, floods the world and otherwise sanctions death. Watch out who you heroify!
Posted by: Saul | 2009-12-28 3:46:01 PM
Saul, your belief that "Libertarianism is all about doing anything you want anytime and nobody can step in to stop you" is not correct. Do some homework.
You should be free to believe that state run farming is better. And I shoud be free to believe otherwise. You should be free to believe eating organic is better for me and I should be free to disagree, or not care.
You would use force to make me abide by your dogma. A Libertarian would not.
Posted by: TM | 2009-12-28 4:03:26 PM
"[...Libertarianism is all about doing anything you want anytime and nobody can step in to stop you...]"
~Saul, who taught you this? the foundation of libertarianism rests on two principles: property rights, free speech and gun rights; and protection from violence, coercion and fraud.
where does what you say fit in with this?
Posted by: shel | 2009-12-28 4:51:46 PM
Shel, you might reduce this further to say simply that the foundation for all rights and freedoms is property rights.
Posted by: TM | 2009-12-28 11:08:37 PM
~TM
yup. he needs a basic 101, though.
Posted by: shel | 2009-12-29 11:00:23 AM
shel, agreed.
Posted by: TM | 2009-12-29 11:38:32 AM
Harper supporters claiming to have libertarian ideals make me laugh.
Posted by: DrGreenthumb | 2009-12-29 11:39:47 AM
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