Austin Frerick is a friend. Several years ago, he drove up to Tranquillity and we talked politics late into the evening. His thinking then was that elected office might be the best way for him to be of public service. I’m familiar with this theory. Ah, the foolishness of youth (… or in my case, former youth).
Let me attempt to describe Austin. He is bright and engaging. He is curious and inquiring. He is deeply Iowan – seventh generation – while also bringing an expansive, nuanced worldview to bear on matters of interest, where he burrows deep. It seems he also knows a thing or two about promotion. In recent weeks, it seems the only person popping up more often than Austin Frerick in my social media feed* is a random Iowa women’s basketball player.
I say all this because Frerick’s book, “Barons” has now been published, subtitled “Money, Power, and the Corruption of America’s Food Industry”. I knew he was working on a book and was eager to read it when he sent me a pre-publication copy. Suffice to say, “Barons” soared well beyond my already high expectations.
Initial impressions: an important topic; a well-written book; thoroughly researched, exhaustively documented (58 pages of endnotes!); an Iowa-centric approach, rooted in the author’s Cedar Rapids background. If I overlooked a trait in my description, it’s intensity. Frerick’s focused intensity burns brightly on every page of “Barons”. His point throughout is that we all need to pay attention… and the “we all” includes not just Iowans but everyone who eats. Yeah, that’s everyone.
In a notable foreword, Eric Schlosser, author of “Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal”, 2001, cites “the most important sector of the American economy: the food system.” Frerick observes, this food system “accounts for more than one-tenth of all jobs in the U.S., (although) only 12 percent of food workers are farmers.” Okay… but most important sector? Essentially, Schlosser expands Frerick’s aperture: “The way… the U.S. produces and distributes food has a profound effect on worker rights, animal welfare, air quality, water quality, the landscape, rural communities, public health, international trade, and the global climate.” Food is simply that all-encompassing.
Frerick then proceeds in 183 pages, packed tight with examples, factoids, and data, to examine the practices of seven baron “breeds”: hog and grain barons, coffee, dairy, and berry barons, slaughter barons and grocery barons, a chapter devoted to each before outlining conclusions in a closing chapter. If anything, the book could have been a bit longer, perhaps a half-dozen pages, dedicated to a crisp “call to action”… you know, here’s what we MUST do, although some steps emerge in his conclusions.
According to the author, acres of corn and soybeans have spread across Iowa “like a prairie fire”… as have hog confinements (13,000 and counting), manure lagoons, and waterways unable to meet basic water quality standards. Meanwhile, other items are shrinking. For instance, in the last 40+ years, “America has lost 80 percent of its dairies and 90 percent of its hog farms, mostly small, independent family operations.” In Iowa alone, “pigs now outnumber humans by more than seven to one and produce a volume of manure equivalent to the waste of nearly 84 million people”… more than the populations of California, Texas, and Illinois combined. Yikes.
Okay, a few author choices prompted me to muse, why go HERE when you might have gone THERE? Not wrong or bad choices, necessarily; more of the “just curious…” variety. Small example, former Congressman Charles Rangel is quoted, calling the country’s guest worker program “the closest thing I’ve ever seen to slavery.” The quote is from 2013; the guest worker program might have undergone significant changes during the last decade, honestly, I don’t know. Of course, Congressman Rangel becoming the first person censored by the House in 27 years may also be sufficient grounds to delete this quote.
Frerick and I share meatpackers in our family tree. His: “People on both sides of my family, including my grandfather, worked at the old slaughterhouse in Cedar Rapids, a plant that closed the year I was born.” Mine: My dad and grandpa, my brother and sister-in-law, my aunt and uncle, all at one time worked at Hormel’s in Austin, Minnesota. Twice he cites the Hormel operation, once an unnamed “slaughterhouse in Austin, Minnesota” and once a “nearby slaughterhouse” to the Mayo Clinic. To find the Hormel name, however, readers must delve into endnotes. Since his references to the company aren’t particularly positive ones, it’s okay by this SPAM-eater… a curiosity, nevertheless. (Ancillary point: the term “slaughterhouse” punches with much greater force than “meatpacker,” don’t you think? Ah, words.)
Concluding impressions, a week after reading: Frerick has assembled a powerful story by addressing a vitally important topic. His approach is both logical and methodical, among its greatest strengths. He seeks to heighten our awareness, hoping informed consumers will ultimately make better choices. With this book, Austin Frerick is not merely a rising star; in the vernacular of the season, he has risen indeed!
May I suggest you get a copy of “Barons” and spend a few days engaged in attentive reading. Then consider what changes, if any, you and yours might implement through daily encounters with the U.S. food system. Future generations will be grateful for every meaningful action you might take.
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*I made a conscious effort NOT to read other reviews or summaries of the book until reaching my own conclusions.
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I’m pleased to be part of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. These are my colleagues:
Historically the difference between slaughterhouse and meat packer are very different. Early on, the slaughtering part took place on the farm and the carcasses were delievered to River towns where the carcasses were cut up and cooked, then put into stoe jars and had the grease poured over top of the cooked meat. Hence the word "packer or packinghouse". As a result, this shipping of carcasses from the farm required cold temps to keep the meat in good shape while traveling tothe packer. As a result, I firmly believe this is the reason property taxes in Iowa are due in colder months, when farmers had the opportunity to make some hard cash to pay those taxes. Just a side bar to what probably is a very good book!
I would bet that most people don't really understand what our food goes through from the source to our stores. This sounds like a great book for everyone to read.