Polyface sustainable farms turn tourist attraction

On a farm southwest of the united States capital of Washington, DC Michael Pollan’s farming practices are turning heads and drawing visitors form around the world, making the farm more of a tourist attraction than a functioning farm. There is good reason for the farm’s popularity, as its environmentally sustainable methods and its ‘humae’ raising of beef, pork and poultry have earned Polyface an unrivalled reputation amongst independent farmers anywhere in the world.

The farm is the epitome of a growing subculture of travellers as gastrophiles. Those who wish to (and who can afford to) scour markets around the world for the best produced products putting emphasis on seasonal foods, organic production and humane treatment of animals bound for the plates of the most discerning palettes.

Agrotourism is what its being called, and it perhaps started in Italy with their ‘slow food’ movement in the face of the fast-food craze that to a degree penetrated Europe. The agrotourists surely share a common goal with the stolid Italians that refuse to eat much other than local produce.  An abolition of McDonald’s still somehow seems far off.

www.polyfacefarms.com