Bertie speaks to Austin Frerick about his new book Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America's Food Industry.

Austin Frerick is an agricultural and antitrust policy fellow at Yale University, and has advised on policy for senior US politicians including Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, and Joe Biden during his presidential campaign.

Bertie and Austin discuss lobbying and state capture in the US, the history of farming deregulation, and the environmental impact of food monopolies.

Barons was published last week and is available to buy from Island Press here.

Further reading: 

• Book excerpt: ‘Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America’s Food Industry’, Minnesota Reformer 
• ‘Hidden costs, public burden: The real toll of Walmart's "always low prices"’, Salon
• ‘Do You Know Where Your Strawberries Come From?’, The New Republic
• ‘Why Austin Frerick Is Taking On The Grocery Barons’, Forbes

Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.