Everyone has an opinion about Joel Salatin. At talks, he whips crowds into a frenzy. His critique of “the industrial food system” – and his practical demonstration of successful alternatives – have won him a huge and surprisingly diverse following. It’s truly a big tent.
Salatin’s food politics are nearly impossible to characterize. Andrew Jenner provides an excellent profile of Salatin in this piece from The Washington Post:
You’ve heard of Joel Salatin, right? The self-proclaimed heretic who runs Polyface Farm in the Shenandoah Valley? The eco-friendly, avant-garde Old MacDonald featured in Michael Pollan’s 2006 bestseller, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” and the 2008 documentary “Food, Inc.”? The vociferous critic of industrial feedlots and petroleum-based monoculture? The one who slings blunt terms like “evil” when he’s talking about modern corporate agribusiness?
Sometimes he wears shirts repurposed from that evil system.
And this:
“I want people to think through issues,” says Salatin. “I’m just tired of blind alignment.”