American Meat is a pro-farmer look at chicken, hog and cattle production in America.
Beginning with a history of our current industrial system, the feedlots and confinement operations are unveiled, not through hidden cameras, but through the eyes of the farmers who live and work there. From there, the story shifts to Polyface Farms, where the Salatin family has developed an alternative agricultural model based on rotational grazing and local distribution. Nationwide, a local-food movement of farmers, chefs, and everyday people has taken root... But could it ever feed us all?
Our Featured Farmers
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Joel Salatin is a full-time farmer in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. A third generation alternative farmer, he returned to the farm full-time in 1982 and continued refining and adding to his parents’ ideas.The farm services more than 3,000 families, 10 retail outlets, and 50 restaurants through on-farm sales and metropolitan buying clubs with salad bar beef, pastured poultry, eggmobile eggs, and pigaerator pork using relationship marketing.
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Chuck Wirtz is a lifelong farmer based in West Bend, IA. He farms with his two brothers, and with his son Carson. They operate a farrow-to-finish commodity hog operation and recently converted a small portion over to welfare-compassionate production. |
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Dr. Fred Kirschenmann is a long time national and international leader in sustainable agriculture who shares an appointment as Distinguished Fellow for the Leopold Center and as President of Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Pontico Hills, New York. He also oversees management of his family's 2,600-acre certified organic farm in south central North Dakota.
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Daniel Salatin, son of Joel, has gone from carrying freshly processed chickens while in diapers, to running and over-seeing the day-to-day workings of Polyface. As a seven-year old he started a pastured rabbit enterprise, which has had its ups and downs but continues today. Starting the rabbit business gave him first hand experience with marketing, processing, research and development, and the costs of a new business. |
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