Joel Salatin
Contact: Ann Hatch
214-378-1819;
ahatch@dcccd.edu
For immediate release — Jan. 7, 2014
(DALLAS) – From food on the farm to food for the family table ... can families in Texas and around the world be fed with local food? That is the question renowned alternative farmer Joel Salatin will answer at several programs during a three-day visit scheduled in the Dallas area from Jan. 28-30, 2014.
Salatin, who spoke last year as part of the Dallas County Community College District’s annual Sustainability Summit, returns this winter for a program that is part of the Dallas Clean Economy Series, which focuses on building a more sustainable future for Dallas. The nationally known owner of Polyface Farms, who has been featured in “Food Inc.” and “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” will give participants information they can use to feed their families and also to lead discussions about how to better feed the world.
DCCCD, Cedar Valley College, Urban Acres, Natural Awakenings, Arete Consulting Group, Farm Girls Organic Gardening Show, Ann’s Health Food Center & Market, Earth Day Texas, Green Source DFW and Eat the Yard teamed up to bring Salatin to Dallas.
The three-day series kicks off with a free program on Tuesday, Jan. 28, at Cedar Valley College in south Dallas. Salatin will discuss “Securing Our Local Food Systems” from noon to 2 p.m. in the Performance Hall; healthy snacks will be served at 11:30 a.m. before the talk begins. He will focus on the fact that farming in backyard gardens with multispeciation is more efficient and productive than farming in massive fields.
Following the free presentation that afternoon, Salatin will be the special guest for a Steward’s Dinner hosted by Urban Acres Market in Dallas from 7 to 9 p.m. Celebrity chefs and local organic farms will contribute to the farm-to-table meal, which will raise scholarship money for the full-day workshop scheduled the next day when Salatin returns to Cedar Valley. The dinner is $90 per person.
The one-day workshop, which will be held on Wednesday, Jan. 29, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Cedar Valley College in rooms M 121 and M 122, will provide audience members with information and first-hand observations from Salatin about his efforts at Polyface Farms to produce more protein per acre than any other farm in the United States. Experienced farmers and other people who are considering an agricultural career will benefit from learning about how farmers can increase production without using pesticides, fertilizers, irrigation or multimillion-dollar pieces of equipment. Bottom line: Salatin will tell others how to increase the fertility and production of the soil each year, which usually doesn’t occur with conventional agriculture. The cost for the one-day program is $99.
Salatin will share how 20 people produce more than $2 million in revenue on a modern farm without going into debt, without relying on synthetic fertilizers or pesticides, while maintaining a healthy lifestyle that they can pass on to future generations.
Finally, on Jan. 30, Salatin will attend a power breakfast hosted by Urban Acres with people already involved in the farming industry. This event is by invitation only and will have public dignitaries present for a ribbon-cutting event to inaugurate their new venue.
Salatin, who holds a bachelor’s degree in English, writes extensively for agricultural magazines that include American Agriculturalist, Acres USA and Stockman Grass Farmer. His family’s farm, Polyface Inc. (“The Farm of Many Faces”) incorporates many ideas implemented by Salatin’s parents. Considered a “local farm,” Polyface Inc. serves 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, pigaerator pork, forage-based rabbits, pastured turkey and forestry products using relationship marketing.
The Salatins’ farm has been featured in Smithsonian Magazine, National Geographic and Gourmet; on radio and television; and in other print news outlets. Profiled on the “Lives of the 21st Century” series with Peter Jennings on “ABC World News Tonight,” the story prompted more hits than any other segment to date in the show’s after-broadcast chat room. Polyface Inc. achieved iconic status after it was featured in the New York Times-bestseller “Omnivore’s Dilemma” by food guru writer Michael Pollan.
Upcoming Clean Economy Series Events
- The Search for Water, an interactive presentation viewed in the Perot Museum’s portable Universe Planetarium, Feb. 20 at Eastfield College
- Water Efficient Property Management, presented by Texas A&M AgriLife, Feb. 21 at Eastfield College
- Toby Hemenway, author of “Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture,” April 16-17 at North Lake College
- Nate Downey – The New American Landscape: Cistern Systems in May at Richland College