Joel Salatin has been around farming all of his life. Salatin comes from a long line
of farmers. He has a very good understanding of the benefits that come with producing
food naturally. In 'Declare Your Independence' we are able to see just how Salatin
thinks about industrially produced food versus food made from farming and natural
methods. Salatin throughout, 'Declare Your Independence', expresses the idea that we
are giving up the basics principles and ethics that we should have for how our food is
made, just so that we can produce mass amounts of food. Salatin feels that industrially
produced food are no more than 'Pseudo-foods that did not exist a mere century before'
(Salatin 188), meaning they are unnaturally produced foods that the body is not designed
to intake. 'Declare Your Independence' is a piece, in which Salatin shows that the food
we are so fond of now are actually extremely bad for us and are 'slowly but surely killing
us' (Salatin 187).

It is important to realize how Salatin give us this argument, he starts off with
telling us how we got to our current reliance on Industrialized food, then proceeds to talk
about it as a whole. He then goes into detail about how we can reverse this reliance, and
even provides us with the fundamental steps necessary to changing out current situation.
Salatins is slowly creating this idea of urgency, in which he thinks that steps need to be
taken so we can end this problem before it continues to get worse. Salatin forces us to
reevaluate our thought process when it comes to eating unnatural food. He uses past
fundamentals, his emotions, and rationality to show the audience how wrong and corrupt
the practices behind industrially produced food are. Salatin shows us that we need to
break away in order to live healthier and better lives.

As mentioned earlier, Salatin is a third-generation farmer. Knowing this the
audience expects that he has some idea about this topic. Salatin acts on this idea, he is
able to express his knowledge and experience, in order to confirm this idea that he is a
reliable source. He shows his goods sense by talking about a topic in which he has been
around all of his life. Throughout the piece, Salatin shows his knowledge of the human
body as well as the different organisms that the body is able to handle and break down.
He states 'If you took away everything with an ingredient foreign to our three trillion
intestinal microflora, the shelves would be bare indeed' (Salatin 187). Salatin's
knowledge helps the audience realize that he may have some idea of this topic; also this
example calls out how our unnatural the food we produce is.

Salatin continues to expose his character by showing the audience his good will.
'Declare Your Independence' is such a good example of how he has the audience in
mind. The title is a declaration in itself of what he wants the audience to do. Salatin also
says '' realistic and effective approach to transforming a system that is slowly but surely
killing us' (Salatin 187), the word 'us' is used throughout this piece. Salatin relates
himself to the audience, which shows that he has them in mind. Salatin believes that
everyone deserves to eat in a healthy and beneficiary way in order to improve his or her
life. Many of the headlines included in 'Declare Your Independence' are easy steps in
which his audience can slowly break away from industrialized food, which will allow
them to be more independent and eat healthier food. Salatin's four steps are: 'we must
rediscover our kitchens' (Salatin 192), '' purchase as directly as possible from your
local farmer' (Salatin 193), '' eat seasonally' (Salatin 195), and finally '' grow some
of your own' (Salatin 195). These four steps are all baby steps that an individual can take
in order to drastically change their life for the better. Salatin acknowledges the counter
argument that some people believe these ideas to be 'impractical' Idealistic'
Utopian' ' (Salatin 187); He goes into saying in much detail that not only are these ideas
simple but they are also very easy to apply to our everyday lives. All of these combine to
show his good virtue; Salatin is a man who cares about the planet and those people on it.

Salatin generalizes his argument to all of the United States; the reason for this is
that industrialized food is something that controls our generation as a whole. Salatin uses
multiples types of reasoning, along with the generalization of classes in order to connect
the dots between multiple issues that our generation faces. Salatin uses scientific when
saying '' variety of microorganisms that live in our digestive tracts and perform an array
of useful functions' ' (Salatin 187). By including this in his argument, Salatin draws on
the fact that our body is designed to handle certain things, and industrialized food is not
one of those things. He also uses false reasoning when saying; 'They fear our methods
because they've been conditioned by the powers that be to fear our methods' (Salatin
191). Many people believe that industrialized food is the most efficient way to make
mass amounts of food, another idea held by people is that industrialized food is
composed of healthy ingredients only, therefor it is the superior system. Salatin disproves
this idea by exposing the different techniques and fake ingredients the producers put into
their food. Polyface, a natural farm that Salatin works at, is able to use natural harvesting
methods, which create 100% naturally healthy foods. Salatin explains how 'millions of
people, including many vast cities, were fed and sustained using traditional farming
methods' (Salatin 188). Salatin introduces to his audience that traditional methods are
more productive and healthier than those of industrialized food.

The final reasoning used by Salatin is rhetorical reasoning, by using the beliefs of
the United States he is able to encourage his audience to seek the independence that they
deserve and the idea of freedom in which this nation is based off of. Salatin draws mostly
on the idea of independence and freedom by stating; 'A reasonable person' would ask
for a Food Emancipation Proclamation. Food has been enslaved by so-called inspectors
that deem the most local, indigenous, heritage-based, and traditional foods unsafe'
(Salatin 189). Salatin challenges our sense of freedom and independence. He is
challenging his audience to rethink the freedoms that they claim to have. He forces the
audience to question how is that they claim to be free but yet they no longer have any say
into what goes into the food they eat. Using rhetorical, scientific, and false reasoning,
Salatin is able to challenge all opinions and beliefs held by his audience. By exposing
how these corporations are infringing upon our ideals, he hopes to anger his audience to
change the way they live. Salatin wants his audience to opt-out of eating industrialized
food, which by doing this would destroy the control that it has over our health (and lives).

In the United States it is very obvious that eating and living healthy lifestyle are
serious issues that many people struggle with. Salatin comments on these issues by
providing ways in which people can start living healthier lives. Salatin uses ethos and
logos to challenge the audience to want more for them. He wants to create anger within
his audience so that they are obliged to take the next step and change their lives for the
better. Salatin makes sure he takes into account all the questions that people have when it
comes to the differences between using natural harvesting methods and industrial food
methods. He asks these questions, 'How can you feed the world?' and 'How can we be
sure that food produced on local farms without centralized inspection and processing is
really safe to eat?' (Salatin 188). By including and answering these questions, he is able
to get rid of any doubt that his audience may have when it comes to the effectiveness of
using natural farming methods. Salatin obviously exposes the lack of freedom we have
when it comes to our food, he tells the audience how the government controls all aspects
of production and manufacturing of our food. Salatin also informs the audience how the
government does tests on animals; in order to create substances that they think provide
sufficient nutrients. Salatin tells us multiple times how industrialized food is ultimately
killing us and tells us how by switching to natural foods we will be eating things that
'[The] body wants in order to have the energy' ' (Salatin 189). He explains to the
audience that by eating natural foods, we will be able to give our body everything it
needs to function properly. Salatin effectively uses his emotions to play on the ideas of
his audience; he conveys very clearly that we are the controllers of our life (as
Americans).

Salatin uses 'Declare Your Independence' to challenge the ideas held by society
about industrialized food. Using the emotions of himself and his audience, coherent
reasoning, and history, Salatin shows us that we need to stop putting all this money into
an industry that is destroying our bodies. Instead, Salatin challenges us to produce food
naturally so that we can better our generation and the generations that are to come. He
shows the audience that naturally produced food is so much more beneficial to the
environment and us way more then industrialized food will ever be.
