Host: Dr. Ryan Cole Guests: Joel Salatin, Dr. Brooke Miller
What if the fight for food freedom is the same fight for medical freedom? IMA Senior Fellows Dr. Ryan Cole and Dr. Brooke Miller sit down with legendary regenerative farmer Joel Salatin for a bold and timely conversation about reclaiming integrity in both food and medicine.
From the growing “homestead tsunami” to the quiet rollout of mRNA in livestock, this discussion reveals how corporate systems are capturing our food supply and how farmers, physicians, and families are uniting to take it back. Don’t miss this powerful exchange on how real health begins with real food and why freedom starts at the farm.
What does it mean to be truly free? To choose your medicine, your doctor, your dinner?
In this week’s IMA webinar, farmer-philosopher Joel Salatin joins two fellow advocates for autonomy, Dr. Ryan Cole and Dr. Brooke Miller, to explore the startling parallels between America’s collapsing food systems and its medical monopolies. From milk laws to mRNA, government overreach is choking the integrity of our food just as it is medicine. Slowly, families are waking up.
Together, our experts unpack how regulatory capture, corporate consolidation, and cultural drift have separated people from their own sustenance. They’ll discuss why the path to reclaiming health may begin not with legislation, but with soil, sunlight, and the courage to opt out.
Whether you’re a parent trying to protect your family’s health, someone searching for clean food and honest care, or simply questioning the systems you’ve been told to trust, this conversation offers clarity and encouragement. The road to freedom, the guests argue, doesn’t begin in Washington — it begins at your doorstep, in your kitchen, and at your local farm gate.
“Make your mission to offer hope and help when everything else becomes hopeless and helpless.” — Joel Salatin
Meet the Experts
IMA Senior Fellow and pathologist based in Idaho. Dr. Cole is also a regenerative homesteader, raising livestock and food with his family. His medical and agricultural experience uniquely positions him to connect the dots between corporate medicine and industrialized food.
IMA Senior Fellow, family physician, rancher, and former president of the United States Cattlemen’s Association. Dr. Miller operates Ginger Hill Angus in Virginia and advocates for independent farming and medical autonomy. Learn more at gingerhillangus.com.
Joel Salatin
Farmer, author, and pioneer of regenerative agriculture. Salatin operates Polyface Farm in Virginia and is a leading voice for food freedom, self-reliance, and the revival of local food economies. He’s the author of several books, including Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal and The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer. Learn more at polyfacefarms.com.
Food and Medicine: Two Systems, One Struggle
Regulatory capture is not confined to one industry. In this conversation, the panel draws a direct line between food policy and public health — and the ways in which both have been shaped by centralized control, industrial influence, and the loss of personal choice.
Dr. Cole describes a familiar pattern: both medicine and agriculture have become tools of large bureaucracies that prioritize compliance over care, scale over integrity, and profit over wellness.
“We see a clear parallel between the food system and the efforts we’re making to liberate medicine from corporate and bureaucratic control.” — Dr. Ryan Cole
Joel Salatin points to the absurdity of needing government permission to share food with your neighbor — a basic transaction that has been criminalized under the banner of safety.
“If you and I as consenting adults want to exercise freedom of choice… we should be able to engage in a food transaction without asking the government’s permission.” — Joel Salatin
Dr. Miller, who lives inside both systems, is blunt about the corruption at play.
“I just have the misfortune of being in two vocations… run by as corrupt big organizations as exist.” — Dr. Brooke Miller
A New Exodus: Why Families Are Returning to the Land
As confidence in institutions declines, a quiet movement is growing. More families are opting out of industrial systems — not just ideologically, but practically. Homesteading, food co-ops, and parallel health structures are no longer fringe ideas. They’re becoming lifelines.
Salatin describes this as a “homestead tsunami,” driven not by politics but by practicality. People are waking up to the reality that resilience is local, and freedom is physical.
“There is a crisis of trust in this country… And the result of that is: who can you trust better than yourself?” — Joel Salatin
“The new 401(k) plan is either knowing how—or having a relationship with someone who knows how—to grow things, fix things, and build things.” — Joel Salatin
That shift is showing up in the doctor’s office too.
“The people coming to us—the homesteaders, the ones who grow their own food—are the healthiest patients we see.” — Dr. Brooke Miller
Healthy Animals, Healthy People
Industrial farming relies on pharmaceuticals to compensate for unnatural conditions. At Polyface Farm, Salatin does the opposite: he creates the conditions for health, and the animals thrive without drugs. The result is better meat, better land, and better lives.
“An animal doesn’t get sick because it’s pharmaceutically disadvantaged. It gets sick because something’s wrong in the system.” — Joel Salatin
He shares how low-stress environments don’t just improve animal welfare — they produce better food. Even cooking times reflect the difference.
“When animals are stressed, they secrete adrenaline. Our meats cook 15% faster because the animals are happy. So the question is—can you eat happiness? I say yes, you can.” — Joel Salatin
Dr. Cole offers a reminder that our health is inseparable from the health of the animals we consume.
“We’re not what we eat—we’re what we eat ate.” — Dr. Ryan Cole
mRNA, Food Transparency, and Building What Comes Next
The conversation closes with a look at transparency (or the lack of it) in the food system. Concerns around mRNA in livestock are mounting, but clear answers are hard to come by. Salatin warns that adoption may already be happening under the radar.
“I think [mRNA] is here. It’s just being very hush-hush right now.” — Joel Salatin
Rather than waiting for broken systems to fix themselves, the panel urges viewers to build outside them to support local farmers, join food churches, explore private food clubs, and protect the sacred right to choose.
“We need a viable Underground Railroad for those of us who want out from under the government stamp.” — Joel Salatin
“There can be no human right that costs someone else something.” — Joel Salatin
The future may not lie in reform, but in refusal and replacement.
Closing Thoughts
Real food is the foundation of real health and a free society. Whether you’re choosing what to feed your family, looking for a trustworthy doctor, or simply trying to step outside broken systems, integrity matters. This conversation reminds us that meaningful change often begins with small, personal choices—and that knowing who and what you’re supporting makes all the difference.
For more on farming, food security, and what it means for your health, check out these past resources from IMA and our amazing team of experts and fellows:
