In 1967, Local Meat Became Illegal 🥩
In 1860, four out of every five Americans lived in rural communities. Most knew the farmer who raised their food. Not because it was special. Because that's just how food worked.
Then the Industrial Revolution emptied rural communities and filled the cities. By 1920, more Americans lived in cities.
In two generations, we went from a country that knew where its food came from to one that didn't.
That gap is what corporate greed walked through.
Before and after: from buying food directly from local farmers to relying on mass-produced goods from corporate food systems.
Half the milk in America was diluted, sometimes with pond water, and bulked back up with chalk. Most "honey" on the shelf was corn syrup. Army rations during the Spanish-American War were so rotten that soldiers called them "embalmed beef."More troops died from disease than combat.
Then Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle. The country panicked. Federal meat inspection followed.
The fix was necessary. It was also a workaround.
Federal inspection replaced "I know my farmer" with "the USDA inspector knows my farmer." Back then, there weren't a lot of other options.
But there was a trade-off. In 1967, the Wholesome Meat Act made it illegal to sell meat to a neighbor without inspection. Thousands of small butcher shops shuttered. The local food system never recovered.
Corporate greed had wrecked the food system again. This time, the big processors had lobbied for rules they could afford. Small farms couldn't.
In 1977, the four biggest beef packers controlled 25% of the country's beef. Today they control 85%.
But today we have other options.
What hasn't changed: more Americans live in cities than ever. Most of us are further from a farm than our grandparents ever were.
What has changed: a farmer can show you their pasture from a phone. Answer your questions in real time. Ship you eggs that arrive in two days.
For the first time since the Industrial Revolution, you can actually know your farmer again.
The workaround we built in 1906 isn't the only option anymore. The federal stamps. The labels. The marketing claims. They're not the best we can do.
There's a bill in the Farm Bill called the PRIME Act. It would let small farmers sell meat to their neighbors again for the first time in nearly fifty years. An estimated 1,000 small butcher shops could reopen if it passes. Big Ag has been stripping it from the Farm Bill for years. Right now it's back in, and a vote could come this year.
But we don't have to wait for the law to catch up.
Most store-bought eggs aren’t worth the premium. Here’s how to find eggs that actually deliver on their promise.
Earlier this year, I wrote about how the fanciest "pasture-raised" eggs in the grocery store are basically conventional eggs in a fancier carton.
Your responses flooded my inbox. The message was clear: where DO we actually buy good eggs?
Over the past couple of months, I've dug in deep, and this weekend I'm sharing what I found. Spoiler: it's not about reading labels harder. The egg aisle won't get you there. The way you find eggs you can trust is by getting to know a farmer.
That used to mean driving to a farmers market. Now it can mean a few clicks. There are real farms out there shipping eggs direct to your door, fresher than anything in a grocery store, with a farmer you can actually talk to. Click here to get the guide sent right to your inbox.
I tested one of them. I walked through how to find others.
The technology to know our farmers again is already in our pockets.
Your farmer,
Cody
P.S. This whole egg deep-dive came from your replies. What else do you want me to dig into? Leave a comment and let me know. I'll do the work and report back.