This is the first of six podcasts featuring voices from this past June's Old Salt Festival. You will hear farmers, ranchers, business leaders and advocates who are creating an agrarian culture that points the way to a healthier food system in America.

In Episode 1, Michael Dimock sits down with Jose Corona, Chief Agricultural Business Officer in the Office of Kat Taylor, to discuss his work leading a farmer-guided team building the Agricultural Platform Collective—a mechanism to expand business opportunities for small farmers in California's San Joaquin Valley.

He is then joined by Conner Hackett, General Manager of Stemple Creek Ranch, one of California's leading grass-fed, regenerative livestock operations, to explore how strong networks and collaboration can help build more resilient regional food systems.

Food is Medicine is a growing movement that recognizes healthy food as a powerful tool for preventing, managing, and even reversing chronic disease. Food is Medicine goes beyond treating illness and includes addressing the underlying conditions that shape health—from nutrition insecurity and healthcare access to the strength of local and regional food systems.

Dr. Marion Nestle's 2002 book, Food Politics was instrumental in awakening the
nation to the disfunction in America's food policy and its food system. She reflects on her path
to food policy and shares her thinking about what she sees is important today for those seeking
change

A former farmworker himself, gifted artist Narsiso Martinez, paints farmworker portraits on flattened produce boxes, which now hang in museums, galleries and homes. Narsiso is lifting up men and women that most people never see or hear, but upon whom our very lives depend.

In February 2026, President Trump signed an Executive Order defining glyphosate
as critical to national security. This created a firestorm among the mostly mother-powered
stream of the MAHA movement insisting HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr., eliminate risky or
toxic chemicals from agriculture and food ingredients. Kelly Ryerson as a nationally recognized
MAHA member, often seen lobbying Congress, shares her perspective on the current battle
with the Administration.

It is rare for business-oriented folks to commit their lives to policy work. But the cofounders of Land Core are doing just that. With business backgrounds they understood how federal farm policy needed to change in order to create healthy and resilient agriculture. They are creating tools and farm bill programs that offers a brighter future by weaving bipartisan support for good soil policy.

Flipping the Table Co-host Coco Sanabria engages Mary Purdy, Sara Keough and Stephan van Vliet to answer the question can meat heal both our bodies & the environment? They share the emerging nutrient density science & how regeneratively raised meat supports human health while restoring ecosystems

The relationship between sheep & humans stretches back 12,000 years. These docile and productive animals provide delicious meat & high-quality fiber. Robert Irwin, Dylan Boeken and Sallie Calhoun share why lamb matters, how thoughtful grazing sustains ecosystems & how their industry can reduce toxic waste and us of herbicides, while it reduces fire danger