Salatin, Joel, interviewed by Jessica Silvery

Creator:
Salatin, Joel and Silveri, Jessica
Scope and content:

Records an interview with Joel Salatin, a farmer and owner of Polyface Farm, in Swoope, Virginia, who discusses his childhood and current work. Topics include his parents' experiences farming in Venezuela; his relationship with the journalist Drew Pearson; selling eggs as a ten-year-old at a market in Staunton; childhood involvement in 4-H; work for the Staunton newspaper in high school; and the beginnings of Polyface farm. Salatin discusses the poultry and meat production, including biosecurity, Marek's disease and chicken health, poultry feed, the decision to not to gain organic certification, benefits of free-range chickens, industrialized food systems, his employees and his commitment to hiring locally, processing chickens on the farm, regulations and testing. He also discusses his views on farmers' ethical and moral obligations, and views on the future of food.

Access and use

Location of collection:
James Madison University
Second Floor Room 203, MSC 1704
Carrier Library
James Madison University
880 Madison Drive
Harrisonburg, VA 22807
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Tiffany Cole
Phone: (540) 568-3444
Phone: (540) 568-3612
Fax: (540) 568-3405
Restrictions:

Open for research

Terms of access:

Public Domain

Parent restrictions:

Access to oral history interviews is governed by a deed of gift signed by the interviewer and narrator(s). Most interviews are open for research without restriction. In instances in which the narrator did not grant permission for full online access to recordings and transcripts, those restrictions are noted in a Conditions Governing Access note for each interview. In some instances, access to audio and transcripts is permissible only within the Special Collections reading room.

Pseudonyms are used when requested by the narrator.

Parent terms of access:
Public Domain

Contents