Joel Salatin and Alfie Oakes, America’s Food Kings

Originally posted July 14, 2022.

I have been a follower of Joel Salatin for nearly two decades and own all Joel’s indispensable books. I’ve often written about Salatin (see here and here) and his unique perspective of the food industry. He and Alfie Oakes, are America’s food kings. Everyone can learn something from their view of food and agriculture.

See how Joel Salatin had a hand in saving a farm that donates beef to the needy. Kris Sproles of Wright State University’s News Room writes (abridged):

Farmer Matthew Keener, a former Wright State music student, starts a nonprofit to donate beef to the needy.

When he returned to Ohio, Keener decided to take over the family farm and start a beef cattle herd. It was tough sledding at first.

“For a long time, we didn’t know if we were going to make it,” he said.

Then Keener discovered Polyface Farm, which is run by Joel Salatin and his family in rural Swoope, Virginia, and is known for using unconventional methods to emotionally, economically and environmentally enhance agriculture. The methods include direct marketing of meats and produce to consumers, pastured poultry, grass-fed beef and a rotation method that creates an ecological system.

After Keener saw a video about Polyface, he had an “epiphanal moment” and jumped on board the farm-to-table movement.

“That is going to save this farm,” he recalled thinking. “I knew that was exactly what it was going to take. So we started rotating cattle. We took row crops out. We stopped using the chemical fertilizers. We started composting.”

How Joe Salatin of Polyface Farms is handling inflation.

Originally posted June 30, 2021. 

At LewRockwell.com, Ginny Garner discusses a recent summit on healing that took place at Polyface Farms, home of Joel Salatin. Garner writes:

“Unorthodox thinking is always where the truth is”  – Joel Salatin

Polyface Farms in Virginia hosted a summit on June 18-19 on healing and living in the modern world disease-free with abundant energy, peace and joy. A capacity crowd of 300 individuals from all over the US gathered to hear speakers, network, take a farm tour, eat nutritious farm-grown food, and enjoy the sun, beautiful landscape and mountains. Visionary speakers in the areas of nutrition, health and agriculture shared suggestions on how to change diet, lifestyle and limiting beliefs to restore the natural regenerative and healing state of the body.

There’s nothing new under the sun, Ecclesiastics 1:9 tells us, and the speakers are integrating ancient wisdom – often suppressed, hidden or unknown – with cutting-edge research to provide a blueprint for healing.

Innovative Polyface Farm owner and farmer Joel Salatin is a pioneer in regenerative farming.

During his talk, he made the point that the farm is driven by a carbon economy. This set off an alarm of recognition:

No wonder the climate change/Great Reset global technocrats, regime media, politicians and multinational corporations want to demonize carbon.

They are trying to end self-sufficiency, which the family farm represents.

The world disrespects farmers, Salatin said. “We want to wrap air, soil and water in affirmation and gratitude.”

“Be careful about claims” about organic or natural foods, he warned, as those labels don’t mean much these days. For instance, 80% of food labelled as organic by the USDA is imported from the Stan countries and hydroponic food is considered organic.

Beef can be labeled “grass-fed” if the animals have eaten one blade of grass.

He doesn’t want his farm products in the supermarket.

“We need to build a community of people who can grow, build and fix things,” he said.

By Ginny Garner

Read more here.