Well, that's a bummer.

Well, that's a bummer. Today I found out that the reason the heritage pig farm isn't at the markets anymore is that the farmer got sick and his family can't run the farm anymore because of it. After investing in and developing a whole business with rare heritage breeds and raising them without all the commercial farming nonsense (no chemicals, no force feed, let 'em run around, etc.), not to mention being the main supplier to many restaurants, as well as small groceries and selling at the farmer's markets, they have had to sell all their pigs and close the farm.

The other problem is processors. There are laws (probably with good reason) about meat processing and the farmers have to send out their animals to be processed. Well, there aren't enough processors. I mean, I'm sure somewhere there are giant commercial processors, but what's needed are more like the old fashioned butchers and processors, who know what they're doing, do it properly, and do it on a non-industrial scale. So all the local farms that produce critters have problems with getting them processed into food they can sell.

Man, farming is a raw deal. We definitely are not doing the things that small and family scale farms need.