This year for #FarmworkerAwarenessWeek (and beyond), we join workers across the country in calling for frontline farmworkers to be prioritized for Covid-19 vaccination and for comprehensive immigration reform in 2021.

Study after study has shown that Black, Indigenous, and People of Color face greater exposure to Covid-19 in part because they disproportionately make up the essential workforce. In California, Latinx food and agriculture workers have seen a 59% increase in mortality during Covid—compared to 6% among white Californians; 16% for white food and agriculture workers; and 28% for Black Californians.

As a recent Food Chain Workers Alliance report notes, while the CDC issued health & safety guidance for farms in June 2020, farm employers are not obligated to comply. Alliance members surveyed reported that most farmworkers received no training on Covid-19, received no PPE, and many live in crowded labor camps where social distancing is impossible. Recent Politico reporting also documents this staggering vulnerability among farmworkers.

This is why it is critical that farmworkers be prioritized in the conversation about vaccine access and broader health and labor protections. In Florida, farm labor groups are asking supporters to sign on to this open letter to Governor DeSantis to prioritize farmworkers in the vaccine rollout, including distributing in rural areas, increasing flexibility in ID requirements, and providing information in different languages.

Lastly, immigration reform—that expands access to rights and protection for all workers, especially the right to organize—is urgently needed. But these policies must be meaningful and center human rights. The Farmworkforce Modernization Act moves in the opposite direction and thus, we join the Food Chain Workers Alliance and other farm labor partners in opposing it (see Take Action below to contact your representative).

In community and solidarity,

Tanya, Christina, Tiffani, and Anna

 
Read the full issue of the Real Food Scoop
 

Featured image: Farmworker Association of Florida 

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ICE officials raided numerous Mississippi food processing plants on August 7, arresting 680 mostly Latin-American workers in what marked the largest workplace sting in over ten years.

The raids happened just as Donald Trump was arriving at El Paso, Texas, the majority-Latinx city where a white nationalist linked to the white supremacist theory of a “Hispanic invasion” was charged in a shooting that left 22 people dead in the border city.

Coordinated attacks by 600 ICE agents took place in Bay Springs, Carthage, Canton, Morton, Pelahatchie, and Sebastapol. Family and friends watched as arrested workers filled several buses at a Koch Foods Inc. plant in Morton, 40 miles east of Jackson. They were taken to a military hangar to be “processed”, i.e. be interviewed about their immigration status and have their identification documents reviewed.

Entire communities are reeling in pain today as loved ones are torn from them violently and permanently. Mothers will go to bed tonight without their children, brothers and sisters will not know whether they will ever see each other again, and children are left without parents to care for them.

For a community already under attack by informal white supremacist organizations, to have ICE and the full power of the executive branch of the US government targeting them is devastating.

Despite the fear and shock brought to all of our immigrant and indigenous migrant communities, food system workers, farmers, and organizers nationwide unite in solidarity with the workers in Mississippi. Our siblings working to put food on their table and your table in Mississippi are the latest casualties of a system that attempts to destroy our will. But we will not only survive —we will thrive as our resolve becomes focused on “our inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

• We demand an immediate moratorium on all immigration enforcement activities until Congress approves a comprehensive immigration reform bill.
• We demand that all workers captured in today’s raids be immediately released.
• We demand that all camps where children are being held be immediately shuttered and the children reunited with their families.

Until this is done we are all in a state of siege and none of us is safe. FCWA and HEAL have established a “bail fund” to help food workers and their families when they’re arrested by ICE.

Click here to visit HEAL Food Alliance and see the full list of signatories.

Donate to the Emergency Fund for Detained Workers 

The post Joint Statement: Defending Immigrant Workers Means Defending Us All appeared first on Real Food Media.

Our food system needs radical transformation. It also needs healing from a long history of oppression and exploitation. This healing can only happen if we create spaces for honest conversation, trust, and relationship-building across the food chain. That’s what makes HEAL Food Alliance—a multi-sector, multi-racial coalition building collective power—so special.

Christina and Tanya—a.k.a. Real Food Media’s official (unofficial) Midwest Contingent—had the honor of participating in HEAL’s 2nd Annual Summit in Cleveland, Ohio, last month. As the hotel lobby began buzzing with energy and heartfelt hugs, it felt like a family reunion descended on Cleveland. We were just plain giddy to connect with so many of our partners including Good Food Purchasing Program coalitions from around the country, the Center for Good Food Purchasing, the Food Chain Workers Alliance, and fabulous Real Food Media advisors Neshani Jani, Dara Cooper, and Anim Steel. (Little did we know, Dara, co-founder of the Black Food & Justice Alliance, would soon be awarded the James Beard Leadership Award—congrats Dara!)

This year’s theme was Good Food Rising! and it was in full effect. This was authentic movement-building: issues framed by community leaders; stories of both trauma and triumph; and delicious, real food. (A big shout out to Rid-All Green Partnership, a 26-acre farm and education center in Cleveland’s Lee-Miles neighborhood, for providing us with such lovingly prepared food and an inspiring—if a bit chilly!—farm tour.) 

Perhaps most powerful? Naming names. As many participants noted, there are few “food” spaces where words like capitalism and white supremacy are used without apology. Where land reform is a banner struggle. And where the prison-industrial complex is called out for its role in perpetuating a violent food system and foreclosing community-based alternatives. And as both a grounding and a reminder of our collective history, there was the 80-foot-long food justice timeline created by Minneapolis organizers and shipped to the Summit for participants to interact with.

Needless to say, we came away with a lot to think about—and work on—to better support this growing movement of movements. 

Follow HEAL Food Alliance on Facebook and Twitter check out more photos from the Summit. HEAL is now on Instagram too!

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The post Voices of the Food Chain appeared first on Real Food Media.

Across the country and around the world, people are asking important questions about their food: Where did it come from? How was it produced? And these questions are sparking conversations, movements, and policy changes with far-reaching impacts on our health and environment. Many people are also taking steps to grow their own food or buy organic for their family. But is that an option for everyone? And is it enough? What can we do to make sure the food system works for everyone?

If we believe that healthy, affordable, delicious food is a human right (and we do!), we have to ask not only where and how our food is grown, but who is behind our food. In the United States, over 21 million people work in “food chain” jobs, growing, harvesting, processing, butchering, transporting, preparing, selling, and serving food. Maybe you even work in the food system or have at one point in your life.

It’s no exaggeration to say that the food system as it currently exists does not work for food workers. Eight out of ten of the lowest-paying jobs in the country are food system jobs. While bringing food to consumers’ tables, many food workers can’t access safe and nutritious food themselves due to poverty wages. Women and workers of color are especially vulnerable to exploitation and workplace abuses, and undocumented immigrants are often afraid to speak up due to fear of deportation.

By choosing to consume food that was produced using fair labor practices, we can grow market demand for worker justice. We can—and should—also go beyond “voting with our forks” by supporting worker-led organizations and campaigns that are fighting for higher wages, fair contracts, the right to organize, safe workplaces, and protection from harassment.

The resources in this toolkit will help you organize a fun and engaging film viewing event and help participants understand why worker justice is a necessary part of food system change.

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We honestly weren’t sure what to expect; it was a a big ask. It’s not easy to sit with someone you may have never met to share your story or recount experience of harassment in the fields, discrimination, and other workplace indignities while being recorded.

In the end, something transformative took place. Many of these conversations ended with profound connections, a few tears, hugs of solidarity. Many workers, connected for the first time through the Alliance, were emboldened hearing some of their own experiences reflected back to them and encouraged to persist in the fight for better wages and protections.

Take a listen for yourself or watch our short video segment and follow the work of the Food Chain Workers Alliance to stand with workers all along the food chain.

Voices of the Food Chain from Real Food Media on Vimeo.

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Our December podcast will feature two contributing authors, Joann Lo and Tanya Kerssen, and co-editor Alison Alkon. This will be a good one!

The post The New Food Activism: Opposition, Cooperation, and Collective Action appeared first on Real Food Media.

The just-released book includes a chapter authored by Real Food Media team member Tanya Kerssen on land access and a chapter by Joann Lo from our partner Food Chain Workers Alliance on food worker organizing. Check it out!

The New Food Activism: Opposition, Cooperation, and Collective Action (available from UC Press) explores how food activism can be pushed toward deeper and more complex engagement with social, racial, and economic justice and toward advocating for broader and more transformational shifts in the food system. Topics examined include struggles against pesticides and GMOs, efforts to improve workers’ pay and conditions throughout the food system, and ways to push food activism beyond its typical reliance on individualism, consumerism, and private property.

“A convincing roundup that demonstrates that the food movement is (finally) coming of age, The New Food Activism is a chronicle of a dozen important victories around agriculture, justice, public health, and more, which points the way toward a future in which food is increasingly a focus of crucial rights movements. A must-read for food organizers and their allies.”—Mark Bittman, food columnist and author of How to Cook Everything

“People want to eat ethically, and to do that, they need to care about the well-being of workers throughout the food system. This book highlights a promising direction for food activism, one that puts the lived experience of those who grow, cook, and serve our food at the center of its call for systemic transformation.”— Saru Jayaraman, author of Forked: A New Standard for American Dining

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If your inbox is like mine, it would be impossible to miss this is #GivingTuesday — when those who can make an extra effort to support the organizations and leaders who work hard every day to protect human rights, foster a safe and healthy environment and ensure everyone has access to what they need to thrive, especially food and clean water. 

Here at Real Food Media, we work every day to share the stories of those addressing the root causes of hunger and poverty, to support farmers and food workers, and create a more equitable and sustainable food system—from seed to plate.

Now, more than ever, these folks need our support. So instead of imploring you to support us (of course, you can do that, too), we want to encourage you to support some of the courageous and bold leaders of the good food movement whose work we deeply admire. While there are so many we could include, here are suggestions for seven groups to support right now: 

Food Chain Workers Alliance 

The Alliance is one of our core partners and there’s a reason why: We love what they do and the way they bring together food workers along the food chain—from the farm field to the back of the house in restaurants. Through the connections they make among some of the 21.5 million food workers, they are helping to bring the voice of workers into conversations about health and sustainability and organize for changes that improve the working conditions and lives of workers.  

National Young Farmers Coalition 

We need more farmers! This network is one of the leading forces behind supporting the next generation of farmers. From a fabulous campaign to include farming as a public service to training and networking for young farmers. 

National Black Farmers Association

 This exceptional organization leads education and advocacy efforts on civil rights and land retention, provides agricultural training and rural economic developments services and much more for black farmers and other small-scale farmers. It’s founder, John Boyd Jr., was one of my fellow James Beard Leadership Award winners and he is one of my all-time heroes.  

Civil Eats

We need good media—and we need it now more than ever. Civil Eats is a critical place for reporting on the good food movement and food policy. Started as a labor of love, the platform has grown in recent years and is now largely supported by its readers. It’s my go-to source for understanding the food world around me—and hope it is yours, too.  

Real Food Challenge 

This amazing network is growing the good food movement across college campuses nationwide. Real Food Challenge inspires students to move their campuses to purchase more “real food” — sustainable and fair, healthy and local. What I love about Real Food Challenge is that they also work with young people to understand power in the food system and how to organize in communities for change.   

Coalition of Immokalee Workers

Born out of organizing efforts among farmworkers in Florida, the Coalition has grown to become one of the nation’s key voices for dignity in the fields — and for exposing and rooting out modern-day slavery. I’ve been connected with the Coalition for years and have been impressed with their persistent work on behalf of not just farmworkers in Florida where they are based, but for farmworkers across the country. As Senator Bernie Sanders said in 2008: “The Coalition of Immokalee Workers has proven that when you get up every day to fight for what is right, when you don’t give up even when all the odds are against you, when you don’t compromise on basic principles of fairness, and when you build a strong grassroots movement, economic justice will prevail over greed, and the least fortunate can successfully stand up to the powerful.”

Standing Rock

 If you haven’t already, we would also encourage you to support the fight in Standing Rock against the Dakota Access Pipeline. You can give financial support through Stand with Standing Rock or Standing Rock Medic + Healer Council.

Please let us know what groups you are supporting and we’ll share on our social media, too. 

It feels good to give. We hope you will join us in supporting these groups or others in your community who you love. 

From my experience, I know that every donation means so much. Thank you! 

With warm regards,

Anna and the Real Food Media team  

Photo by Fibonacci Blue/Creative Commons

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What kind of world do we want to live in?

This was the question that resonated throughout the evening of Monday, October 24th in “Good Food Rising: Celebrating Cities, Schools, and Communities Supporting the Good Food Movement,” organized and hosted by Real Food Media in partnership with the Center for Good Food Purchasing and Food Chain Workers Alliance at the David Brower Center in Berkeley, CA.

This event celebrated the significant progress made thus far in the good food movement, particularly with the growing interest in the Good Food Purchasing Program, which was adopted by the Los Angeles Unified School District in 2012, and just recently by San Francisco Unified School District. Further, Oakland’s school board is scheduled to consider adoption. Other school districts considering the program include Chicago, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Austin, and New York.

As a food procurement policy, the Good Food Purchasing Program aims to set a baseline for purchasing standards that are aligned with five core values: environmental sustainability, nutrition, animal welfare, a valued workforce, and local economies. These were highlighted by Anna Lappé, director of Real Food Media.

Lappé expressed her excitement and optimism that with the guidance of the aforementioned core values, we can create a safe and healthy food environment in cities, schools, and communities.

The keynote speaker was Ricardo Salvador, director of the Food and Environment Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, who emphasized the need for political action in the hopes of finding “ways of restructuring and creating a brand new food system.”

Salvador said that through the efforts of organizations and alliances, progress is being made in “creating a world that we want to be a part of,” and that our progress and work should not stop with the food system. Salvador also stressed the importance of getting involved in issues that intersect with food that would lead to a more “coherent national food policy.” By adopting policies such as the Good Food Purchasing Program, children will not only be nourished, but their ideas of healthy and delicious food will also change for the better.

With this kind of progress, an optimistic future is on the horizon for the good food movement. Despite setbacks along the way, as Salvador mentioned, “we’re all trying to accomplish impossible things,” there is hope for a safer, healthier, fairer, and more sustainable food environment with collective and step-by-step action.

Originally published by Food First

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