Joel Salatin
Polyface Farm – Virginia, USA
Joel Salatin calls himself a “Christian Libertarian environmentalist capitalist lunatic farmer.” Others who like him call him the most famous farmer in the world, the High Priest of the Pasture, and the most eclectic thinker from Virginia since Thomas Jefferson.
Salatin draws on a lifetime of food, farming and fantasy to entertain and inspire audiences around the world. He’s as comfortable moving cows in a pasture as addressing CEOs in a Wall Street business conference. His wide-ranging topics include nitty-gritty how-to for profitable regenerative farming as well as cultural philosophy like orthodoxy vs. heresy. A wordsmith and master communicator, he moves audiences from laughs one minute to tears the next, from frustration to hopefulness.
Salatin is the editor of The Stockman Grass Farmer, granddaddy catalyst for the grass farming movement. He writes the “Confessions of a Steward” monthly column for Plain Values magazine, the “Homestead Abundance” column for Homestead Living magazine, and three columns a month for the e-magazine Manward. He also co-hosts a podcast titled BEYOND LABELS with co-author of that book Dr. Sina McCullough.
His speaking and writing reflect dirt-under-the-fingernails experience punctuated with mischievous humor. He passionately defends small farms, local food systems, and the right to opt out of the conventional food paradigm. Four generations of his family currently live and work on the farm.
“Get in your kitchens, buy unprocessed foods, turn off the TV, and prepare your own foods. This is liberating.“
Location: Swoop, Virginia, USA
Organization: Polyface Farm, which was featured in the New York Times bestseller Omnivore’s Dilemma and award-winning documentary Food Inc., the farm services more than 5,000 families, 50 restaurants, 10 retail outlets, and a farmers’ market with salad bar beef, pigaerator pork, pastured poultry, and forestry products.
Books: Salad Bar Beef, Pastured Poultry Profits, You Can Farm: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Start & Succeed in a Farming Enterprise, Family Friendly Farming: A Multigenerational Home-Based Business Testament , Holy Cows And Hog Heaven: The Food Buyer’s Guide To Farm Friendly Food, Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal: War Stories From the Local Food Front, The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer, Folks, This Ain’t Normal: A Farmer’s Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World, Fields of Farmers: Interning, Mentoring, Partnering, Germinating, The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs, Your Successful Farm Business: Production, Profit, Pleasure, Polyface Designs: A Comprehensive Construction Guide for Scalable Farming Infrastructure, Polyface Micro: Success with Livestock on a Homestead Scale
Websites:
1) www.thelunaticfarmer.com
2) https://www.polyfacefarms.com/
Video 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dp-5YAQ4VM
Video 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNRRGlvBTdk
