This Land Is Your Land

Joel Salatin wants to lead America back to the farm

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Matt Eich for TIME

This Land is Your Land Joel Salatin wants to lead America back to the farm

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Salatin proposes nothing less than an extreme decentralization of the food system--no fast-food joints, no Whole Foods shipping organic produce from half a continent away. You eat what you raise--or what's raised around you--and you count on the good name of your farmer, not the Department of Agriculture, to keep your food safe. "We hear about global this and that, and it makes us worried," says Salatin, who refuses to ship his products because he believes everyone should eat locally. "You have to look for anchor and root, and you can't find that 10,000 miles away from home."

Home for Salatin--and his 87-year-old mother, his wife Teresa, his adult children and his grandchildren--is Polyface, a three-hour drive west of Washington. On this 550-acre patch of Virginia horse country, Salatin raises thousands of chickens, cattle and hogs. His adult son Daniel helps direct young workers packing chickens, while Daniel's wife Sheri (who calls herself "the original Polyface chick") minds the register. Very much a family enterprise, Polyface is also Salatin's Monticello: the carefully crafted expression of his ideals. It's fueled by grass. His herd of cattle grazes in the pasture, bounded by mobile electrified fencing. When they've mowed down a patch of the field, they're moved along and replaced by chickens. The birds live in portable coops of Salatin's own invention, with wire mesh that can be dragged easily from place to place, following the changing pasture patterns.

The result is a farm built for independence. Nearly everything Salatin needs comes from his fields, and his mixed-use, pasture-based system keeps the land vibrant year after year, with little waste. "There's no energy bill, and we don't have to truck in manure," says Salatin. His way "doesn't dominate the landscape the way industrial agriculture does. This is ecological integrity right here."

Salatin believes freedom begins with food, with the security of knowing where your food comes from--preferably raising and preparing some of it yourself. But we're not doing that. There are about 2 million farms in the U.S., down from nearly 7 million in 1935. Less than 2% of Americans farm for a living. For many of us, our deepest connection to food is made via Top Chef. Sustainably produced Polyface chicken and beef are more expensive than conventional fare (its Thanksgiving turkeys will sell for $3.25 per pound; the national average price in 2010 was $1.10 per pound), but Salatin believes we get what we pay for. "We spend around 10% of income on food and some 16% on health care, and it used to be the reverse," he says. "Our culture has essentially abdicated our food relationship."

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