Austin and Nate discuss Austin’s recent book Barons, concerning consolidation and corruption in the food system. With a focus on the midwest, Austin and Nate discuss how the rise of industrial agriculture has degraded the heartland, how it was allowed to happen, who has been responsible, and most importantly, how to move forward with a different, more humane agriculture that values the health of people and places. They spoke about the necessity of a two prong approach, one involving building capable mid-sized farms and the other taking a hatchet to the monopoly industrialists who have been allowed to seize our land and our resources.

Austin Frerick is an expert on agricultural and antitrust policy. He worked at the Open Markets Institute, the U.S. Department of Treasury, and the Congressional Research Service before becoming a Fellow at Yale University. He is a 7th generation Iowan and 1st generation college graduate, with degrees from Grinnell College and the University of Wisconsin, Madison.