Some say programs that help organic farmers are being cut to help the state's big farms. They are required to leave their coats and shoes at the door, and cover up with a gray coverall. It's not to keep your clothes clean, it's to protect the 1,000 pigs in the barn from what's on the outside. This 'clean barn' is just one change in farm practices here, designed to protect these pigs from disease. Animal waste flows through slatted floors.
Every effort is made to keep stray cats and birds out of the barn.
It turns out cats can transmit diseases among pigs, and bird droppings are a real problem if they end up in feed. These pigs aren't exposed to anything on the outside, either. It's an isolated environment for them, that is very clean. Starner is making these efforts in part because he belongs to a group called Minnesota Certified Pork. The state Deparment of Agriculture will give products from a participating farm a certification stamp, if an inspection proves that farm is doing what it claims.