Austin Frerick
@austinfrerick.bsky.social
Wrote - Barons. Currently Yale. Formerly US Treasury/CRS. #firstgen 🌽🐷🏳️🌈
This is the first time I’ve ever seen an investigation that looks at concentration figures for individual farmers. More than two-thirds of French cattle farms are now located in what is considered a “highly concentrated market” where HHI thresholds exceed 2000
The Trump Administration gave the Egg Mafia a slap on the wrist after it was caught price gouging. “This settlement [is so low that it] might actually encourage more criminal activity,” argues Frerick.
The Nation’s ‘Egg Mafia’ Made Billions. Their Fines Over Price Fixing Are a Drop in the Bucket.
Egg companies that received hundreds of millions of dollars in bird flu payments are ordered to settle for a fraction of the price.
sentientmedia.org
“Most people are struggling,” says Frerick. “If they actually knew the state of how pigs are raised, they’d feel bad, but they just want bacon. What really matters to them is that they can’t enjoy the lake. This is how the system impacts them.”
How Denmark’s ‘Pig Election’ Rewrote Factory Farm Politics
Could animal welfare and clean water motivate American voters?
sentientmedia.org
Exciting news - The docuseries I’ve been helping with for the last few years, The Price of Milk, is now streaming. The third episode pays particular attention to my Dairy Baron. Check it out and let me know what you think!
The Price of Milk
The untold story behind the ‘90s ‘Got Milk’ campaign leads a 4-part investigative romp from the dairy farm to the White House, diving into Americans’ love/hate relationship with milk and the dairy ind...
docplus.com
"My dream is to move the farm bill away from subsidizing certain crops and make it subsidize certain farm practices. For instance, if you do cover crops, buffer strips, pasture, whatever—let farmers decide what’s best for their land." - Austin Frerick @austinfrerick.bsky.social
What if Big Ag Didn’t Control Our Food?
Austin Frerick shares big ideas for how to transform food in the United States. For Frerick, radical change starts with radical imagination
barnraisingmedia.com
That’s not without consequences, Frerick said, noting that when everything comes from the same companies, nothing is unique. “Consolidation hollows out local culture,” said Frerick.
Cleveland's Michelin dreams meet restaurant broadliner Sysco
Cleveland’s quest for a Michelin star may be at odds with current economic conditions, which are forcing some restaurants to rely on a supply system designed for efficiency and sameness.
crainscleveland.com
The Berry Baron in my book 👉 "During peak periods in North America, Bjorn stated that approximately 125,000 individuals are hand-harvesting Driscoll’s berries." For one family that owns Driscoll’s. And they're not employees. It's a modern-day share-cropping operation.
thepacker.com
New Academic Review 🤓 "Using a variety of stories, personal anecdotes and reports, the author communicates ideas in clear, accessible language, with a smooth narrative flow, making Barons a very compelling piece."
“This bill has teeth,” Frerick said. “This is talk meets substance for the first time.” “From a political standpoint, this is one of the best ways [for Democrats] to outflank Republicans right now,” Frerick added.
This Wednesday at 2pm ET, we’re hosting Austin Frerick to discuss agricultural markets, antitrust, and consolidation across the food system. Join us 👇 thecapitolforum.com/events/?utm_...
@inequality.org’s @millsrodrigo.bsky.social interviews Austin Frerick, author of the new book “Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America’s Food Industry,” which examines how corporate monopolies have resulted in higher prices and lower quality food for consumers.
Naming and Shaming Food Barons: A Q&A with Austin Frerick
Corporate consolidation in America’s food industry is making food more expensive and worse. What can we do about it?
inequality.org
More, larger monopoly = less choice for both producer and consumer
Austin Frerick@austinfrerick.bsky.social · 4mo agoSysco buying Restaurant Depot -->> This merger will hurt your favorite local restaurant or food truck. It combines America's largest broaderliner with the largest cash-and-carry. My comments to ABC News abcnews.com/video/131726...
Sysco buying Restaurant Depot -->> This merger will hurt your favorite local restaurant or food truck. It combines America's largest broaderliner with the largest cash-and-carry. My comments to ABC News abcnews.com/video/131726...
Video How Sysco acquiring Restaurant Depot could shake up the food industry
Agriculture and food antitrust expert Austin Frerick discusses Sysco's $29 billion deal to buy Restaurant Depot and what it could mean for consumers.
abcnews.com
"Happy Holidays" -- I just filmed a segment for ABC News at my in-laws' house and signed off by saying "Happy Holidays" lol (I wasn't sure what to say with it being Easter and Passover).
Since the 1980s we’ve been living in a Second Gilded Age where, as these firms amass power, they have been able to corrupt the system more and more to pad their bottom line. I think it says so much that Trump’s largest inauguration donor was my slaughter baron, JBS, said @austinfrerick.bsky.social.
Bucks County Beacon@buckscountybeacon.com · 4mo agoNaming and Shaming Food Barons: A Q&A with Austin Frerick | Corporate consolidation in America’s food industry is making food more expensive and worse. What can we do about it? READ: bit.ly/4v32SyZ
Check out the alert Big Ag put out about my testimony later today.
Austin Frerick@austinfrerick.bsky.social · 5mo agoHonored (and excited) to testify next week to the Minnesota House Agriculture Committee, presenting aspects of my book Barons. Special thanks to @reprickhansen.bsky.social for inviting me.
Honored (and excited) to testify next week to the Minnesota House Agriculture Committee, presenting aspects of my book Barons. Special thanks to @reprickhansen.bsky.social for inviting me.
"The Land Report just came out with a Top 100 ranking of who owns the most land in America. The Walmart family now owns more land in America than all the farmland owned by black farmers combined."
What if Big Ag Didn’t Control Our Food?
Austin Frerick shares big ideas for how to transform food in the United States. For Frerick, radical change starts with radical imagination
barnraisingmedia.com
"To me the single best thing you can do to make food more affordable in America right now is do away with the ethanol mandate. It’s been more than 20 some years. Ethanol should [survive] on its own. It should not have a government mandate."
What if Big Ag Didn’t Control Our Food?
Austin Frerick shares big ideas for how to transform food in the United States. For Frerick, radical change starts with radical imagination
barnraisingmedia.com
Antitrust expert Austin Frerick @austinfrerick.bsky.social explains how corporate monopolies captured farm bill policy, and how farmers and eaters can unite locally to fix our broken food system. barnraisingmedia.com/big-ag-has-c...
Big Ag Has Corrupted Our Food System. Here’s How We Can Rebuild.
Austin Frerick explains how corporate monopolies captured farm bill policy, and how farmers and eaters can unite to fix our food system.
barnraisingmedia.com
"Last week, the NYT ran a story saying farmers are going to let their crops rot because the prices are so bad. At the same time, we’re having a food affordability crisis. That juxtaposition captures how broken our food system is"
Big Ag Has Corrupted Our Food System. Here’s How We Can Rebuild.
Austin Frerick explains how corporate monopolies captured farm bill policy, and how farmers and eaters can unite to fix our food system.
barnraisingmedia.com
New Academic Review of Barons: Journal of Law & Political Economy "a powerful exposé of the transformation of the American food system... Frerick’s extensive empirical work adds a fresh perspective" 😜
Review of Austin Frerick, Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America’s Food Industry
Author(s): Saito, Carolina | Abstract: Review of Austin Frerick, Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America’s Food Industry
escholarship.org
What a year of putting on the miles - gave my final talk this year a few days ago in Great Falls, Montana. Thanks again to MOA for inviting me. 🥩🌾
“We’re not seeing normal herd expansion because farmers don’t think [cattle] prices will be there, and that goes back to market dominance” among meatpackers, Frerick says.
What’s for dinner? If it’s beef, it’ll cost you.
Eye-popping prices for steaks and burgers are mostly a supply problem, exacerbated by lack of competition in the meatpacking industry. The upshot is that beef is likely to remain expensive for a while...
csmonitor.com
Honored to be included 😅🤗 ..."what a writer! Absolutely engaging. For the foreseeable future, this is the book I'm recommending to anyone who wants to learn about our food system more deeply."
The Best Cookbooks of 2025, according to Good Food | KCRW
Enjoy our cookbook picks for bakers, foragers, world travelers, vegans, party hosts, food policy wonks, and everyone else!
kcrw.com
“The first anti-monopoly laws in the world came from Iowa.” How the Trump Administration Is Deepening Food Monopolies: A Q&A with Antitrust Expert Austin Frerick #iowa
How the Trump Administration Is Deepening Food Monopolies: A Q&A with Anti-Trust Expert Austin Frerick
“The land is producing the most that it has ever produced, but none of that wealth is staying there. So we shouldn’t be shocked that we’re seeing the politics of rage fill that void.”
sentientmedia.org
We can't recommend @austinfrerick.bsky.social's writing on Big Ag highly enough. Check out our conversation with him from February of this year: www.foodandwaterwatch.org/2025/02/19/h...
How Billionaire Barons Took Over Our Food and How We Stop Them
Author Austin Frerick lays out how billionaire food barons have exploited and changed our regulatory system and how we can stop them.
foodandwaterwatch.org
Sentient@sentientmedia.org · 9mo ago“I don’t even like the term ‘factory farm’ because I don’t want to give them the dignity of being called a farm,” antitrust expert @austinfrerick.bsky.social tells @greymoran.bsky.social:
“I don’t even like the term ‘factory farm’ because I don’t want to give them the dignity of being called a farm,” antitrust expert @austinfrerick.bsky.social tells @greymoran.bsky.social:
How the Trump Administration Is Deepening Food Monopolies: A Q&A with Anti-Trust Expert Austin Frerick
“The land is producing the most that it has ever produced, but none of that wealth is staying there. So we shouldn’t be shocked that we’re seeing the politics of rage fill that void.”
buff.ly
