> Which defeats the point of buying the foods at issue from a farmer, unless you are suggesting that everyone buy the equipment they need to make deli meat at home from the quarter-cow they just purchased.
Most farmers have a butcher that they will bring the animal to so you don't need to handle it. I have never had to process any animals myself or even bring them to a butcher. Considering your whole post is based off that faulty assumption I'll end replying to you directly there.
This was already mentioned in the first post. Why are these commenters building these straw men and seemingly being purposely obtuse? This whole comment chain is so weird and kind of surreal. People who have zero idea of what local agriculture actually looks like in practice have such strong opinions on it and are willing to talk so condescendingly to those of us that actually care about how food is made.
One of the site rules is 'assume good faith' but we have one comment talking about bathtub bologna and another implying that anyone who buys meat outside of a grocery store needs to process the animal themselves.
Despite the propaganda portraying local agriculture as some hick operation the reality is it's far safer and more modern than industrial ag. My local food co-op has a website with an order form that delivers fresh food (dairy, produce, and meat, including deli meat!) In an insulated refrigerated cooler to my door.
And because apparently it needs repeating for some reason: no you don't need to process the animals yourself. Simply pick the meat you want, just like how you do it now.