great article

[Guest guest]

I pasted 3 excerpts below as the article is rather long but well

worth the read!

 

http://motherjones.com/news/feature/2006/05/no_bar_code.html

 

I might never have found my way to Polyface Farm if Joel Salatin

hadn't refused to FedEx me one of his chickens.

 

I'd heard a lot about the quality of the meat raised on his " beyond

organic " farm, and was eager to sample some. Salatin and his family

raise a half-dozen different species (grass-fed beef, chickens, pigs,

turkeys, and rabbits) in an intricate rotation that has made his 550

hilly acres of pasture and woods in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley one

of the most productive and sustainable small farms in America. But

when I telephoned Joel to ask him to send me a broiler, he said he

couldn't do that. I figured he meant he wasn't set up for shipping,

so I offered to have an overnight delivery service come pick it up.

 

" No, I don't think you understand. I don't believe it's sustainable—

`organic,' if you will—to FedEx meat all around the country, " Joel

told me. " I'm afraid if you want to try one of our chickens, you're

going to have to drive down here to pick it up. "

 

This man was serious. He went on to explain that Polyface does not

ship long distance, does not sell to supermarkets, and does not

wholesale its food. All of the meat and eggs that Polyface produces

is eaten within a few dozen miles or, at the most, half a day's drive

of the farm—within the farm's " foodshed. " At first I assumed Joel's

motive for keeping his food chain so short was strictly environmental—

to save on the prodigious quantities of fossil fuel Americans burn

moving their food around the country and, increasingly today, the

world. (The typical fruit or vegetable on an American's plate travels

some 1,500 miles to get there, and is frequently better traveled and

more worldly than its eater.) But after taking Joel up on his offer

to drive down to Swoope, Virginia, to pick up a chicken, I picked up

a great deal more—about the renaissance of local food systems, and

the values they support, values that go far beyond the ones a food

buyer supports when he or she buys organic in the supermarket. It

turns out that Joel Salatin, and the local food movement he's become

an influential part of, is out to save a whole lot more than energy.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

I asked Joel how he answers the charge that because food like his is

more expensive, it is inherently elitist. " I don't accept the

premise, " he replied. " First off, those weren't any `elitists' you

met on the farm this morning. We sell to all kinds of people. Second,

whenever I hear people say clean food is expensive, I tell them it's

actually the cheapest food you can buy. That always gets their

attention. Then I explain that, with our food, all of the costs are

figured into the price. Society is not bearing the cost of water

pollution, of antibiotic resistance, of food-borne illnesses, of crop

subsidies, of subsidized oil and water—of all the hidden costs to the

environment and the taxpayer that make cheap food seem cheap. No

thinking person will tell you they don't care about all that. I tell

them the choice is simple: You can buy honestly priced food or you

can buy irresponsibly priced food. "

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

" We don't have to beat them, " Joel patiently explained. " I'm not even

sure we should try. We don't need a law against McDonald's or a law

against slaughterhouse abuse—we ask for too much salvation by

legislation. All we need to do is empower individuals with the right

philosophy and the right information to opt out en masse.

 

" And make no mistake: it's happening. The mainstream is splitting

into smaller and smaller groups of like-minded people. It's a little

like Luther nailing his 95 theses up at Wittenberg. Back then it was

the printing press that allowed the Protestants to break off and form

their own communities; now it's the Internet, splintering us into

tribes that want to go their own way. "

 

 

 

 

This article is an excerpt from Michael Pollan's new book, The

Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals.