Food Certification Programs for Farmworker Justice
Thursday, November 1, 2018
12 – 2pm ET

North Star Fund, 520 8th Ave, Suite 1800, NYC
Lunch will be provided

Livestreaming is available

Co-sponsored by the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders (SAFSF)
Although the backbone of our food system, farmworkers are often marginalized in discussions about food and agriculture. Despite the upsurge in interest and consumption of organic, local, or certified produce, the working and living conditions for most farmworkers planting, picking, and packing fresh fruits and vegetables have remained largely as they have been for decades. Examining the nuts and bolts of creating just and equitable food and agriculture systems — across diverse crops, geography, and scale — our lunchtime discussion will also look at innovative opportunities for philanthropic resources to leverage the power of markets to drive change.

We will explore:

– How can philanthropy catalyze systems-level change in food and agriculture through focusing on social justice and food safety?

– Can social justice and business values be aligned or are they inherently incompatible?

– How can we make sure standards and certification systems intended to drive change are not used to shield bad actors?

Join us on November 1st to learn how three different organizations are changing the status quo, moving farmworkers to the center of the fresh produce sector.

– Jessica Culley, General Coordinator of the Farmworkers Support Committee (CATA) will describe the evolution of its programs to empower and educate migrant farmworkers through leadership development and capacity building. Founded by workers in southern New Jersey in 1979, CATA also works in Southern Pennsylvania and Maryland and is a founding member of the Agricultural Justice Project (AJP), a domestic fair trade certification initiative seeking empowerment, justice, and fairness for all who labor from farm to retail.

– Peter O’Driscoll, Executive Director of the Equitable Food Initiative (EFI), will explain how in five years its collaborative model and standards program has engaged more than 25,000 farmworkers on EFI-certified fresh produce farms in Canada, the US, Mexico and Guatemala.

– Michael Rozyne, founder of Red Tomato will share his experience in Northeastern U.S. creating “righteous produce” as well as a pilot project with Lyman Orchards to explore if and how the EFI model can be applied on smaller farms.