Austin Frerick grew up in Iowa, which in his youth had a robust regional food system that offered abundant produce and meat from family farms. But because of one "baron"––that's the name Frerick calls the men whose monopolistic corporations profoundly reshape markets and communities––rural areas were hollowed out, farmers were driven off their farms and into factories or other professions, and the quality of life had declined precipitously, from toxic pollution to low wages, to unhealthy food.
Frerick's wonderfully readable new book, Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America’s Food Industry, published by Island Press, uncovers the havoc wrought by these barons in the sectors of hogs, grain, coffee, dairy, berries, animal slaughter, and groceries––some of whom are well known, while others are purposefully secretive. Their power is vast, and they stand in the way of a truly competitive, farmer-centric regenerative food system. And yet Frerick offers solutions and hope, and ways that each of us can participate.
Saving seeds, saving ecosystems
Investing in regenerative ag
From suburban Chicago to rural Montana: the journey of a bison rancher
A matter of conscience
Farm Aid: Food, festivity, and fighting for farmers
Healthy fish snacks––what cod be better?
The Carbon Credit Conundrum
At The Table: Chefs advocating for a better food system
The six-legged livestock: Bees
Bonus episode: Ask Me Anything!
Photographing grasslands: beauty, community, life
Land, sheep, and the inefficiency of being too efficient
Transforming 40 million acres of lawns into thriving ecosystems
Sheep and goats for healthy land, thriving businesses, and fire reduction
Words of wisdom from a holistic veterinarian and regenerative dairy farmer
Funneling federal ag money to the people who most need it
How to have family business meetings that are productive––and short
Weathering global change on an Oregon sheep ranch
From mountaintops to farm fields: Landscape scale restoration
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