YOU CAN FARM

The entrepreneur's guide to start and succeed in a farming enterprise

by JOEL SALATIN

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New large softcover book 480 pages, first published in 1998.

For all the wannabes and newbies, You Can Farm is subtitled  The Entrepreneur's Guide to Start and Succeed in a Farming Enterprise.  A veritable compendium of information, Joel pulls from his eclectic sphere of knowledge, combines it with a half century of farming experience, and covers as many topics as he can think of that will affect the success of a farming venture.  He offers his 10 best picks for profitable ventures, and the 10 worst.  He covers insurance, record keeping, land acquisition, and equipment.  Some people have suggested the title should just be You Can, meaning that really the book is about succeeding in life.  A hard hitting, practical view from a successful farmer, if this book scares you off, it will be the best reality check you ever spent. 

About the author

Joel F. Salatin (born 1957) is an American farmer, lecturer, and author. He raises livestock using holistic methods of animal husbandry, free of potentially harmful chemicals, on his Polyface Farm in Swoope, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley. Meat from the farm is sold by direct-marketing to consumers and restaurants.

After graduating from college, Salatin married his childhood sweetheart in 1980 and became a feature writer at the Staunton, Virginia newspaper. He then decided to try farming full-time. His grandfather had been an avid gardener, beekeeper and a follower of J. I. Rodale, the founder of regenerative organic gardening. His parents had bought the land that became Polyface after losing a farm in Venezuela to political turmoil. They had raised cattle using organic methods, but could not make a living at farming alone.His father worked as an accountant and his mother taught high school physical education.

Salatin describes himself as a "Christian-libertarian-environmentalist-capitalist farmer". He produces high-quality "beyond organic" meats, which are raised using environmentally responsible, ecologically beneficial, sustainable methods. His philosophy of farming emphasizes healthy grass on which animals can thrive in a symbiotic cycle of chemical-free feeding. Cows are moved from one pasture to another rather than being centrally corn fed. Then chickens in portable coops are moved in behind them, where they dig through the cow dung to eat protein-rich fly larvae while further fertilizing the field with their droppings.

Joel is the author of 6 books including Family Friendly Farming, You Can Farm and Everything I Want to Do is Illegal. He spends a hundred days a year lecturing at colleges and to environmental groups. He is visiting Australia in late May 2010

You Can Farm by Joel Salatin