Austin Frerick | Author of Barons

Recent speaking engagements include the American Bar Association, Augustana College, Columbia University, Craigardan, Dartmouth College, Des Moines Public Library, Drake University, Equal Exchange, Food & Water Watch, Grinnell College, Harvard Club of New York City, Earthjustice, Environmental Defense Fund, Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, Illinois Farmers Union, Iowa Farmers Union, Iowa Food Systems Coalition, Iowa State University, Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, Kansas Farmers Union, Kansas Rural Center, League of Women Voters, Marbleseed, Middlebury College, National Family Farm Coalition, National Farmers Union of Canada, Northern Illinois University, New York University, Oneota Valley Literary Foundation, Oxfam America, R-CALF, Reducetarian Summit, Sierra Club, Warren Cultural Center, Wisconsin Farmers Union, University of Arkansas, University of Iowa, University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Vermont Law and Graduate School, Yale School of the Environment, and Yale Law School.

For media or speaking inquiries, please email me: arfrerick at gmail.com.

I am represented by Eloy Bleifuss Prados at Neon Literary.

Austin Frerick is an expert on agricultural and antitrust policy. In 2024, he published his debut book, entitled Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America’s Food Industry. The book, which includes a forward by Eric Schlosser, profiles a series of powerful magnates to illustrate the concentration of power in the global food system. Barons has received universal acclaim, including a coveted starred review from both Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews, and has been named one of the “Best Books of 2024” by the latter. The host of Bloomberg's Odd Lots applauded the book, remarking, "I have come away with a completely different idea of agriculture that I cannot unsee." The Times Literary Supplement (UK) noted that it is “steeped in policy and enlivened by anecdote” and the Los Angeles Review of Books said that the “prose is refreshingly accessible and nonacademic.” The book has also received praise from across the political spectrum, including a rave review from The American Conservative. It has been excerpted in The Independent (UK), Salon, and The New Republic, among others.

Austin also has a strong track record of organizing conferences and other forums to push the conversation forward on agriculture policy. He worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to organize a conference and publish a compendium at Yale Law School entitled “Reforming America’s Food Retail Markets,” which explored competition issues in the nation’s food retail industry. He previously spearheaded other conferences at the Yale Law School, including “Big Ag & Antitrust: Competition Policy for a Sustainable and Humane Food System.” He also created & organized the "Heartland Forum" in Storm Lake, Iowa, the first candidate forum during the 2020 Democratic presidential primary process, which focused on the impacts of economic concentration in rural America. During the 2020 presidential campaign, he advised candidates Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Pete Buttigieg on agricultural policy before ultimately serving as Co-Chair of the Biden campaign’s Agriculture Antitrust Policy Committee.

Frerick previously 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. He also serves on the Board of Directors as Vice President for Common Good Iowa and as Treasurer for the Socially Responsible Agriculture Project. In 2022, The Advocate named him a "Champion of Pride.” He has been quoted in The New York Times, National Geographic, Bloomberg, Politico, Vanity Fair, and The Washington Post, among others.