Joel Salatin and his Polyface Farm, located less than 60 miles west of Charlottesville, have become national icons of local food, alternative agricultural practices and sustainability, featured prominently in numerous documentary films and in Michael Pollan's 2006 best-seller, “The Omnivore's Dilemma.”

Salatin will visit the University of Virginia on Monday for a free public screening of a new documentary film, “American Meat,” in U.Va.’s Newcomb Theater. The movie begins at 7 p.m., preceded at 6 p.m. by free food from the Local Food Hub and free burritos made with Polyface Farms pork (or vegetarian) provided by Chipotle Mexican Grill.  

Immediately following the film, around 8:30 p.m., Salatin will participate in a panel discussion with Chris Ely, co-founder of the Applegate Organic & Natural Meats company, and film director Graham Meriwether, moderated by U.Va. School of Architecture professor Tanya Denckla Cobb, associate director of the Institute for Environmental Negotiation and author of “Reclaiming Our Food: How the Grassroots Food Movement Is Changing the Way We Eat.”

The film examines America’s current industrial meat system through the eyes of the farmers who live and work in its feedlots and confinement feeding operations. The documentary then depicts the burgeoning local food movement made up of farmers, food advocates, chefs and everyday folks who are changing the way meat reaches the American table.

The film features Salatin’s partnership with Chipotle, a national chain of fast-food restaurants, to pioneer local food sourcing on a large scale. Polyface supplies all the pork for the Chipotle restaurants in Charlottesville and Harrisonburg.

RSVP here for the free event.

The event is hosted by the U.Va. Food Collaborative, the Woodrow Wilson Department of Politics in the College of Arts & Sciences, and the Urban and Environmental Planning Department in the Architecture School and Chipotle Mexican Grill. The screening kicks off the Virginia leg of a nationwide screening tour called the Young Farmer Screening Series.