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market-farming - Re: Small farms and processing issues

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  • From: "Rick Williams" <mrfarm AT frontiernet.net>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Small farms and processing issues
  • Date: Sun, 6 Oct 2002 20:23:28 -0500


Robert Farr wrote:

> <To put it in perspective, it is not possible for a small farm to afford
> to set up a processing plant on farm.>
>
> Uh - Rick? - I have processing facility on my farm. Cost me $25K. I've
> already paid it off. This year.

As you know, I was specifically discussing meat processing. Can you process
beef that you can sell as packaged product to customers? Tell us more about
this facility. I am unfamiliar with such a low cost as the rails alone cost
a fortune due to the stainless steel requirement.

> Also - you might want to talk to Joel Salatin, probably the best-known
> farmer in the nation on his 550-acre Polyface farm. Joel has built a
> poultry processing facility - and it didn't cost "in the millions".

This is permitted by the federal government up to the 20,000 bird level if I
am remembering correctly. Maybe I am too high. But the states further limit
the numbers depending upon where you live. The processing set up for poultry
is relatively low cost. Joel has done some very low cost designs.

> Sanitation has nothing to do with it. Joel's facility proved - by USDA
> testing - to be TWENTY-FIVE TIMES safer than the local USDA-approved
> processing plant. And the govt. still won't let him process his cows at
> Polyface!

Sanitation has everything to do with it and meet all the safety and health
and HAACP regulations. They are very strict and require a great deal of
controls, equipment, and recording.

> And, nope - I don't have anything against success. I'm all for it - and
> am aiming for it my/self. What I AM against is irresponsible factory
> farms which have destroyed the land and the rural way of life. And for
> what? The lining of the pockets of a few.

No one to my knowledge is in favor of farms that have caused pollution and
environmental damage. Are you implying that ALL large farms are
irresponsible? What is a factory farm? How big does it have to be to reach
that level? Is this the CAFO size or much larger?

> You can call me socialist, you can call me Left. You can call me
> anything (except late for dinner). But I believe in the rights of the
> people to make a living, keep the land (and the air clean), keep the
> dollars in the local community, and live their lives without undue
> intervention. (Guess that makes me a Libertarian, huh?

You do not have a right to make a living doing what you want to do. You must
meet the market in price and quality. It is not automatic. We are greatly
improving the environmental quality compared to our forebears expectations.
The only way to keep the dollars in the community is for the consumers to
choose and for the producers to reduce their income accordingly if they have
no market. We no longer can live our lives as isolated as we once did since
we do have a mixed economy in much of the world. Part socialist and part
capitalist. The more socialist, the more invasive it becomes. But the trade
off for most people makes it worth it.

> To steal a
> phrase from Salatin - with my on spin on it, of course - I'm really a
> Buddhist Libertarian Environmentalist!)

I find it very difficult to envision you as a Buddhist. Are you Nichiren
Shoshu?

Sincerely,

Rick Williams
Misty Ridge Farm
Dairy heifers and dairy beef graziers
Viroqua, WI

www.mistyridgefarm.com







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