Public invited to hear keynote speaker on a monopolized food supply
FT. PIERRE, S.D. – The affects on family ranching and farming and rural communities of food consolidation and lax antitrust enforcement are well documented. Both have severely damaged rural economies, turning independent ranchers and farmers into “price takers” and draining local wealth.
The public is invited to join Dakota Rural Action (DRA) for dinner and a keynote delivered by the author of Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America’s Food Industry, a 2024 investigative book written by agricultural policy expert Austin Frerick, with a foreword by Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation).
This evening event will kick-off DRA’s 39th Annual Meeting, Rooted & Resilient: 39 Years of Building Power.
The Friday, Nov. 6 evening event explores how years of lax antitrust enforcement allowed corporate dynasties to monopolize and reshape the modern food system. South Dakotans are familiar with corporate consolidation’s impacts on family ranching and farming and rural communities.
Much of DRA’s work over the decades has been in direct response to these effects, from working to build sustainable, regional food systems or fighting industrial ag developments that not only wreck markets but also damages natural resources such as water and air quality.
Rather than being pessimistic about the future of agriculture, Frerick shows that it is within the people’s power to take back this power from corporate interests and build a fair, healthy, and prosperous food industry.
A seventh-generation Iowan, Frerick is an expert on agricultural and antitrust policy. He worked at the Open Markets Institute, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and the Congressional Research Service before becoming a Fellow at Yale University.
Friday’s event begins at 5:30p.m. at Drifters Bar & Grille in Ft. Pierre and is open to the public.
Tickets for Friday evening are $50. To reserve seating and for more information, call 605-697-5204 or go online to Dakota Rural Action.
