It seems not all farms are treated fairly, and our local sweetheart, Polyface Farm, seems be getting the cold shoulder from the USDA. Joel Salatin mentions he would like to sell custom slaughtered meat, but can’t. The irony here is that the government is OK with us eating his meat in any way shape or form, as long as we don’t give him money for it. It must be processed at a USDA approved facility bla bla bla. Have any of you seen Fast Food Nation? Would you prefer one of our local boys cutting the meat or the heathens in the meat factories? I know regulations are there for a reason, but they don’t always bring out the best.
Exactly. So cVillains, who’s for Joel selling us his meat?
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Tagged as: Joel Salatin, Omnivore's Dilemna, Polyface Farm, raw food, slow food, vegan, Vegetarian
this seems to be an issue of the rule of law. there cannot be exceptions to the rules, otherwise, everyone will think that they qualify for said exemption. honestly, I would rather have a person like Joel slaughter my meat. but then that makes it okay for some unsanitary asshole (not Joel) to sell me his own custom slaughtered meat filled with bacteria and disease. IMHO if you look at the big picture, it is better that our meat is required to go through a USDA approved slaughterhouse.
Back home in WV, a local man had for decades run his own ranch and slaughterhouse. The cows were grass fed in the summer and hay fed in the winter. The meat was ostensibly “organic,” but of course you can’t call it that without being certified by the tyranny. Beef from this place was the only beef my parents had ever gotten and when my parents would visit either my sister or me, they’d bring meat if we needed it. Nobody beats his meat. Well, a few months ago, a new line of regulations came down from the USDA that basically caused the owner to quit the business. Some of the regulations were to appease groups like PETA. The USDA mandated that bulls sent to slaughter had to be fed before put down. Generally, ranchers would not feed it the 24 hours leading up to slaughter because, well, the bowels would be full of shit and undigested food if they did.
In any case, new regulations are putting the small farmers out of business and the only the big agri-businesses are able to foot the bill for new regulations. The quality of food is diminished and Americans grow more and more unhealthy. In our ridiculous government’s effort to protect everyone, what it really does is take away our choices and force us to consume products that are far worse for us than anything we had purchased before. I don’t mean to sound like a preachy libertarian, but eating good quality beef means a lot to me.
Hey Odie, if you think some asshole is selling you meat that is tainted with bacteria and disease, don’t shop there. Word will get around and he’ll go out of business. Let the goddamn free market sort it out.
@2 ummmmm so I should wait until I get infected with E.Coli before I come to the realization that some asshole’s meat sucks?
sorry Ethan should be @3
If you’re uncomfortable with buying meat from an individual then buy it from a grocery store. A lot of local farmers develop their reputation on word of mouth. If people who know him trust him enough to get their meat at his shop, they’ll tell other people about it. How do you think Jinx’s barbecue stays in business? There is no way that place can pass inspection standards, but people still go there because they trust they’re getting barbecue that isn’t tainted. I think that most Americans have a kneejerk reaction to any food that they can actually find out where it comes from! Most of us would rather unquestionably eat the mysterious McDonald’s hamburger and damn the man who raises and slaughters his own cattle. How many of you have seen where your beef comes from? I’d be surprised if it was any of you at all.
“How do you think Jinx’s barbecue stays in business?”
blech, i don’t know. because people LIKE small portions of bad microwaved food?
This model is all about the large producers and not the small farmers. Polyface and Double H all have the same problem, and that is they can’t lobby Richmond or Washington as effectively as the big corporations.
Also, Jinx did better than Spry at staying in business. What’s next for the old Northern Exposure place?
I’m opening a brothel.
That could break the curse of that location.
cbob, i think you’ll do well here.
@2 Ethan–There is/was a local family farm called “Gryffon’s Aerie” that produces grass fed beef from heritage breeds of cattle. They lost their lease and are in the process of trying to relocate their operation. They also produce pork and a small amount of lamb. The meat is delicious, and much healthier than the crap that comes out the corporate meat industry (not to mention that the animals are treated in a much more humane fashion until they become, well, hamburger). Anyway, they are constantly having to put up with regulations that threaten their livelihood because of the agribusiness lobby.
hmmm… the decor - think BlueLight with beds.
Has anyone read fast food nation I didn’t know you could see it
just sell me a cardboad box full of meat I’ll pay for the box you give me the meat
Fast Food Nation was a book and then made into a move last year. It was surprisingly good…took the themes and ideas from the book and wrapped a cinema plot around it. The book has a lot more detail, but the movie gives you real visuals (aka: scary).
I think the only thing Ployface Farms enjoys more than farming is publicity.
call me crazy, but don’t most businesses like publicity?
And hey, aren’t we supposed to go on a field trip out there?
I like publicing more than farmicity.
Prosecutors will be violated.