Chapter 19 discusses Avian Influenza and chapter 20 talks about bioterrorism. They are closely related because they both work to taint our food and the USDA without fail will always try to claim that small family farmers are the ones propagating diseased food and/or are the ones most likely to be the source of a bioterrorism outbreak with their unsecured facilities.
Several years ago there was big scare about local chickens having the bird flu and Salatin shares some stories and theories. He even shares a widely held theory that the chicken industry “planted” the bird flu and accidentally let it get out of control. I buy that theory 100%. In fact I have a similar theory about almond growers and a salmonella outbreak. It was conventional almonds and not raw ones that were the source but somehow…miraculously raw almonds were the ones that got banned. Funny how things just work out like that for big agricorp? They get to stick it to their competitors when they should have been grabbing their ankles.
Even when it is the large, industrial chicken farmers that are spreading disease it is the small family farmer that takes the heat. The USDA certainly won’t tell you Tyson did this to you….they want you to think that birds raised outside that can come into contact with air and other birds are the ones getting infected, when that could not be farther from the truth. They simply will not allow the media to portray their benefactors in a bad light. The local food chain is the fall guy. I guess some people really are dense enough to believe that 100 chickens crammed into a small cage that eat manure and never see the light of day are safer to eat than a bird that gets fresh air, sunlight, and grass to eat.
Salatin goes on to compare small, local farms with that of industrial ones as far as access for bioterrorists goes. The USDA wants us to believe that industrial farms are immaculate, stainless steel wonder worlds that are guarded ferociously to protect all the wonderful people of this country. Small local farmers are dirty, careless, and certain to let any old terrorist on their property to taint food. Does this sound logical to you?
Industrial farms are almost devoid of people. Machines feed and water them, computers monitor temperature, and there is hardly anyone around. They are prime for terrorist infiltration. The actual processing facilities however, where they slaughter and process all that raw product is crawling with people, many of whom have no legal status to be in this country and do not even speak English. How hard would it be for a foreigner (because terrorists are always foreign don’t ya know) to get a job there and taint up to 10 tons of food? I don’t think it would be to hard….at all.
A smaller, local farmer would be much less likely to be targeted. It is also unlikely that they ever would be considered a viable target because they do not do the same volume and a terrorist will want maximum impact. The USDA is trying to make us fear the local food system when it would likely be the safest thing for us in the event of a bird flu outbreak or a bioterrorism event.
Chapter 21 addresses the NAIS or National Animal Identification System that the government wants to impose on us by 2011. Basically it would require microchips be implanted in all cows, pigs, chickens, horses, sheep, and goats. I think the program sounds crazy but supposedly it would make our food much safer if we tag all the animals. The fines you can rack up for stupid things, like forgetting to declare and animal dead or for having an extra chicken are outrageous. Also, the smaller farmers will have to tag each and every animal but industrial farms can have one tag per 10,000 animals. How fair is that??
Chapter 22 is about Mad Cow disease and how it became a problem. Also discussed is the disgusting practice of industrial farms to grind up animal remnants and manure (even from sick and diseased animals), mix it up with some grain and molasses, and feed it back to the living animals. It is practices like this that make mad cow disease possible but the USDA is not about to change things. They don’t really care about food safety.
If you recall a couple years back a company in Missouri called Creekstone Farms was upset because the mad cow scare in the US was causing foreign buyers to ban US meat products. Creekstone managed to secure a deal with a Japanese buyer that they could still do business if the farm tested every piece of meat they sold. Well, the USDA sued them! Why? The USDA said that if this farm tested every product then that would make all other meat processors who choose NOT to test look suspect in the consumer’s mind. So here the USDA is suing a company because that company is testing for mad cow disease. Creekstone eventually won that case but the USDA plans to appeal. If they really cared about food safety why would they sue companies testing for diseased meat?
Chapter 23 was not a favorite of mine. It talked of animal welfare and how farmer’s get vilified for buying chicks via mail order or using farrowing crates for sows. Salatin explains that when he orders 2000 chicks in the mail and the post office accidentally suffocates them or leaves them out in cold temperatures and they freeze to death this is the post office’s fault. Hence the farmer should not be vilified for a practice that would have been harmless to the chicks if not for careless post office workers. But I don’t buy that. The post office shouldn’t need to baby-sit your mail. If you elect to ship a living thing in the mail then deal with the backlash when it dies and people get mad.
The final chapter just sums thing up for us and tells us where we need to go from here. I particularly like this quote:
The political rationale for food safety ultimately rests in the notion that we are wards of the state. Not a free people.
I for one do not want the government telling me what I can and cannot eat. This is a basic freedom that I don’t think anyone should give up. The crack down on food is just getting worse everyday. Anything raw, even vegetables are getting the evil eye these days. Are we ready to throw ourselves under the bus of government protection because we are too stupid to know what is good for us? Are we ready to start eating sterilized, irradiated, processed, antibiotic laden “clean” foods for the rest of our lives?
Make your voice heard that this won’t be tolerated, find back door methods to get illegal foods such as raw dairy through cow share programs or donation based markets. Withhold your compliance from the tyrant that seeks to take our food freedom away…
Chapter 13 relates the story of how Salatin’s county tried to make it illegal to use a sawmill on agricultural property. For a farmer with over 400 acres of woodlands this represented a problem. Salatin was the only person to speak against this proposed ordinance and managed to get the county to change the language so that farmers could mill their own wood on their own property. However, Salatin becomes a criminal whenever he uses his sawmill to saw up some wood for his friends as he likes to do on occasion. I am amazed at how utterly ridiculous these ordinances can be.
Chapter 14 goes into zoning laws. Salatin would like to offer schools the opportunity to come and tour his farm…for a price. He cannot do this though because zoning laws prevent it. An educational institution has no place on agricultural property. He cannot invite the kids to recreate on his property either because that would make his operation an amusement park. He could have 10,000 non paying visitors come every day without a problem but as soon as one of them pays him…it is illegal. Talk about bass ackwards.
Salatin does hold annual seminars for industry professionals and it is illegal. But what choice does he have? The public needs to be educated about this type of farming and land management or it will be gone with the wind.
Zoning also prevents him from processing his farm foods on his own property. Never mind that it just makes good sense to do it that way. And he can’t sell the goods that his neighbors produce. If he were to do this it would make him a Wal-Mart in the eyes of the law. He would be a criminal for selling some leftover pumpkins for the gal next door. Writing this book was in fact illegal because he wrote it on his farm in an agriculturally zoned area without a special permit. I for one applaud him for breaking the law!
Much of this ridiculous policy got started because of the NIMBY attitude that so many have today. NIMBY stands for Not in My Back Yard. All it takes is few complaints about this or that that and then there are laws laid down to prevent “problems”. People are willing to give up freedoms that they don’t personally care about for a little temporary peace of mind…until the government comes knocking on their door that is. It will all come back to bite you on your arrogant tushie. When we impose our will on others there will inevitably be someone allowed to impose theirs on us.
Chapter 15 discusses labor and how it is illegal to hire teens to work on the farm and run any kind of equipment. Apparently they get requests all the time from young men and women to join the team as apprentices and they can’t really allow this because the second they let a 16 year old licensed driver operate a cordless drill or drive a four wheeler to collect eggs they are in violation of labor laws. Salatin also feels that kids get involved with drugs and immoral lifestyle because we have made it illegal for them work with child labor laws. I see his point…somewhat…but DO feel as though we need at least some regulation in that arena. If a 16 year old wants to work 50 hours a week on a farm I think he or she should be able to. BUT having no regulation in that area would also allow employers and parents to force work on kids. I have a family member that was forced by his father to work full time from the time he was 12. Yes, maybe it kept him out of trouble and it taught him a trade but he lost his childhood and he still seethes about it 40 years later. Abolishing child labor laws is not the answer. In this chapter Salatin also discusses how the minimum wage laws can tie the hands of employee and employer.
In Chapter 16 the subject at hand is housing and this chapter really infuriated me. Salatin tells the story of how his son decided to build a house on their farm…a 700 square foot bungalow that would be a good starter home that his parents could move into down the road when they wanted to downsize. The county told them that nothing less than a 900 square foot home was acceptable. The county also told him that his expensive composting toilet was a no go as well. He had to have a septic tank and because the septic tank had to be near a waterway (I swear I am not making this up) the whole location of the house had to be changed. It took more than 2 years and a lot of money to get that house built to what the county considered livable and for it to be eligible for home owners insurance. It is outrageous that you cannot elect to raise a yurt or a teepee on your property and run electric to it if you so choose. What freaking business does the government have telling any of us we MUST live a certain way in a certain type of house.
Also discussed is the subject of conservation easements which farmers are applying for and getting to protect their lands only to find that they have forfeited all rights to build on it and grow it. They can’t even build a green house without violating the law. This is just another way we get suckered into opening the door for beurocrats to control us. The last few paragraphs of this chapter were my favorite…where he talks about how we elect to go to war and protect the liberties of other people while many of our own people are being terrorized daily.
“It is domestic tyranny and terrorism, fully licensed and sanctioned by the US government.”
Amen!
Chapter 17 discusses a subject I detest…insurance companies. It also discusses how small farmers get targeted for possible infiltration by bioterrorists. A tractor trailer full of food can sit around for hours at a truck stop while the driver catches some sleep but a small farmer who pops some kettle corn at home and transports it to a local farmer’s market a few miles away can be put out of business. Why? The kettle corn producer’s mini van could have been accosted by bioterrorists enroute so we can’t chance it. This is a true story.
Chapter 19 braves the subject of taxes. Salatin is hit hard for making economical and practical choices. Instead of buying loads of fertilizer that can be written off as expenses he builds a pond so that the green sludge can be used to fertilize his soil and the water can fertilize the pastures in times of drought. His solution saves him money and it is more environmentally responsible but he is heavily taxed when he does this because his pond is considered a land improvement in the eyes of the government.
Also, a farm that was bought by his parents in the 60s for $50,000 is now worth a million and when his mother dies the government wants to their $250,000 piece of the pie before they will allow him to keep it. Outrageous! Of course there is a solution to that little problem that I hope Salatin is aware of.
When I started reading this book I knew it would make me angry. I was not prepared for how angry it would make me. You may want to take a few kickboxing classes after reading this one. If I get a bit more colorful in this segment you know why…
In chapter 8 Salatin discusses organic certification and how the word has become illegal for him to use. Salatin actually stood in opposition to organic certification because he felt government regulating organic food would be a bad thing and his opinion was not a popular one.
His logic is amazingly clear though and by allowing government to regulate organics we have shot ourselves in the foot. Now the small, ethical, organic farmer has to compete with industrial organic and run the risk of getting smooshed when we all know that industrial organic goes against everything that the word “organic” used to stand for.
I can see it in my mind all the smallish organic farmers thinking they could get some assistance from the government and be able to stick it to large industrial operations that were trying to cash in on the organic fad or squash it so it wouldn’t be a problem for them. Farmers lobbied for organic certification and got it, all the while allowing government to come in and serve as nanny over their operation. “Ha, ha…look at us. We are organic and you aren’t. Now everyone will know our food is better.”
Of course the nanny turned on them and is now changing the rules to allow for industrialized organic and weakened standards. If the consumer had been trusted to make their own decision and choose organic without a fancy certification how much better could it have been? How could big agricorp have fought that battle? Not very easily… but silly little farmers decided to give them leverage. Now big agricorp is saying something like this to the organic farmers, “See that, I am organic now too and everyone will foolishly think my food is just as good as yours…how do you like that biotch?!” Salatin articulates it much better in the book though.
This chapter also discusses why Salatin feels strictly organic is not always better for people or planet.
In chapter 9 we learn about best management practices and specifically how that relates to handling manure. Salatin also shares with us some of his political ideals…such as the fact that he thinks all drugs (yes even crack cocaine and heroine) should be legal. He doesn’t feel that the government should be able to tell us what we can and cannot do with our own bodies. Some of his views were a bit shocking to me but they make sense. It should be no surprise that the government nannies are setting their sights on something we personally care about…we allowed them to get a foot in the door.
Chapter 10 addresses some of the ways that environmentalists have actually harmed the movement towards more sustainable agriculture by not looking at the food system as a whole.
Chapter 11 discusses the fear that people have learned to have toward any food that is not inspected and certified and the government LOVES it. If you don’t see USDA inspected on your food you should rightly expect that it could kill you.
Interestingly Salatin has supplied food to many chefs over the years that completely trust that the food he turns out is better tasting, healthier, and safer than anything that can be bought with a USDA seal of approval. Most gourmet chefs will step outside the USDA safe zone as much as they can. They are willing to stake their livelihood and reputation on it by serving these foods to their customers. That says a lot to me and it should say a lot to everyone.
Salatin points out that the whole system, family farm or government processing facility, depends on personal integrity. And integrity cannot be “policed, legislated, or inspected.”
Any one worker at a food processing plant can taint the food or contaminate it in some way and they are protected by their money and their army of lawyers. A small local farmer does not have that protection or that safety net, so who really has more incentive to turn out a safe product? It makes you think.
At the end of the chapter Salatin talks about how he would like to see local foods get a fair shake for a just a year’s time and see how things turn around. The fact that they can still serve their communities with two hands cuffed behind their back bespeaks the power they already have….the government won’t chance letting that beast get away from them. That is why the consumers need to fight.
Chapter 13 may not be the favorite among environmentalists as it once again talks about how myopic their thinking can be at times. Salatin refers to himself as an environmentalist at times but he sees that there is a big problem today with rabid environmentalists who give no leeway for any viewpoint but their own and who fail to see the whole picture or even include humans in their dream of a perfect world.
Two areas he sees as problems are those of forestry and logging and disposing of predators. Salatin feels that a healthier eco system includes cutting down some trees and that strict no cut zones have actually done more harm than good. It was a rather interesting read. I had never thought about it before but I have to admit that I am not against cutting trees if done in a reasonable and responsible manner. It can be done ethically and with minimal impact so strict no cut policies do not make sense in my mind.
Salatin also points out that wild animals and predators will always be a part of farming and that strict no kill policies harm farmers and what they are trying to accomplish. Wild animals are considered to be the property of the state and therefore not to be harmed. Some species might also be protected. But what is a farmer to do when their livelihood is being attacked by wild predators? They will do what they have to do and I have no issue with that either…but many environmentalists do. I am not against controlled hunting either.
Salatin mentions how he has had to deal with foxes, hawks, bears, and a few other species. Protecting his property and livelihood make some of his actions illegal and that is a shame. In this chapter he recounts how he called the state once and asked them too kindly come out and control their property. It was a hilarious read.
It brought to mind some of my experiences living in Arizona and a little friend I had called The Western Diamondback. They are a protected species and to me that means I cannot go out and hunt them to make myself a snakeskin purse. In my mind it does not mean that when they decided to take up residence on my property (where my kids and dogs played) that I had to set up a little snake condo for them and get used to some sort of cohabitation arrangement and basically hide indoors for the rest of our lives. Nope…my response to them was something along the lines of what Al Pacino said in Scarface… “Say hello to my little friend…” Does that make me a pseudo environmentalist or a big meanie? Not in my mind. Protecting animal species is all well and good but you can’t narrowly take humans out of the picture. There needs to be some balance or the state really does need to be at our beck and call whenever their property gets a little unruly.
Oh boy… is this a book that doesn’t end?! Stay tuned for part 4.
Read part one here. 
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