Small Farm Republic

John Klar is seventh-generation Vermonter who lives in Brookfield, where he raises grass-fed lamb and beef. Before that, he worked as an attorney. He’s also staged campaigns for governor and state senate. Supporting Vermont’s local farms and local food production was the cornerstone of his political career. These ideas were codified into his 2020 Vermont Farming Manifesto. In 2006, he self-published a 600-page book called Christian Words, Un-Christian Actions: George W. Bush and the Desecration of Christianity in Modern America. He wrote a weekly column for the Newport Daily Express for about five years, then began writing for American Thinker, The Federalist, Human Events, American Spectator, Mother Earth News, and True North Reports.Joel Salatin and his family own and operate Polyface Farm in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. The farm produces pastured beef, pork, chicken, eggs, turkeys, rabbits, lamb and ducks, servicing roughly 6,000 families and 50 restaurants in the farm’s bioregion. He has written 14 books to date, is editor of Stockman Grass Farmer Magazine, and lectures around the world on land healing and local food systems. Polyface Farm operates a formal apprenticeship program and conducts many educational workshops and events.

“I have read at least 20 books a year for the past 25 years and Small Farm Republic is absolutely one of the very best that I have ever read. John Klar describes in great detail the fallacies of the current agricultural production model and the changes that need to be made for the sake of our natural resources and humanity. A must-read not only for those involved in all facets of agriculture but policy makers and consumers as well.”—Gabe Brown, regenerative rancher, author of Dirt to Soil