1 man, 7K+ employees, and 5m+ hogs
This is the story I wrote w/@charli3mitchell about the rise of a hog baron and the societal impacts of his concentrated power. #agtwitter #ialegis
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Austin Frerick
@AustinFrerick
austinfrerick.comJoined June 2015
Austin Frerick’s Tweets
USDA seeks to destroy dairy family farms in Canada and corn family farms in Mexico just so we can dump our surplus industrial milk and corn on their markets.
💡 --->> Let them have food soverity and maybe we not do industrial milk production in the West or corn in the Plains.
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USDA has delayed action for almost a year on a proposed rule to implement basic labor standards for contractors.
Sec. Vilsack’s recent decision not to terminate a contract with JBS despite numerous violations has cast doubt on the future of that rule
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Breaking: my investigation w/ reveals The Natl Restaurant Association’s lucrative scheme: $$ fees unwitting workers pay for ‘food safety certification’ are funneled to cover the costs of the groups’ Goliath battle against higher wages
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I'm digging into dollar stores, especially Dollar General.
Any reading/listening/watching recs?
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Big Meat companies break the law as a matter of course because they have completely captured our governing institutions, so paying fines is cheaper than not breaking the law.
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The company is a convicted criminal organization.
Besides settling recently for price-fixing in pork, beef, and chicken -- the company just got caught employing children to work the third shift cleaning its butchering equipment. twitter.com/AustinFrerick/
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Vilsack is even letting them grow bigger. #agtwitter
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The American meat industry is on track to be more concentrated than when the Biden administration took office. #agtwitter
-JBS, the world's largest meatpacker, keeps buying companies.
-Cargill, the largest private company in America, became the #3 in chicken overnight.
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The company is a convicted criminal organization.
Besides settling recently for price-fixing in pork, beef, and chicken -- the company just got caught employing children to work the third shift cleaning its butchering equipment.
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The Labor Dept has filed a complaint against America's largest meatpacker for hiring child workers via a contractor who suffered “caustic chemical burns and other injuries.”
They found that at least 31 children were employed in “hazardous occupations.” dol.gov/newsroom/relea
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Keep in mind. This company became a monopoly through bribery.
--->> It paid over $150 million in bribes between 2009 and 2015 to 1,829 politicians to get the cash to buy tons of companies.
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" said barring JBS (the world's largest meatpacker) from government contracts could hurt taxpayers because the company has so few competitors."
Embarrassing. When "Too Big to Fail" is used as an excuse to do nothing. h/t
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Look at that -- took their private jet to the National Farm Bureau convention in Puerto Rico this weekend. #ialegis #agtwitter
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I've honestly been shocked at how little attention this choice has gotten.
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“I legit thought that when this Ukraine war started that this would be the death knell to ethanol because of food prices..." Instead, Frerick said, “we doubled downed to benefit a few Iowa land barons and Big Ag companies.” thehill.com/policy/equilib
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Anyone, anything saying it's good for the climate is just a con at this point.
It's time to treat those arguing that ethanol helps the climate like flat Earthers.
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For context, most of America's corn crop is now wasted in our cars.
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With a global food crisis brewing, we can no longer afford to waste so much farmland on ethanol.
--->> Time to grow more food and stop burning corn in our cars. #agtwitter
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For context, most of these farmers/landowners don't live in the communities that they're destroying/exploiting.
Case in point: The largest owner of California farmland lives in Beverly Hills.
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--->> Left unsaid, nearby farmworkers pay the price of these greedy landowners/farmers.
"Amid rows of almond and orange trees, entire communities are relying on deliveries of bottled water to survive." (a new well cost $55k)
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Class #2ndGildedAge America --->>
"Scientists have discovered that the pace of groundwater depletion in CA’s Central Valley has accelerated dramatically during the drought as heavy ag pumping has drawn down aquifer levels to new lows." #agtwitter
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“It’s clear that people shouldn’t be scuba diving in **** and drowning to death for a climate change solution.”
Why the US "manure gold rush" for biogas may ↑ GHG emissions, worker safety issues, and factory farm consolidation. civileats.com/2022/11/16/inj
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At best, the current Administration policy will just increase options for Whole Food type shoppers.
At worst, they wasted taxpayer money and created even more consolidation in the industry.
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This is a good first step. But it is not enough.
None of these measures proposed by the Biden Admininistration will meaningfully reduce the concentration crisis in America's meat industry. #agtwitter
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The American meat industry is on track to be more concentrated than when the Biden administration took office. #agtwitter
-JBS, the world's largest meatpacker, keeps buying companies.
-Cargill, the largest private company in America, became the #3 in chicken overnight.
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Did you know factory farm gas can actually WORSEN climate change? 's board members, + unpack factory farm gas expansion with ! 👉 sraproject.info/3Pd6I46 #StopFactoryFarms
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I realize different electorates, but it's kind of wild how Todd Akin made one horrific comment about abortion in 2012 and lost by almost 16 points. Herschel Walker did [gestures broadly], is widely considered one of the worst candidates in years, was down 1 on election night.
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Oh, look. The comically corrupt JBS is trying to buy another company.
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Update. JBS alleged to have price-fixed AGAIN -- this time to depress worker wages. ht/t @Marcia_Brown9 #agtwitter twitter.com/AustinFrerick/…
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Having lived next to a very small hog CAFO for 10 years before it finally closed, I cannot begin to imagine a monstrosity such as this. The first things you might think of are odor and plummeting property values, but also please consider the abject cruelty and effect on quality.
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What possibly could go wrong with 680,000 genetically similar pigs living near urban areas in 26-story buildings. jfc.
Read more about the mega-industrial pig farms being built in China. And trust me, the industry would love to do this here. #agtwitter theguardian.com/environment/20
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What possibly could go wrong with 680,000 genetically similar pigs living near urban areas in 26-story buildings. jfc.
Read more about the mega-industrial pig farms being built in China. And trust me, the industry would love to do this here. #agtwitter
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Wow.
California farmers didn't farm 10% of their irrigated acres this year because of the drought -- a stat that will likely get worse with the #climatecrisis.
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"The action accuses such companies as Tyson, JBS, Smithfield and Hormel of sharing production, pricing and profit information via a syndication service called Agri Stats to manipulate production levels."
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This purchase should be raising red flags in DC but it isn't. This market is already an oligopoly.
Honest question - When is the last time an ag/food merger has been stopped in DC? 2008 is my best guess when JBS tried to buy National Beef. #agtwitter
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Cargill Inc has agreed to acquire soybean processor and refiner Owensboro Grain Company in a deal that would expand its oilseed crush capacity to meet rising demand for food, feed, and biofuel. agriculture.com/markets/newswi
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The next USDA Secretary should be a Food Service Director or a State SNAP/Foodstamp Director given the agency's actual budget.
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Food production might seem boring or not relevant to you, but I assure you it is. Please read down the whole thread.
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According to my Mom, I asked Santa for carpet because I got cold sitting on our cement basement floor playing the original Nintendo (you know, the ones where you had to blow into the game cartridges sometimes to get it to work).
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Another day, another Big Meat price-fixing lawsuit.
The failure of the USDA to do anything about the concentration crisis in America's food system means that Americans are paying for it. #agtwitter
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Can you help me in reaching my goal?
Any amount is greatly appreciated.
bit.ly/AustinF2022
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. has been fighting for a better food system since before I was born. That’s why I’m asking you to help me support this grassroots org that challenges power in our food system and that understands how to get things done.
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They’ve also offered a lot of help to me personally throughout my career.
For example, this article --->> Not only did they provide us with insightful background information, but they also connected us with members personally impacted by the baron.
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1 man, 7K+ employees, and 5m+ hogs
This is the story I wrote w/@charli3mitchell about the rise of a hog baron and the societal impacts of his concentrated power. #agtwitter #ialegis vox.com/the-highlight/
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And no joke.
They caught an industrial CAFO operator mulching his hogs (like in the movie Fargo) and then sprinkling the parts on his farmland.
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They again brought a successful court challenge to a law that would punish whistleblowers in agriculture.
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They supported local residents in Worth County to oppose a proposed 5,000-head hog factory owned by the cartoonish villain and big-time Republican donor Bruce Rastetter
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Even as a kid I was always asking for something practical.
I tell this story because I need your help with an organization I deeply care about that knows how to get things done: .
IowaCCI is deeply invested in fighting for a better food system, and they get results.
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According to my Mom, I asked Santa for carpet because I got cold sitting on our cement basement floor playing the original Nintendo (you know, the ones where you had to blow into the game cartridges sometimes to get it to work).
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