Thread by @AustinFrerick

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.

https://twitter.com/AustinFrerick/status/1010120450968604674?s=20

Earlier this year, I also presented a paper about their mission drift at the"Big Ag & Antitrust" conference I co-hosted at Yale Law School.

See: drive.google.com/file/d/1FEqc7l…

Here's why I think this is a national issue -->> As the financially largest Ag org in the world, the @IowaFarmBureau sets the tone of our national ag conversation.

And this is the result of their power:

https://twitter.com/AustinFrerick/status/1055182783830810624?s=20

They also haven't done anything to stop the concentration crisis in America's food system.

Why? All of their decisions are made for corporate America because they own part of it.

https://twitter.com/AustinFrerick/status/1110504280933494784?s=20

Also, large parts of the American Heartland are in a brewing water quality crisis that they've only worked to intensify the crisis by preventing action.

https://twitter.com/AustinFrerick/status/1113771980254326784?s=20

But they don't care that Iowa waterways are becoming open sewers.

I'll never forget this flippant comment.

https://twitter.com/AustinFrerick/status/1143604194965893120?s=20

IMO, Their corruption can be best seen in this @IAStartingLine article.

1 @IowaFarmBureau has investments in Monsanto
2 IFB endorsed @MikeNaigIA for Sec of Ag
3 Mike previously was a Monsanto lobbyist
4 IFB ask Monsanto to secretly fund Mike's race

https://twitter.com/IAStartingLine/status/1054725478198771714?s=20

So here's where we are. Iowa Farm Bureau is taking FBL Financial to cover up its corruption and hide behind a way of secrecy.

What comes next is up to our elected officials and powers that be.

https://twitter.com/AustinFrerick/status/1302997528061804544?s=20

Final thing. This has been bugging me.

Any idea why the Iowa Farm Bureau's budget accelerated post-Great Recession (yellow line)? I figured it has to do with insurance deregulation since that's its main income source and it's done at the state level.

https://twitter.com/AustinFrerick/status/1098561760594923520?s=20