Are Farm Antibiotics Destroying Our Health?

Few have thought as deeply about agriculture and human health as Salim Bonnor Lewis. At a spry and vigorous 83, “Sandy” is the co-founder, owner, and operator of the Lewis Family Farm, a cattle ranch located in rural Essex County in the far north of New York State. Nestled within the Adirondack Mountains, Essex County is pristine, quiet, and sparsely populated: the Lewis Family Farm sits on 1,100 acres in its northeastern part. It is a farm straight out of Norman Rockwell: verdant, bucolic, buzzing with insect and animal life—including rare owls—and is centered on a humble farmhouse reminiscent of the Arts and Crafts movement. If this remote farm has any fame, it is for two reasons. First, for Lewis, its idiosyncratic and voluble owner, both an autodidact rancher and lightning rod of local controversy. In the words of one Essex resident, “there’s not a dinner party within 50 miles where conversation doesn’t turn to Sandy Lewis.” Second, the farm is known for producing some of the highe

Matt Ellison/A cow grazes on the Lewis Family Farm in Essex, New York Few have thought as deeply about agriculture and human health as Salim Bonnor Lewis. At a spry and vigorous 83, “Sandy” is the co-founder, owner, and operator of the Lewis Family Farm, a cattle ranch located in rural Essex County in the far north of New York State. Nestled within the Adirondack Mountains, Essex County is pristine, quiet, and sparsely populated: the Lewis Family Farm sits on 1,100 acres in its northeastern part. It is a farm straight out of Norman Rockwell: verdant, bucolic, buzzing with insect and animal lif

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