FreedomFest 2026

Industrial animal agriculture is one of the most heavily subsidized, most regulated, and least scrutinized sectors of the American economy — it is also the source of more death and violence than anything else in the world’s history.

Can a coherent libertarian framework end the mass confinement and suffering of billions of sentient creatures? Does the state’s role in propping up factory farming through subsidies, liability shields, and ag-gag laws implicate advocates of limited government in something they’d otherwise oppose? And what does a principled commitment to property rights, voluntary exchange, and human flourishing actually demand of us when the victims can’t vote, lobby, or file suit?

This panel will discuss these questions and dive in depth to the ways in which principled defenses of liberty and sentient life are not only not mutually exclusive but dependent upon each other.