JHK’s Three-Act Play
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John Klar is the author of Small Farm Republic: Why Conservatives Must Embrace Local Agriculture, Reject Climate Alarmism, and Lead an Environmental Revival, just published by Chelsea Green. John 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. 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.
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Direct Download: KunstlerCast 379 —John Klar, Author of Small Farm Republic
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Whew! Amerika needs more John Klars for sure. Interesting that Klars interviewed Wendell Berry as he prepared his book. To Jim’s credit, he asked the right questions and for the most part stayed out of the way. Interesting comments on RFKs chances in 2024 near the end.
What a gem. This guy won me over with “Naked Emperor Junk hanging out”. Very articulate and knowledgeable. Living in a province with a significant agricultural component (Alberta) this really reasonates. We raise world class beef here and certainly are blessed with pristine grasslands, but smaller local farmers don’t stand a chance going up against the industrial farmland conglomerates. When Eisenhower warned against the military industrial complex he should have thrown in the evil big farm industry types. There are six of these plants in my province, but two of them — JBS Foods Canada and Cargill Meat Solutions — account for almost 90 per cent of the slaughter capacity. 99.9% of the workers are from Mexico, the Philipines or African countries, but most of the rural population are old stock european. Turning the clock back to local farming production, one has to wonder if anyone even remembers how to bring it back to local communities. The ones who have been doing it forever are of course the Hutterites. If Canada ever really got its act together and we perfected growing our vegetables in year round greenhouses (happening more and more), I suppose it would piss off California and the American deep state would launch an invasion to the north. Poor little Canada. So far from God, so close to the United States.
Fellow Canadian here from next door in B.C. Don’t get me started on the big bad ag guys. The regulations brought in some years back regarding slaughtering have driven local butchers out of business, caused extra expense for small farmers, and added stress to the animals. They now have to be trucked for hours instead if getting a merciful shot right at home. All done, of course, in the name of safety. I have joked for years that one of these days ‘they’ will ban home cooking, for our own good of course.
Meanwhile, I will focus on growing as much as I can, sharing and teaching.
This was great. Very interesting. Having a self-sufficient farm will likely buy a person a couple extra years, but, eventually, it will be seized, or you will just be pressed into labor on your own land to feed the illiterate foot soldiers.
I’ve been pushing Farmers Markets for over four decades. I visited Pike’s Place in Seattle in 1978 and thought it was the way food should be sold buying from the one who grew, raised or caught it.
There is a site called “Local Harvest” you can find a Farmers Market or local producer of food near you.
I have to say you two long time democrats are still trying to believe your (D) party is salvageable or that RFK Jr. will turn it around is delusional trying to save your face that you’ve been riding a lame horse and not wanting to admit it. What RFK Jr. is doing is siphoning off money small donors that can give only once. Those monies would have gone to Trump that will do something. I’m a independent that only voted for Reagan and Trump in presidential races. I believe a lot of people with TDS don’t look at what his presidency accomplished. One thing was to keep us out of war. I’m also a Vietnam Grunt with a CIB and know what war is like especially being a draftee with no skin in the game but my own.