I've been following a number of homesteaders/farmers as I've been exploring making steps into that sort of life. Joel Salatin is one of them, and I've been to his farm and spoken with him personally. I agree with the critique that he had the advantage of having "free" land to start with, and I'm starting from a different place. I've also read Greg Judy's books on custom grazing as a way to get started, and that is probably more in line with what might work for bootstrapping an operation. Having spoken with Joel, and having heard some of his political views, I am 100% excited about him being an advisor to the USDA. He is very much libertarian and wishes to remove government barriers to farming and food production. His prior political activism is what lead to the federal poultry exemption that allows small farms to do on-farm poultry processing and sales without a USDA inspector. Will he continue promoting regenerative agricultural practices. Of course! But I see him promoting it by spreading his ideas in the form of books and content, not by way of government force.
I so appreciate you saying this! Very well thought out and measured take. If I could follow you again I would after this. RUclips homesteaders talk all the time about the "broken food system" but rarely ever go deeper than calling it that to examine the context of national policy and what the realities of transitioning away from the status quo entails for people financially and practically. I'm glad you brought up rugged individualism too. One thing I've noticed is a lot of creators push for self-sufficiency but not that many discuss community-sufficiency. Reshaping national policy will require a ton of support and advocacy work on the ground within and among local communities and I'm not sure we're there yet. I don't see the wisdom in taking away without ensuring reasonable supports for people relying on those systems.
Salatin said in an interview years ago that he purchases his grains for chicken feed from a farmer in his area. From what I've seen so far, he's only acting in an advisory capacity, and I would much rather have someone like him, that has spent his life farming advising the government, than some college educated know-it-all who's never even been on a farm making the rules that affect how I can grow my food and raise my animals. Jesus was the only perfect man, anyone who holds public office won't be perfect in every way, but at least he's knowledgeable and loves the land.
agree absolutely..well reasoned and fair..and i admire Salatins methods...being a good farmer makes you only a good farmer, not necessarily a good person or a good politician...The curse of the celeb farmer is indeed volunteerism..they never seem to include the cost of all their free labour
Also- I love that you run the numbers on everything. You obviously go to a lot of trouble to find all the nooks and crannies you can. You have a lot of integrity, and as far as I'm concerned, I don't care what the members of the fan club for any one person have to say.
I have quite the peeve with "intern" labor. That isn't just a Salatin thing. It's a pervasive employment model for small farms. But what I'd put to you is the simple question of we have to essentially use slave labor in order to make regenerative ag profitable? And it's not like conventional ag is all that much better. Even there, the profit margins are slim and the risks are dire. I don't pretend to know the answer to any of that, but it is definitely worth asking why food production - which I mean...kinda an important industry! - is so fraught and financially precarious.
I was 55 before my wife and I were able to buy a small farm and we still had a mortgage on it. We paid it off in 5 years and worked on doing fencing buying equipment and some animals. It took three more years to get most things in place, but the farmer that leased the land was a chemical farmer so when I took over the land I did a soil teat to find out I could not grow anything but weeds. Three years I worked on two six acre fields to be able to grow hay. Then covid hit and prices went crazy and we did not have enough money to keep going and we had to let it all go as I was not working off the farm now and had no other income. It is not cheep to start up and run a farm on your own. Thank you for your videos. John
Thank you for making such a good video. Discussing false or misleading claims is so important. Staying upbeat and not trashing anyone but being clear about were they are not telling the whole truth is such a fine line and you nailed it.
My personal opinion about JS is he is a salesman not a farmer. He has some great ideas, but will only talk of the good nothing about the bad of his practices. My biggest problem is his way or it is wrong. Most of his practices only work in his geographic location.
Thank you again for your insights. I have wondered for a while now about some of the "hidden" costs that Salatin never covers, or just glosses over. He has great insights, content, etc, but I agree that people need to keep a level head.
Hi Sarah, I agree with you on some things and disagree with you on some things. I think Joel Salatin is the best person for the job. He’s not perfect, but who is? If the only thing he manages to do is get Glycosphate out of the food supply, I will be happy! GMO’s are definitely a problem, as well, but one thing at a time. I think we at least owe it to him to give him a him a chance. At this point, we dont know what direction he’s going to go? Fellow homesteader in north Idaho here, love your channel!🤗
Agreed. He is only going to be one of a few folks near the top of the department. He definitely has a clue on what laws get in the way of small farms and will probably work on those, making it easier for all of us. Better to have experienced farmers up in the Ag department than not.
😉Here's my 2 cents since you've asked for feedback about this video. Pausing for a moment of descernment is important to help us lead lives that make sense and bring us joy. I've listened to Joel Salatin, I don't know Chris Newman, so clearly I don't know much about their interactions. My husband and I are setting up a small scale regenerative farm (we're only 2 years in) and building it with the "shit n sticks" that we have available to us. The first goal is to feed ourselves and provide for ourselves as much as humanly possible without sourcing off the farm. So you can imagine that at 2 years in we're still outsourcing many things, yet cutting that list of things incrementally. If we get to a point where we have more resources than we need we'll sell, barter, or trade. That's it.... that's the plan. Joel Salatin along with other knowledgeable farmers ( and that includes you!!! ) have helped us along the way as we sift through exponential amounts of information. Joel Salatin as an advisor for agriculture is something I'm on board with. Is he the best, does he have faults, are there others that could have been chosen? So many ways to answer that because there are so many moving parts yet I think he's a good place to start and will propel American agriculture in a better direction than it's been going. When we speak that there are problems with the agricultural system then ultimately it means there must be change sooner or later. Back to Chris Newman.... I'm today researching who he is and what he brings to agriculture. I have no idea where to look to get a fair assessment so I started by trying to find his artical on independent farming. I don't have a membership to Medium nor do i want to download another app on my phone and somehow i still can't find a copy to read. But i did find his IG, random comments about him and some articles about his feud with Joel Salatin, and also some stuff about disgruntled employees of Newman. As of yet, i don't have enough information to say if i think Newman has anything of value or not for my farming journey. I did find an article that i thought was interesting and I'll leave here for you and others to read and perhaps we can all help each other learn more. Have an awesome day!!!! restraditio.substack.com/p/chris-newman-is-not-the-answer
Valuable, honest analysis. I think any information that provides context for people trying to raise some of their own food is valuable. Joel has a piece of the puzzle, but his approach can’t work for everyone. I think he’ll be a good adviser, and I’m glad Thomas Massie will be in charge. That guy knows exactly how challenging living off the grid really is. As to the system, I’m a geopolitics and finance guy. The U.S. role in this crazy international system is to export dollars, and import/consume the excess production of the export economies like China, Japan, and Germany. And we export wheat and soy and import bananas and pineapple. So much has to change in order for anything to change. I’ll start with replacing store-bought chicken with home-raised rabbits and go from there. Thanks so much for this fantastic channel. And if you read this far, I planted white clover for rabbit feed next year. Is there a better variety for the high mountain desert of southeast Idaho?
I agree in so many ways. Thank you for yet another great video! I do think I like the idea of him being in this position in the USDA if for no other reason than to bring better land practices to 'Big Ag'. I did buy into Polyface when I first started but realized very quickly that his practices would not work at all for my homestead, they were simply much too big to get started. I have tried scaling down some of the builds and again found for the most part, they just will not work on such a small scale. I don't care for Salatin much as a person because exactly as you said, I felt targeted as a new homesteader to take his word as gospel then he turns around and stomps on the hands that held him up. I appreciate your honesty and hope the comments section isnt terrible.
This, I can get on board with. There's no reason to ban people from having ducks but allow them to have dogs and cats, except to prevent people from keeping productive animals, specifically. And I can't understand why people would be allowed to keep a sheepdogs as pets but wouldn't be allowed to keep a couple of pet sheep.
On the roundup topic you brought up. It was like a wonder chemical for us for many many years. We used to be very conventional in our tillage practices, then roundup resistant crops came out and we were able to do the whole “no till” thing. Well years later it wasn’t it’s all cracked up to be. You may not be sinking a plow in the ground but you are going across that field in the sprayer instead. We are basically minimal till now. But in my area of west Texas, a few years ago we started seeing roundup resistant weeds that had never been an issue. I’m talking broadleaf, grass, the whole 9 yards. Every time something starts to work, a different chemical combination, all of a sudden it is no longer effective. Texas Agrilife just tells us “on our test plots we used 20 times the rate of xyz chemical to have an effect” it’s like a bad dream lol. It’s like no one is really trying to figure out how to get on top of the weeds. My dad and I joke that the government or some chemical company flew planes around dumping chemical resistant weed seed so they can come sell the next big chemical to make big again. Anyway, roundup, at least in my neck of the woods, is near useless anymore. For the people that use it as the ultimate chemical boogie man, idk if it is or isn’t, but there was a time it was used a lot, its days are numbered.
It's days are numbered? That's not the only days you should be concerned about. I can tell you from spending time in VA Hospitals the effects that Monsanto has had on my fellow Veterans. It's not Pretty. Even if you feel ok have yourself checked for a number of issues concerning Agent Orange and Round up. Maybe you will be lucky and be ok. I hope you never have to go through what I have seen in my fellow Veterans.
I apologize in advance if this is an ignorant suggestion, I make no claims to experience in anything bigger than a modest garden, but have you ever looked into using geese to control weeds? It's my understanding there were whole breeds specifically for weeding fields, back before chemical herbicides were introduced.
I appreciate Joel Salatin as he was the one who got me interested in regenerative agriculture. That being said, I view him as a "stepping stone" from traditional methods to regenerative methods. Yes, he uses cheap labor, but those people want to work for him but are unskilled and thus are not as productive as long-term skilled employees. Yes, he buys off farm grain, but he also has some stipulations for the grain farmers as to how they raise said grain. Yes, he sells his stuff at "crazy high" prices, but he is competing with artificially cheap subsidized products, and that's what he needed to do to keep his farming dream alive. He isn't really the best example of a regenerative farmer. Personally, I feel like Mark Shephard, Greg Judy, Curtis Stone (and all the Elliot Coleman proteges), or even Gabe Brown are better examples for the bootstrap, first generation, regenerative farmer. Joel is just better known because he has focused on media rather than just getting stuff done. Everyone has their flaws, but we can learn from anyone, even Joel. Personally, I'm more worried about him being compromised by folks in DC.
I’ve personal swapped emails with, Joel. I ask lord of things, but mostly how could anyone sell a 20 dollar chicken. He says you can’t convince people who eat at gas stations…. Which he states in all of his books on every other page because all he does is repeat himself. My reply was, okay, but my local store sells past raised organic chicken for nine dollars… His reply was you got to sell them? It’s the best chicken in the world. Okay, I can take the best chicken in the world, and give it to somebody who can’t cook and it still taste like shit. People buy his shit because it’s a novelty item. Anyone who promotes the idea of having extra income by having a festival, potato sack races for kids, farm Olympics for the public…… is absent minded of reality. And better carry more insurance than the rest of us. I like the idea of his regenerative farming. But his pricing, idea of building everything from nothing, and borrowing stuff instead of paying…just silly crap. Unreal. Okay rant over. I’m just glad I found somebody else who understands the bullshit he speaks.
Nowadays many people are just poor. Lots of hardworking and health conscious people who don't eat junk at gas stations. But they simply can't afford $9 organic chicken. Let alone $20. What is it, made of gold? Holy moly that's a lot of money. You can eat reasonably well on rice and potatoes and blue aeroflot chicken and not go broke. I don't like to know that he disparages low income families like that.
@@SOLDGREEN Maybe find someone else to troll. Some of us in the homesteading world want to get perspectives from other people regardless of their punctuation and choice of words.
Farming is hard, intense, expensive and requires a ton of generational knowledge. Your point about having to buy grain but not including that in the calculation is absolutely right. Also, not breeding animals or raising babies? Well, that's not sustained agriculture then. It's cheating. That part alone is so, so much work and worry and time. Love your content. Never apologize. ❤
So True. If those of us that have a very few acres & like myself am a widow with NO help, had interns to come help, we could be self sufficient in no time. However, most of us have to pay for help and on SS and what we can produce single handedly, Salatins model is unrealistic. Even when he started out, he wasnt alone, so....
You video popped to the top today. Happy to see content from a fellow Montanan. And, yeah. Joel Salatin. He's a journalist by training. So, there's that.
I dont have any land, I don't have a wife and kids (especially that are old enough to help) I don't have anything but I still want (dream mostly as I try to save enough money of buying my own land) So it dawned on me one day after listening for many years people talking about how they do this or do that. From raising chickens to cattle, crop rotation methods the whole nine yards. I realized that we as open eyed Americans today are trying to work against big Farm culture, Big Pharma, Big this Big that Big everything from scratch. I looked at America when we were a colony. People were coming in after nearly 3 months at sea, weak, sick and barely hanging on to start a homestead. Well they also had others who came before them and got things started. We also had the local Indian population who saved our bacon (We celebrate that time in a few more days, Its called Thanksgiving Day, remember?) But we don't have that today. What we have is those BIG agencies working against us because we are a threat to their plans to make money. Not just make money, I am talking BIG MONEY. So they are in a far greater position to cause us to fail that we are to succeed. This is not meant to shut anyone's dream of restoring what America should be doing. On the contrary I hope to open the eyes of EVERY Red Blooded American who finally has had enough and wants to live as (Dare I say this) Gods plan for our lives? So I thank you for this video. I really do because we think we are awake to all the dangers being forced on us by really bad people. What we really need is more truth and access to REAL information that will give us a better chance to succeed instead of fail in the first year, or two years or as one man wrote in your comments after six years. This life style is NOT for the faint of heart. But then neither were the colonists who came to make a better life for their family and others of the same mindset. We are American's, We are Colonists, We demand clean food, clean products, and politicians who will stand for what America really stands for .... a Strong and resilient People described God's word, in our US Constitution, our Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence. I forgot to mention that I am nearly 70 now, but I still have hope I can buy some land at least for myself.
We're revisiting various parts of history simultaneously while also entering uncharted terrain. Because of corporate influence on our government's policies, we're suffering taxation without representation, slavery, psychological manipulation, and dislocation. There's nothing to prevent a new marketing plan which serves to direct attention elsewhere. The title of this video caught my eye because I was just relaying to someone that, while I believe Salatin and RFK speak to valid concerns, they fall short of following the money trail. We must do a better job of paying attention to what our elected officials -- OUR EMPLOYEES -- actually do on our behalf and there's no place that's more important than at the state and local levels.
@@michellesmithunroe2463 EXCELLENT Reply, We are on the same page. As much as I am excited that President Trump will have 4 more years to improve the American environment for the American people to rebuild small business but as you say in your comment ... accomplish to repair America on the state and local levels. THIS is where making America great again will take place. A handful of men and women in office can not accomplish what will need to be in the millions of men and women to accomplish. We are indeed so use to being attacked on so many levels, it will take a while for REAL Americans to maybe in effect reinvent the wheel. Cut down to size or in some cases eliminate completely companies or organizations that harm America and prevent a healthy economy. This is a HUGE Topic that is multi faceted and will need good people who stand for a strong America protected from both Foreign and Domestic terrorism. Like the Oath I took when I joined the USAF. Now maybe I will really get to serve my country.
It is always good to question and verify what we see. And like someone else said- your sound isn't synched well with the video. Labor is the biggest expense and depending on volunteer labor is not the law in the first place. A non-profit is the only organizational structure that can legally "employ" volunteers, and those volunteers can't be essential to the organization. So, as an example- getting a volunteer to staff a fundraising booth- ok. Using a volunteer to coordinate the fundraising program isn't. Not saying that he's doing that, just giving examples
I love Salatin for what he has done and his advice. That being said i have often thought about how moving all agriculture to regenerative would be impossible all at once. Just look at Sri Lanka. Even though it isn't good for the soil, modern agriculture has fine tuned getting the maximum yields. Still, some input from him might be a good idea. I think it comes down to growing for yourself, family or friends in a sustainable way.
One of my Blueskies goals for what I wanna do is find a way to build for sustainability in city settings. And it includes notes on public gardens to provide food, and how to set them up to work in below freezing temperatures. It's a blue skies concept because having the $ to build it is not something I forsee me having, or being able to get the funding for. But even having said that, I did not plan on the design being a replacement for the historic building or agriculture we have. Just an alternative.
I believe cooperative purchase of land may be the only way to create those opportunities, especially in areas with corporate competition. There are some working models across the country.
I love your thinking. I'm currently trying to figure out how to pitch my city council the idea of putting in permaculture food forests and edible perennials alongside our walking paths -- but without frightening and confusing their conventionalist little minds ^u^'
Well put. Being a "Fan" of anyone is the problem. It clouds judgment. I came into my journey under the myth of self suffiency by a other popular youtuber with belief that you can feed chickens for free. Quickly learned every system has inputs. Even large scale chicken raising compost producing operations. The inputs are rarely mentioned.
A minor criticism: I did go ahead and watch through this video, but I am ignorant and do not know who this guy is that you're talking about ^-^' A little more context or some external links would be helpful. That being said, you've gained a huge amount of respect from me, choosing not to exploit cheap labor. I've been thinking about starting up something like a homestead or hobby farm, and I think the only way I could justify taking on help for what I want to do is if I could organize it into something the other workers own, too. Basing an entire farming system on volunteer labor seems . . . ummm. . . . It's kind of a blast from the past there, and not in a good way.
The man is the used car salesman of farming. His mouth is moving, it’s dumping awful, self created buzz words of annoyance. If I hear “carbonatious diaper”. One more time……. Holy….. shit.
This feels like the video where Joel Salatin criticizes RFK Jr for things that they actually agree on lol. You and Salatin have the same mindset. These issues you have with Salatin are issues that Salatin has with the system- the system he will get to advise against when he's in the USDA. Salatin himself says in a perfect world there would not be pastured chickens, he only does that because of market conditions and subsidized grain. He thinks we should be eating majority ruminants and that chickens/pigs are either household livestock or for converting waste like whey. I'm in a major state Ag university and we really need someone like Salatin advising. These professors and policy writers are sickening. They are why the food system is rigged against farmers and that they can't make enough to pay well for labor. I can't fit a whole essay into a comment but Salatin can see what needs to be done to increase revenue so labor can be paid better. Salatin is just playing the system, his summer educational program is a better deal for someone learning farming than a 4-year $40k Ag degree. My fellow classmates have spent most of their 4 years doing farm volunteering anyway. His methods can clearly sustain proper salaries, there are many farmers using those methods who do pay regular rates for labor. It would be helpful for someone like him who knows how to reduce anti-competitive barriers so that they can pay more for labor.
Well thought out video! You covered (indepth) what I said in my video. Your subscribers are supportive...I received a few rather negative remarks...but oh wells...I appreciate your bravery in speaking out.
Remember, Joel is most likely practicing utilizing the community diversity on feed etc. We all don't have the capability to manage a completely self sustainable plot, maybe the best phrase is Jack of all trades master of none. Even on a small scale we build a community on skills that create. Glad you made this video. It creates the view of why we can't all do it all and what's actually entailed IMO on priorities of one farm to the next.
Hello there. Great video, with some interesting points. I have also thought of the grain on regenerative farms coming from industrial producers. That has kept me realistic. My goal is to retire to a small farm and leave it to my kid. For the appointment, I think we need to separate that from his practices. The point of these appointments is to take people who have been burned by an agency, and put them in charge. In that sense, I may like Joel in that position. I am however always a wait and see type. Only time will tell. Thanks for all you do, and God bless.
Joel has awesome intentions and has great idea for homesteaders but he's not a farmer. I live in Boulder, CO. Raw milk shares are around $10/half gallon. A whole farm raised chicken is $15-30. A tomato at the farmers market is around $2-4/per tomato. It's one of the wealthiest and most expensive cities in the US. The avg income in America is around $45k. Even if you're single, you aren't paying $10 for half gallon and $2 per tomato. No one can afford that. We need large scale farming. Joel doesn't grow grain for his animals, he literally has no clue how much land, water, fertilizer, equipment and man power you need to self sufficiently raise livestock. He has great advice for small Scale food production where people can mark up their product past the price of what the avg person can actually afford. Almost every regenerative farm is boutique and overpriced. Yeah it's nice you use the compost from your cows to grow mushrooms, but I'm not paying you $20 per lb...and neither is the single mother of 3 or the auto mechanic with 4 kids. Glad someone with actual farm experience is speaking up using numbers and facts. Remember, Joel is a salesman before anything else. His job is to sell everyone on his ideas-thats where his MAIN income comes from. His livestock is just overhead.
You make some great points here. Salatin offers a service in training people to farm and gets labor in return. That isn't a model that will work for most people. However, what would happen if Salatin sticks to his guns? If regulations loosen, how much do small farm profits go up? And what happens if corn and soy subsidies get cut? Do regenerative crops become more competitive if conventional ag has to compeye on a level playing field? You seem to assume that nothing will change with respect to government interference. If Salatin transforms into a politicritter and a system man, then yes, I think you're correct.
I think the only reasonable option would be have the livestock grow thier own grain. If you cut hay for winter then your sheep/chickens can mow down the garden and lay hay leftovers all fall and winter by eating hay and spilling the stalks. Come spring all you do is plant multiple layers. Peas on corn on potatoes. Hay and poopies take care of watering, weeding , nutrition so you can go cut hay. Repeat this process expanding the hay mulched garden each year. Animals can self harvest and or a person save and grind . I think at some point as the garden expands each year because of the compounding nature of hay gardening there will be a tiping point where there will be enough grains for the years.
Hmmm, feeding your animals that are being raised for food, some of the waste from restaurants , bakeries or any food processing facility probably isn't the healthiest thing to do either, since most of that overly processed crap is probably not healthy for the human population to eat either !!😮 Most of it is chemically and pesticide laden and with ingredients not listed! Eating anything nowadays is a crapshoot, you don't know what's coming out of the soil , air or water much less what's purposely put into it!!😢🙊🙈🙉
Interesting video. As Farmer Jessie says, each situation is unique. Take and use what you can on your farm from all the creators you watch. Having a well known farmer with a direct line into the USDA is the first step at turning that ship into a more sustainable direction. Hopefully his influence will change some of the programs toward better practices.
He has interns. Many of them have gone on to create their own successful farming operations. If you were doing something amazing youth and volunteers would flock to you too. How the heck is that a negative? He buys grain from his neighbors. He has talked extensively about creating supporting neighboring farming systems, where everyone doesn't feel like they have to specialize in everything. This is intelligent, sustainable and resilient. This is one of the most annoying videos I have come across in a long time.
Then try listening to what she said first. She is looking at JS with his methods being replicated in mind. And the free labor is not something a new farmer is going to have access to. Nor will they have access to all the hours of work he has built into his system by unpaid interns. JS says his target market is new farmers, but his methods are not repeatable. That was one of her points.
@samualaddams705 I disagree. I know about 10 farmers who have repeated the foundational model that he has put forth and are financially productive. They made tweaks and adjustments to suit their own situation. Joel Salatin didn't start out with an army of interns, nor did he have 15 children. You don't start at Joel's level. There is so much going on in the world. I can't believe this would be the most important topic in somebody's mind.
@@LivinginSouthernMO And where did they get the free labor? Dude I am not running JS down, I have three books of his and the importance of the effort to improve the earth has to be done or farms will have worn out fields. But using "interns" (free labor) wrecks the economic model for others.
@@samualaddams705 He didn't start out with interns, did he? He and his family worked and created a legacy and now they have a following. If you spend your time on this crap you certainly won't follow in his footsteps. Greg Judy is one of Joel Salatin's students and he initially kept his day job and worked with a homemade headlamp. Sometimes tending fence till 2am. He now sells his cattle for top dollar and probably 10x his land holdings and has interns and students from all over the country. He did the work. He didn't complain how the model wasn't fair.
Thank you for calling him out! I’m in finance and I’ve watched a few of his videos and none of his numbers make sense. What he is saying is completely unrealistic.
I think hiring teenagers at minimum wage is completely ethical. They live rent free with their family, food paid for, and they can have valuable work experience to keep on their resume. (This is assuming the normal American teenager)
Is it possible to have a list of what we can and can’t feed chickens, quails and rabbits (for starters)? I could possibly have access to fruit and vegetable market waste (scraps), though they probably are fertilised sprayed one way or another. But i guess i have to give a bit way somewhere and not become an instant “purist”.
A little weird to say Salatin doesn’t mention that he uses off farm grain and craps on the farmers he buys grain from, because he’s pretty open about it. I’ve seen him talk about how he prefers to use grain from a local farmer that uses a pound of atrazine on their fields over having something shipped in without chemicals, because it is a smaller footprint/less damaging to the environment. I’m fairly certain that it is even in Pastured Poultry Profits, which is probably his bestselling book. I DO get a bit frustrated watching all the RUclips farmers that have tons of volunteers talk about how easy stuff like chicken processing day or moving polynetting every day is. As a homeschool mom to small kids (including 2 toddlers currently) with a husband who works full time off-farm, my farm growth is so much smaller, and yes, I STILL have overgrown, weedy pastures in the back that have tons of trash/hurricane debris that I’m 7 roll off dumpsters into cleaning up by hand.
I agree with what you say about Salatin. I have never taken his word as Gospel, and never will. He is just one source, just one opinion. I have my own mind and can have my own opinion about things. Many things that he preaches are a dream scenario that could never work in a real-life application.
I agree entirely with what you have said here. Joel has unique opportunities and assets to facilitate his experience, but they are not reproducible for the overwhelming majority of people. Nor will he be able to restructure the corrupt industrial food system in any meaningful way. In my opinion, the only food production model that is going to succeed looks far more like your model than his. This country hasn't the political will nor a population that understands what is going to be a grim reality very soon.
I'm not from the USA, so I won't give an opinion, because I don't have the knowledge to do so. But, as usual, another one great and interesting video !! See ya next monday ?
Wood chips are abundant and free where I live. If more folks would be cutting down the trees that need it they would be more abundant and we would not have had 16 power outages since January. That being said I can see some of your points. I do think Joel Salatin is into people having Choice. And even if all the ideas floated by RFK and Salatin do not succeed, if it curtails some of the lobbying and agency capture and loosens up regulation on small, local producers that would be good. I’m fine with local communities regulating via word of mouth for local markets. We know who use great or sloppy practices. So if burdensome regulations on local farms are eased they will have accomplished plenty!!!
On your comment of feeding your hens. I cannot remember who it was but the farmer had a huge compost pile and it was apparently what he used. Anyone else may have seen that before on YT?
I'm in agreement with you on how the Salatin and Chris flap has transpired. To me, the argument is lost the minute that race card gets pulled out. Seems like a default way to try to win the debate without investing much thought in it.
In actually working with a man that sales direct to consumer from a farm and we are currently talking about farming with direct to consumer in mind. With that being said we are working on ebt and the ability to accept it. People will pay 1500 insurance premiums but not pay 10 to 25% more for they're food very sad state of affairs. I don't see Joel going after big agg I see him getting the USDA off our backs.
I am amazed that you have managed to get criticized in a respectful manner. My main concern is that what Joel Salatin does, works well for his ag zone and climate (and methods), and may not work well elsewhere. Secondly, making a chicken $20 the new normal is not going to go well. Everybody will prefer an unhappy $10 chicken to a $20 happy one. Sorry, I mean "afford" not "prefer". Because, thirdly, food is heavily subsidized already, and changing who gets the money will result in companies going bankrupt, getting magically replaced by others, but people are going to get unemployed, etc.. The food system needs to be changed, for sure, but you need a person with experience and training in making these kinds of transitions, and I don't think a farmer is qualified. I hope for the best, of course, but expect.. you know.. Lastly, I think Joel Salatin has a wealth of knowledge and experience, but sometimes he says some things with no basis in reality, fact, or science. Sometimes, I do too.
Pretty fair critique of Salatin overall. Very interesting video. While I would love to see Salatin institute regenerative reform of agriculture, I'm skeptical that he'll have any real power in the Trump administration. I have a hard time believing that Salatin has donated more money to the Trump campaign than Tyson or Cargill.
He feeds them and talks about buying their feed regularly in his videos. He isn't denying common sense inputs. And his interns are encouraged to use the farm to their financial benefit while they are there
Deciding to take up farming full time is, essentially, taking a vow of poverty while accepting a life at hard labor. But the rest of us are going to starve.
The answer is "no wage labor," and I think we are close to that happening. After all, who saw AI coming, but it's here. So I think robotics are going to be the answer. Let's hope 🙏 You are definitely not wrong, but we must start someplace.
the right to repair movement is a hot necessity for farmers. those problems are even worse with AI that you cannot troubleshoot or invesitgate from tech giants who provide it. not even a matter of law -- farmers are not computer scientist mathmeticians nor does software sell in an open source state -- analogous to wrenching your 80's tractor for those tech savvy farmers.
@@old-schoolj1405 I'm not sure what you're saying with that response. That farmers will know computer science because of decentralization? That the right to repair isn't due towards farmers because decentralization will... do what exactly? I'm not sure I get what you're implying with your statement. Though I'm not sure I can agree with what I think I understand you're saying given how few companies own all our food brands, how few companies own all our car brands, how few companies own all our tech giant brands. Hell, even video game companies are consolidating. Buying competition is the bread and butter of corporate america. It is the inevitable endgame of unregulated capitalism -- even Adam Smith the father of modern capitalism said so.
@Kowzorz I guess what I'm saying is that eventually, we will be able to repair these things ourselves. Just like one upon a time, we had to take our film in and get it developed, but now we can print pics at home or how we can now buy a scanner to read the codes on our cars, so that we can fix them ourselves. Or how a non technical person like myself can now design and program a website in no time using chatgtp. So I believe food production will at least partially decentralize in the near future as technology moves forward. Another example is how we don't have to have grid power if we choose not to.
16 dollars per pound of beef! I'm just gonna go hide in my hole of 3 dollars per dozen ramen packets. Must be nice to have the kind of life where 16 dollars per pound of beef is considered normal expenses.
Interesting, well considering he hasn't put forth any policies yet this definitely was a personal attack. That being said I think it was helpful information to get more context about who he is. But nothing you shared should be justification for why he would be bad at his appointment. Imagine an actual politician being nominated that knew nothing about agriculture... It could be much worse
Earning an income while learning? People are going 6 figures into debt for a college degree so i don't think a couple of years as an apprentice with all food and housing supplied is unreasonable. In Salatins' first books he does say that if you want to extend your farm to the point of needing to hire outside help you need to be able to pay them a white collar income. I think you need to read more of his books before coming to anymore of these conclusions. You are judging him when you obviously haven't done any significant homework.
I've farmed for 40 years and have listened to him also. But not much. He's not realistic and sounds like an academic. Works on paper not real life. And if we did what he advocates, and he gets his way, there will be mass famine. The solution is to get the government and corruption out of farming.
I've been following a number of homesteaders/farmers as I've been exploring making steps into that sort of life. Joel Salatin is one of them, and I've been to his farm and spoken with him personally. I agree with the critique that he had the advantage of having "free" land to start with, and I'm starting from a different place. I've also read Greg Judy's books on custom grazing as a way to get started, and that is probably more in line with what might work for bootstrapping an operation.
Having spoken with Joel, and having heard some of his political views, I am 100% excited about him being an advisor to the USDA. He is very much libertarian and wishes to remove government barriers to farming and food production. His prior political activism is what lead to the federal poultry exemption that allows small farms to do on-farm poultry processing and sales without a USDA inspector.
Will he continue promoting regenerative agricultural practices. Of course! But I see him promoting it by spreading his ideas in the form of books and content, not by way of government force.
I so appreciate you saying this! Very well thought out and measured take. If I could follow you again I would after this. RUclips homesteaders talk all the time about the "broken food system" but rarely ever go deeper than calling it that to examine the context of national policy and what the realities of transitioning away from the status quo entails for people financially and practically. I'm glad you brought up rugged individualism too. One thing I've noticed is a lot of creators push for self-sufficiency but not that many discuss community-sufficiency. Reshaping national policy will require a ton of support and advocacy work on the ground within and among local communities and I'm not sure we're there yet. I don't see the wisdom in taking away without ensuring reasonable supports for people relying on those systems.
Salatin said in an interview years ago that he purchases his grains for chicken feed from a farmer in his area. From what I've seen so far, he's only acting in an advisory capacity, and I would much rather have someone like him, that has spent his life farming advising the government, than some college educated know-it-all who's never even been on a farm making the rules that affect how I can grow my food and raise my animals. Jesus was the only perfect man, anyone who holds public office won't be perfect in every way, but at least he's knowledgeable and loves the land.
What on earth does jesus have to do with life
@@az55544 Everything, He IS life
Fair.
agree absolutely..well reasoned and fair..and i admire Salatins methods...being a good farmer makes you only a good farmer, not necessarily a good person or a good politician...The curse of the celeb farmer is indeed volunteerism..they never seem to include the cost of all their free labour
So starve, or be dependent and beg for food from corporate-government run agriculture and be the crop because you are already the product
Anyone can host WOOFERS so just stop with the free labor nonsense
Also- I love that you run the numbers on everything. You obviously go to a lot of trouble to find all the nooks and crannies you can. You have a lot of integrity, and as far as I'm concerned, I don't care what the members of the fan club for any one person have to say.
Really well done on deciding against running an exploitative business. I'm so glad people like you still exist
I have quite the peeve with "intern" labor. That isn't just a Salatin thing. It's a pervasive employment model for small farms. But what I'd put to you is the simple question of we have to essentially use slave labor in order to make regenerative ag profitable? And it's not like conventional ag is all that much better. Even there, the profit margins are slim and the risks are dire. I don't pretend to know the answer to any of that, but it is definitely worth asking why food production - which I mean...kinda an important industry! - is so fraught and financially precarious.
I was 55 before my wife and I were able to buy a small farm and we still had a mortgage on it. We paid it off in 5 years and worked on doing fencing buying equipment and some animals. It took three more years to get most things in place, but the farmer that leased the land was a chemical farmer so when I took over the land I did a soil teat to find out I could not grow anything but weeds. Three years I worked on two six acre fields to be able to grow hay. Then covid hit and prices went crazy and we did not have enough money to keep going and we had to let it all go as I was not working off the farm now and had no other income. It is not cheep to start up and run a farm on your own. Thank you for your videos. John
😭
I am so sorry you had to go through that. Perhaps you should have started with goats, to eat all those weeds?
Thank you for making such a good video. Discussing false or misleading claims is so important.
Staying upbeat and not trashing anyone but being clear about were they are not telling the whole truth is such a fine line and you nailed it.
That was a very honest and nuanced analysis. Thank you!
My personal opinion about JS is he is a salesman not a farmer. He has some great ideas, but will only talk of the good nothing about the bad of his practices. My biggest problem is his way or it is wrong. Most of his practices only work in his geographic location.
Agree 100%
Thank you again for your insights. I have wondered for a while now about some of the "hidden" costs that Salatin never covers, or just glosses over. He has great insights, content, etc, but I agree that people need to keep a level head.
The “right answer” is freedom of choice and freedom of speech so everyone KNOWS “the science”, but nobody OWNS “the science”!!!
Hi Sarah, I agree with you on some things and disagree with you on some things. I think Joel Salatin is the best person for the job. He’s not perfect, but who is?
If the only thing he manages to do is get Glycosphate out of the food supply, I will be happy! GMO’s are definitely a problem, as well, but one thing at a time. I think we at least owe it to him to give him a him a chance. At this point, we dont know what direction he’s going to go? Fellow homesteader in north Idaho here, love your channel!🤗
Agreed. He is only going to be one of a few folks near the top of the department. He definitely has a clue on what laws get in the way of small farms and will probably work on those, making it easier for all of us. Better to have experienced farmers up in the Ag department than not.
😉Here's my 2 cents since you've asked for feedback about this video. Pausing for a moment of descernment is important to help us lead lives that make sense and bring us joy.
I've listened to Joel Salatin, I don't know Chris Newman, so clearly I don't know much about their interactions.
My husband and I are setting up a small scale regenerative farm (we're only 2 years in) and building it with the "shit n sticks" that we have available to us. The first goal is to feed ourselves and provide for ourselves as much as humanly possible without sourcing off the farm. So you can imagine that at 2 years in we're still outsourcing many things, yet cutting that list of things incrementally. If we get to a point where we have more resources than we need we'll sell, barter, or trade. That's it.... that's the plan. Joel Salatin along with other knowledgeable farmers ( and that includes you!!! ) have helped us along the way as we sift through exponential amounts of information.
Joel Salatin as an advisor for agriculture is something I'm on board with. Is he the best, does he have faults, are there others that could have been chosen? So many ways to answer that because there are so many moving parts yet I think he's a good place to start and will propel American agriculture in a better direction than it's been going. When we speak that there are problems with the agricultural system then ultimately it means there must be change sooner or later.
Back to Chris Newman.... I'm today researching who he is and what he brings to agriculture. I have no idea where to look to get a fair assessment so I started by trying to find his artical on independent farming. I don't have a membership to Medium nor do i want to download another app on my phone and somehow i still can't find a copy to read. But i did find his IG, random comments about him and some articles about his feud with Joel Salatin, and also some stuff about disgruntled employees of Newman. As of yet, i don't have enough information to say if i think Newman has anything of value or not for my farming journey. I did find an article that i thought was interesting and I'll leave here for you and others to read and perhaps we can all help each other learn more. Have an awesome day!!!!
restraditio.substack.com/p/chris-newman-is-not-the-answer
Worth at least $1. You do what you can, and don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Valuable, honest analysis. I think any information that provides context for people trying to raise some of their own food is valuable.
Joel has a piece of the puzzle, but his approach can’t work for everyone. I think he’ll be a good adviser, and I’m glad Thomas Massie will be in charge.
That guy knows exactly how challenging living off the grid really is.
As to the system, I’m a geopolitics and finance guy. The U.S. role in this crazy international system is to export dollars, and import/consume the excess production of the export economies like China, Japan, and Germany.
And we export wheat and soy and import bananas and pineapple.
So much has to change in order for anything to change.
I’ll start with replacing store-bought chicken with home-raised rabbits and go from there.
Thanks so much for this fantastic channel. And if you read this far, I planted white clover for rabbit feed next year. Is there a better variety for the high mountain desert of southeast Idaho?
Right there with you! I think Massie is the perfect guy for the job.
I agree in so many ways. Thank you for yet another great video! I do think I like the idea of him being in this position in the USDA if for no other reason than to bring better land practices to 'Big Ag'. I did buy into Polyface when I first started but realized very quickly that his practices would not work at all for my homestead, they were simply much too big to get started. I have tried scaling down some of the builds and again found for the most part, they just will not work on such a small scale. I don't care for Salatin much as a person because exactly as you said, I felt targeted as a new homesteader to take his word as gospel then he turns around and stomps on the hands that held him up. I appreciate your honesty and hope the comments section isnt terrible.
If he wants more people to grow their own food then make it legal to raise animals in the city again
That's what he promotes.
Because Joel Salatin runs the country? Are you high?
This, I can get on board with. There's no reason to ban people from having ducks but allow them to have dogs and cats, except to prevent people from keeping productive animals, specifically. And I can't understand why people would be allowed to keep a sheepdogs as pets but wouldn't be allowed to keep a couple of pet sheep.
Do you have opinions on creating landrace crops as opposed to heirloom crops? I've recently gotten interested in creating landraces
I would like to hear more on landracing
On the roundup topic you brought up. It was like a wonder chemical for us for many many years. We used to be very conventional in our tillage practices, then roundup resistant crops came out and we were able to do the whole “no till” thing. Well years later it wasn’t it’s all cracked up to be. You may not be sinking a plow in the ground but you are going across that field in the sprayer instead. We are basically minimal till now. But in my area of west Texas, a few years ago we started seeing roundup resistant weeds that had never been an issue. I’m talking broadleaf, grass, the whole 9 yards. Every time something starts to work, a different chemical combination, all of a sudden it is no longer effective. Texas Agrilife just tells us “on our test plots we used 20 times the rate of xyz chemical to have an effect” it’s like a bad dream lol. It’s like no one is really trying to figure out how to get on top of the weeds. My dad and I joke that the government or some chemical company flew planes around dumping chemical resistant weed seed so they can come sell the next big chemical to make big again. Anyway, roundup, at least in my neck of the woods, is near useless anymore. For the people that use it as the ultimate chemical boogie man, idk if it is or isn’t, but there was a time it was used a lot, its days are numbered.
It's days are numbered? That's not the only days you should be concerned about. I can tell you from spending time in VA Hospitals the effects that Monsanto has had on my fellow Veterans. It's not Pretty. Even if you feel ok have yourself checked for a number of issues concerning Agent Orange and Round up. Maybe you will be lucky and be ok. I hope you never have to go through what I have seen in my fellow Veterans.
Turns out pesticides are not edible.
I apologize in advance if this is an ignorant suggestion, I make no claims to experience in anything bigger than a modest garden, but have you ever looked into using geese to control weeds? It's my understanding there were whole breeds specifically for weeding fields, back before chemical herbicides were introduced.
I appreciate Joel Salatin as he was the one who got me interested in regenerative agriculture. That being said, I view him as a "stepping stone" from traditional methods to regenerative methods. Yes, he uses cheap labor, but those people want to work for him but are unskilled and thus are not as productive as long-term skilled employees. Yes, he buys off farm grain, but he also has some stipulations for the grain farmers as to how they raise said grain. Yes, he sells his stuff at "crazy high" prices, but he is competing with artificially cheap subsidized products, and that's what he needed to do to keep his farming dream alive. He isn't really the best example of a regenerative farmer.
Personally, I feel like Mark Shephard, Greg Judy, Curtis Stone (and all the Elliot Coleman proteges), or even Gabe Brown are better examples for the bootstrap, first generation, regenerative farmer. Joel is just better known because he has focused on media rather than just getting stuff done. Everyone has their flaws, but we can learn from anyone, even Joel. Personally, I'm more worried about him being compromised by folks in DC.
I’ve personal swapped emails with, Joel. I ask lord of things, but mostly how could anyone sell a 20 dollar chicken. He says you can’t convince people who eat at gas stations…. Which he states in all of his books on every other page because all he does is repeat himself.
My reply was, okay, but my local store sells past raised organic chicken for nine dollars…
His reply was you got to sell them? It’s the best chicken in the world.
Okay, I can take the best chicken in the world, and give it to somebody who can’t cook and it still taste like shit. People buy his shit because it’s a novelty item. Anyone who promotes the idea of having extra income by having a festival, potato sack races for kids, farm Olympics for the public…… is absent minded of reality. And better carry more insurance than the rest of us.
I like the idea of his regenerative farming. But his pricing, idea of building everything from nothing, and borrowing stuff instead of paying…just silly crap. Unreal. Okay rant over. I’m just glad I found somebody else who understands the bullshit he speaks.
If you’re trying to make a salient point maybe make sure it makes sense first and proofread it plus, don’t use cuss words and rhetoric just a thought
Nowadays many people are just poor. Lots of hardworking and health conscious people who don't eat junk at gas stations. But they simply can't afford $9 organic chicken. Let alone $20. What is it, made of gold? Holy moly that's a lot of money. You can eat reasonably well on rice and potatoes and blue aeroflot chicken and not go broke. I don't like to know that he disparages low income families like that.
@@SOLDGREEN Maybe find someone else to troll. Some of us in the homesteading world want to get perspectives from other people regardless of their punctuation and choice of words.
Farming is hard, intense, expensive and requires a ton of generational knowledge. Your point about having to buy grain but not including that in the calculation is absolutely right. Also, not breeding animals or raising babies? Well, that's not sustained agriculture then. It's cheating. That part alone is so, so much work and worry and time. Love your content. Never apologize. ❤
So True. If those of us that have a very few acres & like myself am a widow with NO help, had interns to come help, we could be self sufficient in no time. However, most of us have to pay for help and on SS and what we can produce single handedly, Salatins model is unrealistic. Even when he started out, he wasnt alone, so....
You video popped to the top today. Happy to see content from a fellow Montanan. And, yeah. Joel Salatin. He's a journalist by training. So, there's that.
I dont have any land, I don't have a wife and kids (especially that are old enough to help) I don't have anything but I still want (dream mostly as I try to save enough money of buying my own land) So it dawned on me one day after listening for many years people talking about how they do this or do that. From raising chickens to cattle, crop rotation methods the whole nine yards. I realized that we as open eyed Americans today are trying to work against big Farm culture, Big Pharma, Big this Big that Big everything from scratch. I looked at America when we were a colony. People were coming in after nearly 3 months at sea, weak, sick and barely hanging on to start a homestead. Well they also had others who came before them and got things started. We also had the local Indian population who saved our bacon (We celebrate that time in a few more days, Its called Thanksgiving Day, remember?) But we don't have that today. What we have is those BIG agencies working against us because we are a threat to their plans to make money. Not just make money, I am talking BIG MONEY. So they are in a far greater position to cause us to fail that we are to succeed. This is not meant to shut anyone's dream of restoring what America should be doing. On the contrary I hope to open the eyes of EVERY Red Blooded American who finally has had enough and wants to live as (Dare I say this) Gods plan for our lives? So I thank you for this video. I really do because we think we are awake to all the dangers being forced on us by really bad people. What we really need is more truth and access to REAL information that will give us a better chance to succeed instead of fail in the first year, or two years or as one man wrote in your comments after six years. This life style is NOT for the faint of heart. But then neither were the colonists who came to make a better life for their family and others of the same mindset. We are American's, We are Colonists, We demand clean food, clean products, and politicians who will stand for what America really stands for .... a Strong and resilient People described God's word, in our US Constitution, our Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence. I forgot to mention that I am nearly 70 now, but I still have hope I can buy some land at least for myself.
We're revisiting various parts of history simultaneously while also entering uncharted terrain. Because of corporate influence on our government's policies, we're suffering taxation without representation, slavery, psychological manipulation, and dislocation. There's nothing to prevent a new marketing plan which serves to direct attention elsewhere. The title of this video caught my eye because I was just relaying to someone that, while I believe Salatin and RFK speak to valid concerns, they fall short of following the money trail. We must do a better job of paying attention to what our elected officials -- OUR EMPLOYEES -- actually do on our behalf and there's no place that's more important than at the state and local levels.
@@michellesmithunroe2463 EXCELLENT Reply, We are on the same page. As much as I am excited that President Trump will have 4 more years to improve the American environment for the American people to rebuild small business but as you say in your comment ... accomplish to repair America on the state and local levels. THIS is where making America great again will take place. A handful of men and women in office can not accomplish what will need to be in the millions of men and women to accomplish. We are indeed so use to being attacked on so many levels, it will take a while for REAL Americans to maybe in effect reinvent the wheel. Cut down to size or in some cases eliminate completely companies or organizations that harm America and prevent a healthy economy. This is a HUGE Topic that is multi faceted and will need good people who stand for a strong America protected from both Foreign and Domestic terrorism. Like the Oath I took when I joined the USAF. Now maybe I will really get to serve my country.
It is always good to question and verify what we see. And like someone else said- your sound isn't synched well with the video. Labor is the biggest expense and depending on volunteer labor is not the law in the first place. A non-profit is the only organizational structure that can legally "employ" volunteers, and those volunteers can't be essential to the organization. So, as an example- getting a volunteer to staff a fundraising booth- ok. Using a volunteer to coordinate the fundraising program isn't. Not saying that he's doing that, just giving examples
I love Salatin for what he has done and his advice. That being said i have often thought about how moving all agriculture to regenerative would be impossible all at once. Just look at Sri Lanka. Even though it isn't good for the soil, modern agriculture has fine tuned getting the maximum yields. Still, some input from him might be a good idea. I think it comes down to growing for yourself, family or friends in a sustainable way.
One of my Blueskies goals for what I wanna do is find a way to build for sustainability in city settings. And it includes notes on public gardens to provide food, and how to set them up to work in below freezing temperatures. It's a blue skies concept because having the $ to build it is not something I forsee me having, or being able to get the funding for. But even having said that, I did not plan on the design being a replacement for the historic building or agriculture we have. Just an alternative.
I believe cooperative purchase of land may be the only way to create those opportunities, especially in areas with corporate competition. There are some working models across the country.
I love your thinking. I'm currently trying to figure out how to pitch my city council the idea of putting in permaculture food forests and edible perennials alongside our walking paths -- but without frightening and confusing their conventionalist little minds ^u^'
@eyesofthecervino3366 Good luck! My town doesn't even have that, and I can't keep living here, my allergies are too bad.
Well put. Being a "Fan" of anyone is the problem. It clouds judgment. I came into my journey under the myth of self suffiency by a other popular youtuber with belief that you can feed chickens for free. Quickly learned every system has inputs. Even large scale chicken raising compost producing operations. The inputs are rarely mentioned.
A minor criticism: I did go ahead and watch through this video, but I am ignorant and do not know who this guy is that you're talking about ^-^' A little more context or some external links would be helpful.
That being said, you've gained a huge amount of respect from me, choosing not to exploit cheap labor. I've been thinking about starting up something like a homestead or hobby farm, and I think the only way I could justify taking on help for what I want to do is if I could organize it into something the other workers own, too. Basing an entire farming system on volunteer labor seems . . . ummm. . . . It's kind of a blast from the past there, and not in a good way.
Thank you for having the courage to share this video. I believe this is important information to share!
This seems a fair and reasonable critique. Thank you.
The man is the used car salesman of farming. His mouth is moving, it’s dumping awful, self created buzz words of annoyance. If I hear “carbonatious diaper”. One more time……. Holy….. shit.
This feels like the video where Joel Salatin criticizes RFK Jr for things that they actually agree on lol. You and Salatin have the same mindset. These issues you have with Salatin are issues that Salatin has with the system- the system he will get to advise against when he's in the USDA. Salatin himself says in a perfect world there would not be pastured chickens, he only does that because of market conditions and subsidized grain. He thinks we should be eating majority ruminants and that chickens/pigs are either household livestock or for converting waste like whey.
I'm in a major state Ag university and we really need someone like Salatin advising. These professors and policy writers are sickening. They are why the food system is rigged against farmers and that they can't make enough to pay well for labor. I can't fit a whole essay into a comment but Salatin can see what needs to be done to increase revenue so labor can be paid better. Salatin is just playing the system, his summer educational program is a better deal for someone learning farming than a 4-year $40k Ag degree. My fellow classmates have spent most of their 4 years doing farm volunteering anyway. His methods can clearly sustain proper salaries, there are many farmers using those methods who do pay regular rates for labor. It would be helpful for someone like him who knows how to reduce anti-competitive barriers so that they can pay more for labor.
Totally agree.
Well thought out video! You covered (indepth) what I said in my video. Your subscribers are supportive...I received a few rather negative remarks...but oh wells...I appreciate your bravery in speaking out.
Is it possible that the audio is every so slightly out of sync with the video, or is that just on my end?
Remember, Joel is most likely practicing utilizing the community diversity on feed etc. We all don't have the capability to manage a completely self sustainable plot, maybe the best phrase is Jack of all trades master of none. Even on a small scale we build a community on skills that create. Glad you made this video. It creates the view of why we can't all do it all and what's actually entailed IMO on priorities of one farm to the next.
Hello there. Great video, with some interesting points. I have also thought of the grain on regenerative farms coming from industrial producers. That has kept me realistic. My goal is to retire to a small farm and leave it to my kid.
For the appointment, I think we need to separate that from his practices. The point of these appointments is to take people who have been burned by an agency, and put them in charge. In that sense, I may like Joel in that position. I am however always a wait and see type. Only time will tell.
Thanks for all you do, and God bless.
Joel has awesome intentions and has great idea for homesteaders but he's not a farmer.
I live in Boulder, CO. Raw milk shares are around $10/half gallon. A whole farm raised chicken is $15-30. A tomato at the farmers market is around $2-4/per tomato.
It's one of the wealthiest and most expensive cities in the US. The avg income in America is around $45k. Even if you're single, you aren't paying $10 for half gallon and $2 per tomato. No one can afford that. We need large scale farming.
Joel doesn't grow grain for his animals, he literally has no clue how much land, water, fertilizer, equipment and man power you need to self sufficiently raise livestock. He has great advice for small Scale food production where people can mark up their product past the price of what the avg person can actually afford. Almost every regenerative farm is boutique and overpriced. Yeah it's nice you use the compost from your cows to grow mushrooms, but I'm not paying you $20 per lb...and neither is the single mother of 3 or the auto mechanic with 4 kids.
Glad someone with actual farm experience is speaking up using numbers and facts. Remember, Joel is a salesman before anything else. His job is to sell everyone on his ideas-thats where his MAIN income comes from. His livestock is just overhead.
You make some great points here. Salatin offers a service in training people to farm and gets labor in return. That isn't a model that will work for most people. However, what would happen if Salatin sticks to his guns? If regulations loosen, how much do small farm profits go up? And what happens if corn and soy subsidies get cut? Do regenerative crops become more competitive if conventional ag has to compeye on a level playing field? You seem to assume that nothing will change with respect to government interference. If Salatin transforms into a politicritter and a system man, then yes, I think you're correct.
I think the only reasonable option would be have the livestock grow thier own grain. If you cut hay for winter then your sheep/chickens can mow down the garden and lay hay leftovers all fall and winter by eating hay and spilling the stalks. Come spring all you do is plant multiple layers. Peas on corn on potatoes. Hay and poopies take care of watering, weeding , nutrition so you can go cut hay. Repeat this process expanding the hay mulched garden each year. Animals can self harvest and or a person save and grind . I think at some point as the garden expands each year because of the compounding nature of hay gardening there will be a tiping point where there will be enough grains for the years.
Hmmm, feeding your animals that are being raised for food, some of the waste from restaurants , bakeries or any food processing facility probably isn't the healthiest thing to do either, since most of that overly processed crap is probably not healthy for the human population to eat either !!😮 Most of it is chemically and pesticide laden and with ingredients not listed! Eating anything nowadays is a crapshoot, you don't know what's coming out of the soil , air or water much less what's purposely put into it!!😢🙊🙈🙉
Interesting video. As Farmer Jessie says, each situation is unique. Take and use what you can on your farm from all the creators you watch.
Having a well known farmer with a direct line into the USDA is the first step at turning that ship into a more sustainable direction. Hopefully his influence will change some of the programs toward better practices.
He has interns. Many of them have gone on to create their own successful farming operations. If you were doing something amazing youth and volunteers would flock to you too. How the heck is that a negative? He buys grain from his neighbors. He has talked extensively about creating supporting neighboring farming systems, where everyone doesn't feel like they have to specialize in everything. This is intelligent, sustainable and resilient. This is one of the most annoying videos I have come across in a long time.
Then try listening to what she said first. She is looking at JS with his methods being replicated in mind. And the free labor is not something a new farmer is going to have access to. Nor will they have access to all the hours of work he has built into his system by unpaid interns. JS says his target market is new farmers, but his methods are not repeatable. That was one of her points.
@samualaddams705 I disagree. I know about 10 farmers who have repeated the foundational model that he has put forth and are financially productive. They made tweaks and adjustments to suit their own situation. Joel Salatin didn't start out with an army of interns, nor did he have 15 children. You don't start at Joel's level. There is so much going on in the world. I can't believe this would be the most important topic in somebody's mind.
@@LivinginSouthernMO And where did they get the free labor? Dude I am not running JS down, I have three books of his and the importance of the effort to improve the earth has to be done or farms will have worn out fields. But using "interns" (free labor) wrecks the economic model for others.
@@samualaddams705 He didn't start out with interns, did he? He and his family worked and created a legacy and now they have a following. If you spend your time on this crap you certainly won't follow in his footsteps. Greg Judy is one of Joel Salatin's students and he initially kept his day job and worked with a homemade headlamp. Sometimes tending fence till 2am. He now sells his cattle for top dollar and probably 10x his land holdings and has interns and students from all over the country. He did the work. He didn't complain how the model wasn't fair.
Small farm here, this was down right refreshing.
Thank you for calling him out! I’m in finance and I’ve watched a few of his videos and none of his numbers make sense. What he is saying is completely unrealistic.
I think hiring teenagers at minimum wage is completely ethical. They live rent free with their family, food paid for, and they can have valuable work experience to keep on their resume. (This is assuming the normal American teenager)
BTW love the collage wall behind you. Very creative ! 😊
Is it possible to have a list of what we can and can’t feed chickens, quails and rabbits (for starters)?
I could possibly have access to fruit and vegetable market waste (scraps), though they probably are fertilised sprayed one way or another. But i guess i have to give a bit way somewhere and not become an instant “purist”.
A little weird to say Salatin doesn’t mention that he uses off farm grain and craps on the farmers he buys grain from, because he’s pretty open about it. I’ve seen him talk about how he prefers to use grain from a local farmer that uses a pound of atrazine on their fields over having something shipped in without chemicals, because it is a smaller footprint/less damaging to the environment. I’m fairly certain that it is even in Pastured Poultry Profits, which is probably his bestselling book.
I DO get a bit frustrated watching all the RUclips farmers that have tons of volunteers talk about how easy stuff like chicken processing day or moving polynetting every day is. As a homeschool mom to small kids (including 2 toddlers currently) with a husband who works full time off-farm, my farm growth is so much smaller, and yes, I STILL have overgrown, weedy pastures in the back that have tons of trash/hurricane debris that I’m 7 roll off dumpsters into cleaning up by hand.
I agree with what you say about Salatin. I have never taken his word as Gospel, and never will. He is just one source, just one opinion. I have my own mind and can have my own opinion about things. Many things that he preaches are a dream scenario that could never work in a real-life application.
I agree entirely with what you have said here. Joel has unique opportunities and assets to facilitate his experience, but they are not reproducible for the overwhelming majority of people. Nor will he be able to restructure the corrupt industrial food system in any meaningful way. In my opinion, the only food production model that is going to succeed looks far more like your model than his. This country hasn't the political will nor a population that understands what is going to be a grim reality very soon.
“The Plantie Dropper”. I am sorry your business failed but that name is awesome. A very memorable brand strategy.
I'm not from the USA, so I won't give an opinion, because I don't have the knowledge to do so.
But, as usual, another one great and interesting video !!
See ya next monday ?
Wood chips are abundant and free where I live. If more folks would be cutting down the trees that need it they would be more abundant and we would not have had 16 power outages since January.
That being said I can see some of your points. I do think Joel Salatin is into people having Choice.
And even if all the ideas floated by RFK and Salatin do not succeed, if it curtails some of the lobbying and agency capture and loosens up regulation on small, local producers that would be good.
I’m fine with local communities regulating via word of mouth for local markets. We know who use great or sloppy practices. So if burdensome regulations on local farms are eased they will have accomplished plenty!!!
On your comment of feeding your hens. I cannot remember who it was but the farmer had a huge compost pile and it was apparently what he used. Anyone else may have seen that before on YT?
I'm in agreement with you on how the Salatin and Chris flap has transpired. To me, the argument is lost the minute that race card gets pulled out. Seems like a default way to try to win the debate without investing much thought in it.
In actually working with a man that sales direct to consumer from a farm and we are currently talking about farming with direct to consumer in mind. With that being said we are working on ebt and the ability to accept it. People will pay 1500 insurance premiums but not pay 10 to 25% more for they're food very sad state of affairs. I don't see Joel going after big agg I see him getting the USDA off our backs.
I am amazed that you have managed to get criticized in a respectful manner.
My main concern is that what Joel Salatin does, works well for his ag zone and climate (and methods), and may not work well elsewhere. Secondly, making a chicken $20 the new normal is not going to go well. Everybody will prefer an unhappy $10 chicken to a $20 happy one. Sorry, I mean "afford" not "prefer". Because, thirdly, food is heavily subsidized already, and changing who gets the money will result in companies going bankrupt, getting magically replaced by others, but people are going to get unemployed, etc.. The food system needs to be changed, for sure, but you need a person with experience and training in making these kinds of transitions, and I don't think a farmer is qualified. I hope for the best, of course, but expect.. you know..
Lastly, I think Joel Salatin has a wealth of knowledge and experience, but sometimes he says some things with no basis in reality, fact, or science. Sometimes, I do too.
I'd very much like to read your thoughts on this subject, but for this kind of subject it's more than I can bring myself to consume in video format.
Pretty fair critique of Salatin overall. Very interesting video.
While I would love to see Salatin institute regenerative reform of agriculture, I'm skeptical that he'll have any real power in the Trump administration. I have a hard time believing that Salatin has donated more money to the Trump campaign than Tyson or Cargill.
He feeds them and talks about buying their feed regularly in his videos. He isn't denying common sense inputs. And his interns are encouraged to use the farm to their financial benefit while they are there
Deciding to take up farming full time is, essentially, taking a vow of poverty while accepting a life at hard labor. But the rest of us are going to starve.
Well said
I trust you Sarah 😊 ❤❤❤
The answer is "no wage labor," and I think we are close to that happening. After all, who saw AI coming, but it's here. So I think robotics are going to be the answer. Let's hope 🙏
You are definitely not wrong, but we must start someplace.
the right to repair movement is a hot necessity for farmers. those problems are even worse with AI that you cannot troubleshoot or invesitgate from tech giants who provide it. not even a matter of law -- farmers are not computer scientist mathmeticians nor does software sell in an open source state -- analogous to wrenching your 80's tractor for those tech savvy farmers.
@Kowzorz
Every technology that has ever existed has begun its life as a resource limited to only a few, but over time, they all become decentralized.
@@old-schoolj1405 I'm not sure what you're saying with that response. That farmers will know computer science because of decentralization? That the right to repair isn't due towards farmers because decentralization will... do what exactly? I'm not sure I get what you're implying with your statement.
Though I'm not sure I can agree with what I think I understand you're saying given how few companies own all our food brands, how few companies own all our car brands, how few companies own all our tech giant brands. Hell, even video game companies are consolidating. Buying competition is the bread and butter of corporate america. It is the inevitable endgame of unregulated capitalism -- even Adam Smith the father of modern capitalism said so.
@Kowzorz
I guess what I'm saying is that eventually, we will be able to repair these things ourselves. Just like one upon a time, we had to take our film in and get it developed, but now we can print pics at home or how we can now buy a scanner to read the codes on our cars, so that we can fix them ourselves. Or how a non technical person like myself can now design and program a website in no time using chatgtp. So I believe food production will at least partially decentralize in the near future as technology moves forward. Another example is how we don't have to have grid power if we choose not to.
16 dollars per pound of beef! I'm just gonna go hide in my hole of 3 dollars per dozen ramen packets. Must be nice to have the kind of life where 16 dollars per pound of beef is considered normal expenses.
Interesting, well considering he hasn't put forth any policies yet this definitely was a personal attack. That being said I think it was helpful information to get more context about who he is. But nothing you shared should be justification for why he would be bad at his appointment. Imagine an actual politician being nominated that knew nothing about agriculture... It could be much worse
Only a select few can become rich off of the backs of everyone else.
It's your prerogative to be skeptical, and it's mine to disagree.
Earning an income while learning? People are going 6 figures into debt for a college degree so i don't think a couple of years as an apprentice with all food and housing supplied is unreasonable.
In Salatins' first books he does say that if you want to extend your farm to the point of needing to hire outside help you need to be able to pay them a white collar income.
I think you need to read more of his books before coming to anymore of these conclusions. You are judging him when you obviously haven't done any significant homework.
great vlog
I've farmed for 40 years and have listened to him also. But not much. He's not realistic and sounds like an academic. Works on paper not real life. And if we did what he advocates, and he gets his way, there will be mass famine. The solution is to get the government and corruption out of farming.
Politics as usual. He talk talk talk but leaves out his personal details.
Ah, child of oil money. Whaaaaaat a suurrrrpriiiiiiiiiiiiiseee
You are the free labor, roll up the sleeves and get to work.
Audio is very desynced between lipreading and audio you are echoing.
Sigh. Disappointing video. A lot of nit-picking and many straw-men.
Way to use his name for clicks 😂
What a silly video.