You Can Farm: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Start & Succeed in a Farming Enterprise Paperback – August 18, 1998

Joel Salatin packs a punch with nonstop ecological epiphanies and an onslaught of alternative concepts. This testament of a legend will be what inspires generations to come to step into the big game of bio-dynamic agriculture and never look back. Highly recommend for anyone wanting to peer outside the box of conventional industrial farming and step into the revolution that is coming with the regenerative renaissance.

Joel Salatin is one of today's leading advocates for a return to natural eating. But saying that you want to eat healthfully is much easier said than done. And, of course, things become enormously complex when you do not simply want to make wise eating choices for yourself but want to provide food for others--and make your living. This is the subject that Salatin addresses. He's an engaging writer, incorporating lots of dry humor into his work. Above all he's very insightful, never afraid to say what he thinks. This is not a book that suggests that farming is simple; those looking for some kind of five step program to success will be disappointed. Salatin bluntly states that there are things that you will need to give up if you want to be thoroughly successful, but he doesn't hesitate to share on farming's joys either.Salatin is both practical and ethical, which is what makes this book so enlightening. Salatin encourages us to create a world where everything is done decently, avoiding chemicals and pollution. He believes the nature was made to work together. "If you smell a farm, you smell mismanagement", he says. By putting cows and chickens on the same pasture but rotating them so that the cows are always a few days ahead of the chickens, the chickens can benefit from eating the bugs that gathered on the cows' manure. This keeps benefits the chickens and cleans up mess, not to mention the benefit the farmer will gain by not needing to buy as much feed. Salatin is not afraid to say things just as they are, routinely referring to factory processed chicken as 10 % fecal soup. He sees the current state of the food business as deeply flawed, a system in which both the farmers and the consumers lose.But Salatin is also very concerned that farmers make what they're worth. Enough of farmers struggling to make their keep, he says. Farmers provide an absolutely essential part of our lives, and they should be treated that way. It will take creativity to succeed in such an endeavor, but Salatin has seemingly unlimited ideas of how to market successfully. Many people are fed up with the current food system, and all it will take is gentle prodding for them to buy products that are healthy and of extraordinary quality. Salatin tells of his experience with gourmet chefs who were blown away by the quality of his eggs, being willing to spend twice as much for his eggs. Throughout the course of the book, Salatin also warns entrepreneurs to be wary of certain agricultural endeavors, particularly specialty animals.All in all, this is a very fine book, one that is a must read for someone interested in sustainable agriculture. Highly recommended.

This is the best farming-as-a-business handbook I've read to date. You Can Farm is informative and empowering. Joel Salatin provides examples of how to and how not to farm. Running a farm like a hobby instead of a business is a sure way to fail. Farm enterprises and equipment should also pay for themselves--this includes big trucks and big tractors. Salatin also encourages potential farmers to get their families involved and see if it is something they really want to do.This book is filled with stories of successes and failures of many people and various farm enterprises. While the book is almost ten years old, it still reflects the current state of farming, a quasi feudal system relegating farmers and food (not to be confused with nutrition or health) to mere inputs and outputs. Salatin also points out that we have very little, if any, knowledge about the materials we ingest many times each day. Many of us (yours truly included) do not know where our "food" came from or what it took to make it.Once you get beyond Salatin's lamentations on how industrial farming has destroyed food, the environment, and people and his extensive use of modifiers ("Don't let anyone kid you into thinking amalgamated, extruded, irradiated, genetically engineered, adulterated fecal particulate pseudo- food from...), you will experience the valuable insight and encouragement he provides.For years I asked myself if farming is really possible. It took me a while to get serious about it and then I read You Can Farm. Now, I believe it is possible. I've not only read this book, but as a result, I have read many other farm business-related literature, attended farming conferences, association meetings, and agricultural field-days in order to get more information on what will be the best approach for me to take in my move to the farm. I've also visited with farmers running successful and unsuccessful operations. Farming is possible for me because it provides an opportunity for me to exploit my zeal for innovation, build a successful environmentally friendly business, and healthfully feed and build my family and community.