Austin Frerick Profile picture
May 29, 2021 10 tweets 6 min read Read on X
Check this out. I love maps. And I'm in the midst of dairy research so this is a thread that combines both.

Here's a map of dairy operations in Iowa (map.counterglow.org). Bigger industry trends can be seen by analyzing this map. #agtwitter Image
Most of the operations in NE Iowa (and the random ones around the state) are traditional dairy farms. Why? That area is hilly (known as the driftless region) so row cropping is less common.

Here's the thing. These traditional farms are going broke left and right. ImageImage
These farms are being replaced by corporate/industrial dairy operations in NW Iowa that are popping up.

Here's the dirty secret: Most of the work is done by undocumented workers. ImageImage
Famously, Rep. Devin Nunes's family moved their industrial dairy operation to this region a few years back. esquire.com/news-politics/…
There are still some family dairy operations, in large part, because of the volume bought by the nearby ice cream company Blue Bunny.

You can see a family operation right next to the industrial operation pictured above. But their days are numbered. ImageImage
Finally, I found these clusters fascinating because both are home to nationally famous family dairy farm brands: Praire Breeze and Kalona. ImageImageImage
These trends in Iowa reflect a bigger trend of (1) the collapse of the middle-class dairy farm replaced by corporate farms, (2) the bifurcating food system: fancy dairy for some, industrial exploitive meh dairy for most, (3) shift of dairy production to the SW/W. ImageImage
Here's the thing. We've known that this has been going on for more than a decade. But no action and that's where Big wins. Its goal is to buy time and drive out the family operations.
Heck, the Mollie Tibbetts news yesterday was connected to dairy. The killer worked on an industrial dairy farm.
Also a story in the WSJ today on dairy by @mcjomcg -->> We're basically inbreeding them way too much:

"So, while there are roughly 9 million Holsteins in the U.S., the breed’s effective population—a measure of genetic diversity—is just 43." wsj.com/articles/the-d…

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More from @AustinFrerick

Oct 7, 2021
Blockbuster investigation (!) --->> The @IMidwest reports that the @IowaFarmBureau has evaded paying federal taxes by using intermediaries and sham transactions to loan millions of dollars to its for-profit insurance holding company @FBFS. #AgTwitter investigatemidwest.org/2021/10/07/the…
My response to this corruption.
But sadly, none of this greed nor corruption shocks me.

I wrote about its shenanigans back in 2018 in the @DMRegister.
Read 11 tweets
Apr 19, 2021
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/…
This story begins in 1993.

Des Moines business leaders commissioned a VA-based consulting firm to write a report on how to improve IA's business climate. It chided IA politicians and business leaders for “complacency” w/the state’s relative economic health and low unemployment.
And to shake out of that "complacency," the family farm needed to die.

“Although it is politically popular to defend and protect the concept of family farms,” read the report, “legislation limiting corporate investment is economic folly.”
Read 46 tweets
Dec 29, 2020
Earlier this year, the @nytimes posted a hiring position for an Agribusiness reporter. From what I hear, it wasn't filled and it shows. Random reporters get assigned to cover Ag and they end up copy/paste industry framing.
For example, the real story w/dairy is the collapse of family farms right in front of our eyes. We've lost half of them since the election of President George W. Bush. nytimes.com/2020/12/29/sci…
What's happening is that dairy production is moving from pasture family farms in New England and the Midwest to massive corporate farms in the Southwest (desert).

3x more dairy comes from NM than VT now.
Read 7 tweets

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