Joel Salatin is a fifty-seven year old farmer residing in Shenandoah Valley, Virginia. He
is a third generation alternative farmer whose family owns and operates Polyface Inc.; a 500 acre
non-industrial food production farm. With a BA in English, Salatin is a well-known speaker
who addresses a wide range of issues ('Joel's Bio'). In 'Declare Your Independence' by Joel
Salatin, he details the benefits of buying locally grown produce and meats. Not only does he
disprove the safety of packaged foods, but he sheds light on the amount of chemicals added to
foods on grocery store shelves in the last few decades. Salatin describes food safety to be a
matter of personal opinion and explains that not only can the world be fed without industrial
food, it once was successfully. The food industry has grown so large and is protected by so
many laws that Salatin compares it to the government and describes the industry as tyrannical.
He suggest opting-out of industrialized food products, learning to cook again, buying local and
seasonal foods, and planting a garden to slowly gravitate away from the large industry and the
damage it has done.

Not only does Salatin convince individual's of his argument, he brings his audience to
understand his prospective of it though his use of proofs and various examples. His use of ethos,
logos, and pathos work well in unison as well as independently to develop a successful
argument. Salatin chose to deliver his argument deductively. He begins describing the packaged
food in super markets, the large corporations responsible for them, and the various
'fraternit[ies]' involved in production (Salatin 187). After thoroughly explaining the above and
their flaws, he moves the discussion to individual farms and the choices individuals have as well
as steps for them to take to gravitate away from industrialized foods. Salatin's path from general
to more specific allows him to portray the relationship between the industrialized food
corporations and individual actions that can eliminate reliance on them. Had Salatin began by
explaining the steps for individuals to take and given the overall reason why at the end, his
argument would not have been cohesive and a conclusion nearly impossible to draw.

Salatin describes the industrial food corporations and their production of food for
America as '' the meager offerings of a tyrannical food system' (188). Salatin compares the
food industry to the government as if they are synonyms for one another and describes them as
'tyrannical' beings throughout his argument. By doing so, he is constantly reminding the
audience of the negativity of these companies and their vast control over the diets of the
American people. Salatin also refers to many peoples' belief that industrialized food is 'normal'
(189). He proceeds by arguing that '[i]t is a grand experiment on an ever-widening global scale'
in reference to what industrialized food really is (189). His continual reminder of the negativity
of the corporations through aspects of logos allow people to be more receptive of and more likely
to agree with his argument and viewpoint overall.

Salatin mainly takes advantage of false reasoning in order to bring the audience to
understand the misconceptions commonly held of the food industry. As stated in his essay, '[i]n
fact, if you just eliminated every product that would have been unavailable in 1900, almost
everything would be gone, including staples that had been chemically fertilized, sprayed with
pesticides, or ripened with gas' (187-188). People commonly believe industrialized food has
made what is on super market shelves more safe, however, this is just one of the many
misconceptions Salatin sets out to disprove through his methods of rhetorical reasoning. Salatin
also uses dialectical reasoning to draw on the uncertainty of the audience and ease their fears.
He uses this to show the ability of local farms to feed the nation as well as ensure the safety of
the food produced on them. Salatin argues that '[j]ust because well-educated, credentialed
experts say something does not make it true' (189). In order to further convince the audience of
this, he references the Dred Scott case and the ruling by well-educated and trustworthy men that
slaves were not humans which was later overruled. The famous supreme court case is just
another instance where individuals of power who were thought to be trustworthy were believed
based on their position alone. Though briefly, Salatin draws on rhetorical reasoning as opposed
to scientific reasoning. He uses the beliefs and ways of large communities in avoiding
industrialized foods as opposed to detailing various studies on the matter.

Individuals such as Salatin are frequently labeled as hippies or extremists. Salatin
chooses to play off of the '' alarmist or extreme' stereotype in order to describe the '' system
that is slowly but surely killing us' (187). He uses the extremist label to translate it in to the
food industry as opposed to himself. 'Rather than representing newfound abundance, these
packages wending their way to store shelves after spending a month in the belly of Chinese
merchant marines are actually the meager offerings of a tyrannical food system' (188). Salatin
uses the extremity in the accusation of tyranny in order to bring the audience to understand that
real products that are raw and fresh meat processed in open air do not actually exist due to the
food industry. In doing this as well as portraying his vast knowledge of the subject, Salatin
establishes an invented ethos that proves his trustworthiness and allows him to appeal to any
member of the audience.

Salatin utilizes these aspects of ethos to show the audience he is more than an anti-
corporation farm-boy and has the education, as well as the background, to be an experienced
speaker on the subject. Salatin has written nine books and used five of them as varying 'how-
to's' to help individuals become independent of the food industry with steps such as the five
detailed in 'Declare Your Independence'. Salatin proves himself to be more than an educated
speaker trying to convince individuals to 'opt-out' of large corporations; he is an individual who
'practice[s] what [he] preach[es]' and does so successfully. By doing so, he is able to lay to rest
common concerns about localized farming. Many people question its ability to feed the nation as
a whole as well as its safety. Not only has Salatin stated these concerns to be impractical, but he
has proven it as well with his success. 'The farm services more than 5,000 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' ('Joel's Bio'). He uses the audience and
other individual's preconceived notions of his position on the subject being 'alarmist or
extreme' to build his image of an every-day farmer with a purpose and a dream for a healthier
America (Salatin, 187).

Salatin responds to the fear individuals might have about localized farming by ensuring
people it is okay to forget about food safety laws and to experiment with and sell any of the
home-made dishes their grandmothers used to make. He states: '[p]eople getting sick from food
aren't getting it from their neighbors; they are getting it from USDA-approved, industrially
produced, irradiated, amalgamated, adulterated, reconstituted, extruded, pseudo-food laved with
preservatives, dyes, and high fructose corn syrup' (196). Salatin explains the ability of localized
farms to feed the nation as well as reminding the audience that localized farms were once how
the nation survived; before industrialized food and farms. He also reassures individuals that
'[t]he notion that indigenous food is unsafe simply has no scientific backing' in order to calm
the fear of the safety of localized farming (188).

Salatin responds to and utilizes the emotions, desires, and concerns of the audience to
bring them all to the same page regarding his argument. Even if an individual does not agree
with Salatin's position, care about healthy or natural foods, or being controlled by the large
corporations of industrial farming, there is one thing everyone cares about; freedom. The basic
desired notion of freedom allows Salatin to implement and utilize enargeia. This allows him to
bring the issue to life as well as guarantee all individual's to care about the topic. Comparing the
issue of industrialized food to historical matters such as freedom and the Dred Scott case allow
Salatin to show that his argument is deeper than one of food and there is more to it than a
personal decision to eat healthy. By establishing choice in food as one of, if not the, most basic
freedom that people possess, he is utilizing enargeia to show that caring about natural foods and
the 'opt-out' method based on the most simplistic and common human desire is the most
efficient way of connecting the audience to his viewpoint.

In regards to his argument, Salatin seems to expect his audience to have a love of
personal and basic freedom, anger in regards to the 'tyrannical' control of the corporations, and
confusion about the issue as a whole. 'Food has been enslaved by so-called inspectors that deem
the most logical, indigenous, heritage-based, and traditional foods unsafe and make them illegal'
(189). After comparing food choice to freedom, connecting it to slavery would only further
instill anger in the audience. Salatin's essay as a whole was written to alleviate any and all
confusion about localized farming by explaining the benefits of it as well as steps to take
advantage of it. Salatin also seems to expect doubt and hopefulness in the audience alike. He
strategically references the growing popularity and commonness of home-schooling. In his
reference to home-schooling, he details the original backlash as well as the newfound acceptance
that allows the option to everyone; whether they choose to partake in home-schooling or not.
This indirectly leaves the audience with the same feeling of acceptance towards localized farms
and a more healthy way of eating; allowing hopefulness and optimism to be felt by the audience.
He is not only providing further support on the effectiveness of his 'opt-out' method towards
industrialized foods but creating the idea that people as a whole need the option to 'opt-out'
whether they plan to themselves or not.

Salatin uses logos to build his ethos and combines the two in order to properly tackle
pathos. He is arguing for people to take a stand against industrialized foods and the corporations
that control them by choosing to opt-out, learning to cook, buying local and seasonal produce,
and planting a garden. Salatin's goal is for the audience to understand that methods of healthy
eating through localized farms are possible, affordable, and better for the nation as a whole. By
developing a strong invented ethos after twisting his situated ethos, he brings the audience to
understand his viewpoint. His methods of utilizing logos allowed his argument to make sense to
any individual in the audience and its combination with pathos gave it the necessary strength to
affect those who did not even care about the issue originally. 'Declare Your Independence' was
originally published in Food Inc. in 2009 along with a documentary describing what individuals
can do about industrialized food making America heavier, poorer, and sick. Though seemingly
intended for critics and individuals who already had a stance on the issue, Salatin uses all three
kinds of proofs and structures them based off of one another to ensure his argument appeals to
any audience or individual that comes across it.
