Choosing who will grow your food (Salatin)
November 14th, 2007 | Published in Health, Agriculture, Food, Agrarianism, Quotes | 2 Comments
Don’t you find it odd that people will put more work into choosing their mechanic or house contractor than they will into choosing the person who grows their food?
–Joel Salatin in Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma (2006), p. 240
November 15th, 2007 at 5:10 am (#)
That’s an interesting thought, but I adversely react to Salatin’s faulty sales pitch for “poor” farmers (and thereby himself, and coincidentally, me.) I think the reality is we live in a capitalist world, which means things are commodities: an apple is an apple, a chicken is a chicken, etc. Really, houses and cars are the same according to our capitalist view: a 2×4 is a 2×4, a nail is a nail, a barrel of crude is a barrel of crude, etc. Sure, there are cases where we pay attention to brand names, and sometimes we get more specific (as in various grades of 2×4s or crude or steel) but we don’t, as a rule, pay any attention to who the people are that are actually making our food, houses, or cars. Mechanics and house contractors might better be compared to restaurants, where there’s really no difference to draw.
November 15th, 2007 at 9:48 am (#)
Eric, I see your point, but I’m not sure I agree. For instance, a computer isn’t just a computer. There beautiful Apples and powerful Alienwares and Sun servers and regular old Dells. The cost for these are all over the map. You pay for what you get. That is why you go to the store and pay double for an organic chicken, because financially, a chicken is *not* just a chicken. And beef isn’t just beef — you pay more for organic beef and even more for grass-fed beef. Same with milk. Capitalistic markets work quite well in this regard. As people become more aware of things, they’re willing to pay more for something different. Capitalism supports this, unlike socialism, which would only offer whatever the government said and at whatever price.
Josh