Book Review: “Barons”

“Barons” tells the story, noted in the subtitle, of “money, power, and the corruption of America’s food industry.” In this vivid and engaging book, author Austin Frerick exposes the chokehold that seven families have over the global food industry, and the ramifications of their consolidated power on farmers, consumers, ecosystems, and even democracy. 

The word “monopoly” conjures visions of industrial tycoons and the robber barons of centuries past. However, these same structures of power and oppression exist today in our food systems. Intensely readable, “Barons” is organized around seven agricultural titans, examining them in turn in chapters devoted to their realms: hogs, grain, coffee, dairy, berries, slaughter, and grocery. In each chapter, readers follow as family-owned businesses begin on a small, recognizably agricultural scale and expand into corporate behemoths through a combination of exploitative practices, political machinations, and unfettered greed. Interspersed with personal narratives and portraits of small farmers and communities affected by anticompetitive policies and ecological degradation, Frerick draws clear connections between the disparate elements of each baron’s reach. We follow as one generation’s interest in plant genetics is replaced by outsourcing and offshoring in the next, and policies are deliberately enacted to depress prices for growers, undermine labor reforms, and, increasingly, disfigure global politics into a shape that supports this exploitation. While green-washed corporate marketing touts sustainability efforts and support for American workers, the policies exposed in each chapter tell a story of avarice and destruction. It is impossible to look away as workers all over the globe are denied safe conditions and a living wage, waterways are contaminated with toxic runoff, and influence is peddled across the planet.

While the systems he lays out are bleak, Frerick’s conclusions are far from hopeless. Just as the moniker “barons” harkens back to earlier ideas of deregulation, colonialism, and concentrated economic power, Frerick’s prescriptions remind us that we, the people, have the power to dismantle these monopolies. He writes, “As depressing as it is to acknowledge that we’ve chosen to build a food system dominated by a handful of barons, it’s also freeing because it means that it’s within our power to build it differently.” By supporting small, local farmers and growers and demanding equitable policies, we can harness our collective power to combat the unfair, monopolized food system that has flourished since the last century. 

– Margaret Hathaway, Gray, Maine

This review was originally published in the fall 2024 issue of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener. Browse the archives for free content on organic agriculture and sustainable living practices.