Joel Salatin: 'What drives me is healing the planet'

By STEVE BROWN

Capital Press

PUYALLUP, Wash. -- When Joel Salatin speaks, people listen.

At his Polyface Farms in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, Salatin has developed, refined and put into practice agricultural practices that have spread across the map. Included are direct marketing, pastured poultry, a symbiotic grazing rotation and an overall approach that has come to be known as "beyond organic."

The 550-acre farm, which his parents started in 1961, is designed to counter the idea of "industrial" food production, using practices that address the unique needs of animals, earth and people. About 50 times a year, Salatin leaves the farm to spread the word of what he and his family are doing.

When he spoke at the June 4-5 Mother Earth News Fair in Puyallup, Salatin drew a standing-room-only crowd at the exhibition hall's main stage.
“He’s the only reason I came,” Katie Layton said. She got the day off from  farmers’ market duty so she could report back to her co-workers at Peace of the Earth Farm in Gig Harbor, Wash. “I’ve read his essays and browsed his books. He seems really charismatic.”
Jonathan Mattila echoed Layton’s words: “He’s the only reason I came.” Mattila, who raises hogs, beef and chickens at the Rather Be Farm near Amboy, Wash., said he has studied all of Salatin’s books and based his farm operation on them. “And he really encourages young people.”
Brandy Ernzen, brand manager at Ogden Publications, took it a step farther: “Some people consider Joel the Jesus of alternative agriculture.”

Salatin describes himself as a "Christian-libertarian-environmentalist-capitalist-lunatic-farmer." He has written seven books, and his farm is featured in Michael Pollan's book "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and in the documentary films "Food Inc." and "Fresh."

Before his speech to the mostly young crowd at the Puyallup Fairground, Salatin sat down for a conversation with the Capital Press. (Questions and responses have been condensed for space.)

Q What does "beyond organic" mean?

A Those of us using this term are using it to differentiate a pasture-based system from an organic system. In vegetables, there are lot of procedures that are not covered in organic standards. It's not a comprehensive term. Within organic, there are all sorts of techniques allowed, from herbicides to labor practices. Livestock standards are very weak on pasturage, on hygienic, sanitary production models.

You can see organic laying chicken houses with 35,000 birds in a house. Compare that to the pasture model, which may not be using organic-certified feed, but the production model produces an egg that is far superior to the minimalist organic.

"Beyond organic" creates another level of separation, recognizing how adulterated the term "organic certified" has become.

Q To address the risks of diseases, floods and droughts that often befall agriculture, you've talked about having a "forgiving" farm. What does that look like?

A It's a farm in which the immune system is building in the animal, instead of being torn down by industrial factory fecal particulates in the air. When it comes to water, we're going to be building ponds, trying to retain seasonal moisture for drought times. They're one of the great ways to ameliorate hydrologic events.

Q Is there a limit to how big a farm can get and still be sustainable?

A I've been on some terribly run small farms and some really well-run large farms. I don't think scale inherently is the issue, as long as it's being run in an ecologically, environmentally appropriate way, which means that the owners are going to have an attitude of agriculture and food being primarily a biological thing, not a mechanical thing.
Q Does the lack of objective, third-party certification concern your consumers?
A No, those of us who are using this term are running transparent operations, inviting people out to the farm to see for themselves. Plenty of organic operations have “No Trespassing” signs and don’t want anybody to come visit. It’s the transparency that creates the accountability, not some government bureaucrat.

Q Do you see hostile attitudes from big, conventional farmers toward smaller farmers?

A I don't know if there's hostility. Probably there's condescension. "They're not really players," you know -- but that's been part of the old big-versus-small thing for a long time. Pet the little puppy on the head. "You're cute, but you're not real. We drive big tractors, and we cover lots of ground."

This goes across American business. Too much of American business is hostile to competition. I believe we live in a time of abundance, not scarcity. I welcome the competition, and I think competition moves everybody forward. That's where innovation and cutting-edge, new stuff comes from.

Q A lot of conventional farmers pose the question: Who is going to feed the world?

A Small holders, on average, are far more productive per acre, per square yard than large operations that rely on monospeciation and large acreage. It's impressive to watch four combines going down through a bunch of wheat, but the actual production per acre is greater on a small holding, where there's more diversity, symbiosis and relational tweaking.

Underlying that question is "How can we feed the world with as few farmers as we have?" We can feed the world better with more small farmers.

As far as land is concerned, America has 35 million acres in lawns, 36 million acres devoted to the feeding and housing of recreational horses. That would be enough to feed every American without any farm or ranch. We just need to use our land more aggressively -- farming the edges, edible landscaping. There's no reason why we should be shipping water-heavy carrots and strawberries 1,500 miles. You can't afford to do that.

Q What is your hope?

A What drives me is healing the planet. There's a tremendous amount of hurt soil, hurt earthworms, hurt nutrition, hurt people -- emotionally, physically, spiritually. My ultimate goal is to create life and food prototypes that are healing, that ultimately heal mind, body and soul.
Intuitively, we all understand that the way the earthworms go, the way relationships go, those are more important than how much money we make, how many pounds we produce. It’s those intangibles that underpin everything else. We’d better figure out how to heal those intangibles. 

When I say healing, I'm talking about extending redemptive capacity into the earth. We have so cerebralized and theorized spirit. We’ve got plenty of people who can recite the Catechism but can’t answer the question, “How shall we then live?”